I Porta-ed!!

After 3 attempts, we managed to eat at this restaurant call Porta Porta. We finally made it yesterday! The first time we went there on a Monday night, and you know what, Monday is their off day. Second time we popped over last Friday, and it was full house. We were turned away for having no reservation! BUT we were smart enough to get their namecard and made a reservation for Sunday night. So, we finally got in and found out what this place was allllllll about!

Porta Porta is an authentic Italian restaurant that is very small in size. Forget restaurants that seat 20-30 persons at any time. This doesn't! I think there were only around 7-8 tables.  You can't deny the cosiness it oozes though. And through out our makan session there, many customers had to be turned away (just like what happened to us the second time we were there!!). I feeeeeel for them. 

Anyway, let's get on with business. The menu is very simple. But what caught my eye was the house menu which consists of antipasti, soup, 2 types of pasta, seafood, a meat dish and 2 types of dessert.  Sounds good rite? The other highlight of the menu is this "Fai Te" item (I hope I got the spelling right), that is for a minimum of 2 persons. What that means is you let the chef decide what he would like to serve you. So everything is a surprise! However, that is for another day. I ordered the house menu and Soenke got himself a rosemary chicken dish. Let us begin! 

An overview.Antipasti of paprika, mushrooms, eggplants & zucchini. We had lemon soda and chinotto for drinks. Chinotto is really interesting.  It's like drinking bitters, spicy and bittersweet.

 Close up of the antipasti. Eating it with fresh warm rustic bread is so Wah wah Wahhhhhhh.....

 

This is Soenke's rosemary chicken. Very yummy. It gives you a totally wholesome feel.

 My soup from the house menu. Chicken soup. The white cloudy mass is very finely shredded chicken meat, mind you. 

I forgot how this is called. Tortellini? Ok I think that is the name. Filled with cheese and in pesto sauce. Soenke said there's a special name to the sauce but I can't recall it. There was 4, we ate 2 and remembered that we were supposed to capture it! Yea, was distracted.

 Pasta with clams. Slightly spicy and very flavorful. I think it's cooked with a bit of wine because I can certainly smell that. I was drinking the rest of the gravy in the end. Perfecto.

 Fried calamari rings. I have never eaten them so lightly coated. Very nice. However, at this point, my tummy was rather full.

Beef casserole? Well, something beefy. Very nicely done. Beef was super flavorful and tender. Soenke had attacked this dish as I was too full already. Lucky guy :)

And...for the finale! My 2 types of dessert! Tiramisu and apple pie. What can I say.. awesomeness.

So here it is. I totally think it deserves to be blogged. The pictures were captured with an Iphone. So please bear with me for that. I also think that the food is equal to the amount of effort we put in in trying to dine there. So worth it. 

Oh for those who would like to give it a go, please do not forget to make reservations!

Porta Porta

971 Upper Changi Road North 

+65 6545 3108 

Tue–Fri
12pm – 2pm, 6.30 – 9.30pm
Sat–Sun
6.30pm – 9.30pm