Food reviews - Singapore, Uncategorized LA STRADA 3 August 2011

La Strada
#02-10 Shaw Centre
1 Scotts Road
Singapore
PRICE: $$$$$
RATING:

Owned by Les Amis Group, La Strada offers up modern Italian cuisine at fine-dining prices. Brace yourselves people, and be prepared to pay top dollar for an evening at this establishment… and even more so if you order wine with your meal.

The restaurant is cozy and romantically-lit, but despite that, few patrons were there on dates as there were mostly larger groups dining there. It was a full house, but service was attentive and friendly, and I appreciated how my water glass was swiftly topped up throughout our meal.

La Strada

Complimentary bread basket. The cheese sticks were a winner!

Looking rather tired after our shopping-day-out 😉

Do they live up to their name? Yes, the food is brilliant and very carefully cooked and prepared. However, the portions are sorrowfully tiny for the price 🙁 Fortunately I’d wrecked my appetite by having tea-time beforehand, or the food wouldn’t have been filling enough. And I’m not just saying that ‘cos I’m greedy..

Our entrees were all delicious and with a lovely home-cooked flavour. I enjoyed all of them, despite the teeny tiny portions. For example, I thought the Risotto balls were pretty shocking at $14 for 2 golf-ball sized balls. They were good, for sure, but at $7 a pop? I find that pretty hard to swallow.

Deep fried risotto balls stuffed with buffalo mozzarella and meat ragu (SG$14)

Pan-fried smoked scamorza cheese with parma ham,
cherry tomatoes and balsamic glaze (SG$16)

Grilled squid rings with lemon arriabiata sauce and lemon vinaigrette (SG$17)

Their pastas were small little portions, but absolutely FANTASTIC. Oh how I adored them all! The best, though, was the Carbonara. Seems so mundane, but their version is superb. Lovely home-made pasta with lots of crispy tasty parma ham on top, with a burst of truffle wafting out of the dish when it arrived. Best of all was the egg confit, resting in the middle of the pasta.. just waiting to be poked and the molten egg yolk stirred through the pasta. OH BOY IT WAS GOOD. I would go back for their Carbonara alone.

Fresh chitarra with crispy parma ham, egg confit, shaved parmesan and truffle butter (SG$26)

Pappardelle with pork ragu, cherry tomatoes and shaved parmesan (SG$28)

Fresh tagliolini with mud crab, cherry tomatoes with white wine, chilli and garlic (SG$26)

And of course, dessert. As if we could ever leave a restaurant without ordering DESSERT 😉 The Tiramisu was my favourite by far.. very moist and ‘wet’, with a good ratio of cake VS cream. The Vanilla panna cotta was simply average. Nothing much to shout about. I couldn’t quite understand the White and dark chocolate cake as I didn’t see any white chocolate anywhere 😉 It was mainly just a standard (but lovely) rich chocolate cake to me. The Tiramisu was the best of the desserts for me, and not just due to the fact that I am a tiramisu addict and can’t seem to deviate from ordering that whenever I see it on the menu!

Espresso infused ladies fingers with marsala and mascarpone cream (SG$12)