YOU forget how good the food is in Aglio Olio, because you are too busy having a good time.
It's that kind of joint.
Barely a year old, the noshery is on Maxwell Road, though its address is Murray Street (the lane famous for a variety of eateries).
You can't miss Aglio Olio, Italian-named for its base ingredients of garlic and olive oil, because it squats there smack between Murray and Maxwell, welcoming with its outdoor furniture and thankfully free of its garlic wafts, thanks to a 'very strong exhaust'.
The 'secret' (if it can be so termed) is the amount of chilli padi in your dish, so one of the crew lets on. (From one to four strength.)
The real secret is the prices.
All the pasta and rice dishes are $9.90, and the pizzas, $10.90. I recommend the green curry with basil leaves or seafood tomyam pizzas.
The chewy and cruncy top shell is tops. (It's a shellfish that's sometimes called the poor man's abalone.)
We ate it as an appetiser.
How does she do it?
She is Ms Wendy Wong, and she's been there and done that.
The mother of three teenagers 'used to be a tai tai', tired of it (all that air-kissing) and moved on.
Together with a 'few partners', they set up and now manage two Aglio Olios (the other is in China Square Central) offering tasty grub at fair prices.
The attractive Ms Wong still drives a Porsche; her single concession to leftover 'tai-tai-ness'.
Pizzas are only served from 2pm.
The duty manager, Mr Kenneth Chan, said: 'Executives have 45minutes for lunch, so our kitchen is busy tackling the best-sellers like seafood olio, bacon cream, and pepperoni pastas, and only do the pizzas after official lunch hour.'
Most of the crowd are from the government buildings around, and law firms, so you have an idea of the kind of company you can find at the next table.
Non-committal civil servants and argumentative legal eagles.
The night we chowed down there, the place was full of marketing folk and business people - you could not hear yourself eat.
There is a bar area which sits four, the premises can accommodate 60 (coincidentally, there are 60 items on the menu), the decor is kinda in keeping with hip and cool, black wood and dark furniture and if you want private dining, they'll let down the mauve curtains.
They should have drawn the drapes that night.
It was so noisy with chatter I couldn't tell anyone how nice the food tasted.
Aglio Olio 2, Murray Street
(S) 079519
Tel: 6226 1622
Opening hours: 11am - 10pm daily except Sundays and public holidays. Pizzas served from 2pm
