La Strada and their Carbonara

La Strada
#02-10 Shaw Centre
1 Scotts Road
Tel: 6737-2622

La Strada and their carbonara. Or maybe it is just me and the a few weeks of a slight manic obsession with la strada carbonara. I’m an eggy person. I usually can’t resist not ordering any dish off a menu that reads “… with a poached egg”. And whilst gleaning through the usual blog roll I came across a picture of La Strada’s Carbonara and I was sold. I love pasta. I love ham and the truffles were a bonus. But it was that precariously perched poached egg on the mount of tangled noodles that really what caught my attention.

But it was not meant to be. For two weeks in a row I’ve gone to La Strada but in vain. Out of sheer determination, I’ve been suggesting La Strada as the dinner location to friends for dinners but alas, I haven’t ordered the carbonara.

Just last week I suffered a bout of sickness that is a little gross to describe so let’s just call it a bout of sickness. Sick I was but I had a dinner appointment with people whom I really wanted to meet so I still went out to dinner with strict instructions from the doctor, for the next few days you cannot have any chilli, dairy and eggs and porridge is the best form of food. To which I replied, “NO EGGS?! I love eggs.” After which the nurse just laughed at me. Oh well. So to La Strada but no eggs and no dairy, hmm… ok no carbonara for me.

As for this week, I am well and healthy and consuming a healthy amount of an egg a day but ivn ordered it for his pasta dish … so for variety sake I ordered the hand-cut pasta with mud crab that is sautéed in olive oil, garlic, fresh chillies and white wine, a worthy substitute.

I, however my second visit, have finally tasted this pasta that I have been coveting. I had two generous forkful twirls of the pasta that had a smooth mouth feel and truffle scent that then easily glided down my throat.

Ok, that was worth the wait and a return.

* credit to ivn for the photos.

La Strada

La Strada Ristorante
1 Scotts Rd #02-10
Shaw Centre
Tel: 6737 2622


potato and fontina cheese tart with porcini and celery salad

As I continue on my Italian binge, my indulgence was at the spanking new Italian joint by the Les Amis group, La Strada. First of all, if you plan to go, make a reservation. The Les Amis Group has adopted a new, and very American-style, reservation system where there is a central hub that takes all reservations, hence you have to call during working hours, that is the only time they seem to pick up the phone, and even when I did leave my name and number, no one returned my call. I was prepared to wing it, chancing that they would have a table on a weekday lunch, but my lunch date, firmly said “no, it gets crowded”, and he was right, it packed a full house for lunch.

The menu offers classics with a slight fuss. On the other spectrum of home-styled Italian food, La Strada offers a spectacle interpretation on some classics. Who knew the foam would find its way into the Italian cuisine as well? With today’s obsession about El Bulli, molecular gastronomy and the espuma, this is actually the first time I have had flavoured foam served to me in an Italian ristorante. Antipastos come elegantly plated, while with regards to secondi, there really isn’t much you can make fancy with pasta and risotto, unless you employed extra kitchen staff to make twirl pastas and to pile them in a “jenga" vertical stacks, but after that labour, the food might arrive cold.


strozzapretti with duck sausage, rabe, shaved parmesan and a hint of chilli

The food spoke with clarity and confidence. The plates had straightforward flavours that have integrity that not masked or hidden by any overpowering sauces. My nonconformist interpretation of broccoli consisted of: a single ravioli that encased a creamy purée that was boiled to al dente and then pan-fried for a slight crisp, a crispy tempura of broccolini and a goat’s cheese foam, working together to create a variety of textures and gentle flavours, excellent. And the other entrée of potato and fontina cheese tart with porcini and celery salad and was fresh tasting. Following that we had a serving of pasta each, where we tried the duck sausage and rabe, which was delicious and hearty tasting with the slight bitterness from the rabe, but the sausages were slightly overcooked and dried out, and a special vegetarian request for a pasta of the chef’s choice of penne with a vegetable ragu, perhaps unimaginative but nonetheless well executed.

My lunch date, H is a fellow avid foodie, is someone I thoroughly love dining out with because I can be a shameless greedy person, I have come to realise that we have different stomach capacities. Although I was satiated after my 2 course lunch, he needed more, and he was unwilling to eat alone, so for this visit, after our 2 courses, there was no more to come that is, no dolce.

I like this establishment, La Strada much more than its former occupant, The Canteen. That being said, what question comes next is that, seeing how it is still a Les Amis Group Restaurant, how much is it going to set you back? It does come with a hefty price tag; you pay for a package, quality food and location. Lunch alone, with 2 courses and a cup of cleansing ritualistic Japanese tea cost me $60, I would say, it's worth it for a special occasion.