La Strada (Singapore-Italian Food)

Was too tired to venture out and so we ended up dinner at a place i chosed, "La Strada" at scotts center which was opposite to where we were staying.

La Strada is another Les Amis group outlet and supposedly taken over where Canteen used to be. I hated food served from Canteen as they were often pricey, and worse, the food was horrible! However, After checking out a few reviews, I decided to restore my faith in Les Amis and gave La strada a chance. With that, I must say I was not disappointed.

It was a late dinner at 9pm and last order was 9.30pm. Hence, they ran out of "Linguini Marinara" (seafood pasta with tomato base). So instead, I went for "Tagliolini al granchio" (fresh hand cut pasta with mud crab pieces mixed with chilli flakes, white wine and extra virgin olive oil as base). For appetitisers, I couldnt pass up on the foie gras.

Service I must say was attentive and friendly and the decor was modern without being pushy or overdone. It was a vast improvement from canteen days and at that moment, jet lag and all, I could only hope the food would come quickly and of value.

For my main, My Tagliolini was done with perfection and it was neither too greasy with the oil and well mixed. (Although I think the serving could do with a little MORE crab meat). The other main we had was the "U.S Kurobuta pork with sauteed spinach" and it was nicely executed! The pork remained tender and much of the juice was retained in the meat. This was certainly a far cry from the last pork meal we had at its predecessor Canteen where it was dry, tough and inedible.

Halfway thru the dinner, the waiter wanted to refill our water glasses which i stopped him as ours was stillwater. He didnt come back and I was wondering why he left our glasses almost empty. When i waved again and queried, he told us that we had finished our water. I was surprised and told him that I am pretty certain that my bottle is 3/4 full and he went to the kitch immediately, only to realise his colleague had accidentally placed our bottle in the freezer instead of the chiller container! The waiter didnt return to explain actually nor apologised for the mixed up. I only found out what happened when i asked him again when we were leaving. I guess this is one area where service could be further improved, updating the customer and apologised when false assumption had been made and told to its customers. Overall the service would have been rated a 7/10, but it certainly has rooms for improvement.

The dessert tiramisu is excellent and anyone who loves it should have a go at it at La Strada. I promise you wont be disappointed, esp when its coming from a non tiramisu lover like myself.

All in all a good meal and the Chef Leondro deserves compliments for doing justice to his food and dishing out food worth returning for.