Cicheti and Bar Cicheti

Cicheti on Kandahar Street

Went to Cicheti for dinner and our table was terribly disappointed. The standards have plummeted since Bar Cicheti opened. The Napoletana pizza was sad. The base was dough-y and frankly disgusting. The first taste was simply tomatoes and dough. Even olives couldn't remove that lingering taste of flour. Never order those pizzas now. My linguine with nice big hobinosugai clams was way over-salted (this, coming from me who loves salt). At least it was done properly al dente. The friends' paccheri with pulled beef cheek and parpadelle with braised lamb sugo fared much better. Our starter of burratina with toasted pistachios, pesto and onion marmalade was good.

Cicheti failed in its pizza and didn't offer pasta at its previous standards. (Its pizzas are currently nowhere near the consistent standards of the ones at Luka or Pizza Trattoria Logic.) The pastas are the saddest. How could you over-salt it?! When pasta is supposed to be so simple, you do not make the mistake of adding a teaspoon of salt when it's supposed to be a sprinkle. When you cook pasta at a standard I can produce at home, I'm not inclined to return. The meal was so disappointing that we ditched dessert at the restaurant and went elsewhere. The redeeming factor—they carried decent beer. I don't know if they rotate it; currently it's Trouble Brewing's 'Stolen Boat' summer ale.

The not good Cicheti on Kandahar Street.

Bar Cicheti on Jiak Chuan Street

It's a restaurant I pop into often since this sister outlet of Cicheti opened in May 2019. I'm familiar with Bar Cicheti's menu and the slight variations in pastas trotted out on different days. I popped in for lunch at Bar Cicheti just two days after the sad dinner at Cicheti, and the difference in its pastas couldn't be more stark. The pasta menu at Bar Cicheti is wider, and even the wine list here offers better years from a larger range of wineries! The kitchen is definitely superior to Cicheti, which is odd. Why should there be such a jarring difference when both restaurants are under the same corporate branding with one group executive chef?

We decided to do starter portions of three pastas. Hahaha. Well, we love carbs and there was really no reason to restrict ourselves to a main portion each. Sharing three plates would allow us (two persons) to satisfy all pasta cravings! Didn't even need any meat in terms of beef or lamb. Taglierini with housemade tomato sauce, basil, chilli padi and stracciatella, casarecce cacio e pepe using Sarawak black pepper, fresh marjoram and parmigiana, and paccheri with slow cooked Spanish octopus, anchovies, capers, housemade tomato sauce and breadcrumbs.

We had the burratina too, and it was served a tad differently from Cicheti's; this held slightly less umami with the accompanying Greek olive oil, sea salt and burnt onion jam. We skipped dessert of course. The only sad thing about lunching here is that there aren't any good coffee places next door. We'd have to cross two streets to get there, and sometimes, weekday lunches don't allow the luxury of time.

The currently very good Bar Cicheti on Jiak Chuan Street.