Surprise Under Wraps ~ New Creations @ Pizza Hut

Pizza Hut introduced two new pastas on 25th August 2010, they are "Char-grilled Chicken Parcement Pasta" and "Spicy Seafood Parcement Pasta". I was lucky to have the chance to taste them just the day before the actual launch.

Parcement pasta is not something new but it is usually served in authentic Italian restaurants (which means that you got to pay more to enjoy it). It is unusual to see it in the menu of a fast-food chain. Pizza Hut makes it affordable to everyone now!

Pastas are wrapped and baked in parcement paper just before served. This allows the pastas to absorb the sauce and seal in all delightful flavours. The cooking technique, cooking in paper, is called en papillote in French or al Cartoccio in Italian.

To me the paper parcel just looks like a gift being presented on a plate. Part of the pleasure is unwrapping it.

Let me showcase my first "gift".

Did you notice the wooden clip? It is a token from Pizza Hut for customers to bring home as souvenir but to me it has got another usage. Let me show you at the end of this post.

A closer look

Unveiling the surprise....

In the limelight

Here's the Char-grilled Chicken Parcement Pasta (S$11.90).

It's steaming hot with a blend of garlic and buttery scent! Besides char-grilled chicken, other ingredients include turkey bacon, fresh button mushroom, garlic and capsicums.

Char-grilled chicken chunk.

It's very tender and juicy and the serving is very generous. I didn't count but I think probably there are five to six pieces of it.

With chili flakes. My way of eating.

I am not a cream-based person but I kind of like the sauce because unlike other cream sauce which I had before, this tasted buttery with hint of garlic but not overly creamy. What's more? The spaghetti is cooked till al dente which I think it is super difficult to achieve that. To me this is what I look up for when I order a plate of pasta.

This is the second "gift", a more exotic one this time round, Spicy Seafood Parcement Pasta (S$12.90).

Linguine in spicy tomato sauce served with mussels, squids and prawns. I must mention that the prawns are very crunchy. Wonder how the chef cooked to acheive the texture.

No, you didn't see wrongly. They are chili padi (bird's eye chili).

I was quite surprise to see chili padi in an Italian dish but was glad that the chef at Pizza Hut did that. The moment I bitted on it, with my limited vocabulary, I couldn't think of other words but "shiok" (if you ever consider this is a vocabulary).

The tongue-numbing chilli padi coupled with the tangy tomato sauce made me want to have more despite I already had the char-grilled chicken parcement pasta and some other dishes (you will see them below).

On the same day, I also tasted....

Seafood Tofu Salad (S$6.90), Pizza Hut's signature creation of mesclun salad tossed with seafood tofu chunks and succulent straw mushrooms, served with crispy noodles and Italian dressing.

I like to eat seafood tofu but I never think that it can be added into salad. I like the combo.

Another signature dish, Hut's Platter (S$12.50).

Good to share among friends. On the plate there are sweet 'n' spicy drumlets, criss cross fries, calamari rings and scallop rolls.

Chicken Riblets (S$5.80) (Note that this is not the original serving size) (Sorry for the poor picture quality, this is the best picture I had taken.)

This is highly recommended. Don't you think they look like pork ribs? You definitely won't see any pork served in Pizza Hut as it is a Halal certified restaurant. The chef used the tender chicken thigh, cut into rectangular shape to resemble ribs then fried till crispy on the outside and succulent on the inside. A must-try!

Refreshing sparkle drinks (S$3.80)

(From left) Emerald Sparkle, green apple flavoured sparkling drink with apple bits. Berri Sparkle, strawberry flavoured sparkling drink with strawberry bits. Summer Sparkle, mango flavoured sparkling drink with mango bits.

Guess which one I ordered?

A meal is not complete without dessert. So here we have "A Tale of Two Temptations" (S$5.50).

Savoury-sweet brownie cheesecake paired with sinfully rich banana choco mousse cake drizzled with chocolate sauce (I can taste cinnamon in it too). Yummy! I didn't know that Pizza Hut could make such nice cakes.

(Thanks to all friendly staff from Pizza Hut for their hospitality. To be frank, I haven't stepped into Pizza Hut for quite some times (actually many years), if not of this tasting session I wouldn't know there are so many new items in its menu now besides pizzas, garlic breads and drumlets. When comes to dining place, I have another option now.)

Can you read the words "Pasta Bloggers"?

As promised, this is how I made use of the clip.

When recipe calls for leaving the oven door ajar (usually seen in cheesecake recipe), you can do this!