This was a bit hard to find, but eventually we found the in-town version of
Porta-Porta tonight (5 Stanley Street, 6222-7461), which is evidently run by the Changi shop's nephew. To my relief, I found it largely the same here (including the quirky decor), unlike what I had heard. The menu was largely the same too, although they had some different sets, such as the "Sea Catch" and "Mushroom Harvest" (but without that Chef's special thing). I got the former.
My starter was a set of bruschetta of fish and tomato, the second of which had just the right punch of fresh garlic (and oil) without being excessive. The fish soup in the set was also hearty yet savory. The other items were fairly similar to the other location, be it the
spaghetti alle vongole, calamari & fried fish (piping hot yet light, although it was shrimp instead of fish today), and pie & tiramisu (complete in a Chinese tea cup).
One huge thing thing I like about these guys is their rich sauces, and it was evident tonight in the separate
penne con gamberi we got tonight. But alas, the similarities went one too far: the pasta was a bit too soft here, although I didn't mind that too much. I'll happily come back here rather than head all the way out to Changi again. This location also makes it worthwhile for an office lunch, if I don't get my colleagues lost along the way.
5 comments:
how was the price?
I'm having trouble finding the place (I was thinking of checking it out after reading your last entry and posting about the Seah street one when I got back, but you beat me to it. Darn it!)
Which part of Seah street is it?
It's on Stanley Street, not Seah Street. The cross street is Boon Tat Street (west of Lau Pa Sat as well as Cecil Street).
The prices are just like the other one: about S$25 (US$14.70) for a pasta dish, and about S$40 (US$23.50) for a set.
I don't know if you have tried Al Forno at east coast road, but i think it serve pretty good italian food too. Their home-made pasta is quite special :)
So I checked it out today.
I settled for the Mushroom menu, which turned out mostly ok.
The bruschetto was, as you said, excellent and really made me look forward to the rest of the meal.
The soup was hearty, but a little *too* oily for my taste, but still managable.
The brown rice with mushrooms was perfectly mushy but also began to wear thin (There's only so much you can do with only one version o fmushroom... where was even button mushrooms?)
When the chicken with mushroom came out, it was disappointingly tough and stringy (and it wasn't even breast meat) which was probably the biggest downer of the menu.
The thing to note is, it's very very quiet in the evenings. I was down there at 7pm this evening and not a soul was coming in till at least almost 8 (A family of 4... who looked to have just wandered in because they wanted some resturant food)
Service though, was great. I liked it.
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