Free treats at PastaMania and Soup Spoon with Esso Vouchers

A gentle reminder to readers who have not used their “Redeem Free Treats” ESSO Vouchers, obtained from buying fuel from Esso Singapore. They expire on 30 April 2017 and so you have a few days left. They can be used to pay for free treats at Udders ice-cream, Soup Spoon and PastaMania. The best place I could think of that was convenient and had both Soup Spoon and Pasta Mania was JEM shopping mall in Jurong East. So that was where I headed with a bunch of vouchers in hand.

First stop, Pasta Mania on the fourth floor. Dim lighting, a dark ceiling and wooden furniture were used to create a cozy traditional Italian restaurant look.

Using six of the Esso vouchers, I could have a pick of any item in the “Classics” section of the Pasta Mania menu. The calculative me decided on the most expensive item on the list – the Marinara pasta which has a normal price of $12.90. There was a choice of pasta and I opted for linguine. I noticed there was an interesting weekday menu for students – a few varieties of pasta were available for $4.90.

My order was placed at the service counter. As the restaurant was not busy, my linguine marinara arrived soon after. It looked quite good. The pasta and the tomato-based sauce was quite good. There was a fair quantity of seafood items – prawns, mussels and squid.  The prawns were fine but the squid and the mussels were rubbery and plain. The portion was average in size.  I felt I could still eat some soup with my remaining vouchers.  By the way, did you know that Pasta Mania has served more than 28 million plates of pasta?

My next stop was The Soup Spoon on the second level of the Jem shopping mall. Unlike the quietness of Pasta Mania, the Spoon was quite busy. It looked like most of the seats in the small dining area were taken and there was still a queue.

I joined the short queue and used the time to study the Soup Spoon menu and the various combinations that the soup can be paired with. I had four Esso vouchers remaining which entitled me to choose something from the Classic part of the menu which only has three kinds of soup. I decided on th which would normally cost $6.90.  Each soup comes with a bun.

Since the seats were all full and I would have to share a table with some students, I elected for takeaway. I like the Soup Spoon takeaway container which has a high transparent cap for the bread.

This is how the soup looks like when the container is opened up. I liked the soup more than the pasta. The soup had a healthy feel about it. The tarty taste of tomato was there but it was not too sour.  There was also a tinge of spiciness in the soup. The basil leaves provided extra flavours.

PastaMania – JEM
52 Jurong Gateway Road
#04-26 Jem
Singapore 608549

Tel: 6734 2329

Opening Hours 11am-9.30pm

www.pastamania.com.sg

The Soup Spoon
52 Jurong Gateway Road
Jem #02-05
Singapore 608549

Tel: 6694 2114

Opening Hours
Sun – Thu: 11.00am to 10.00pm
Fri, Sat, Eve of PH & PH: 11.00am to 10.30pm

www.thesoupspoon.com