.Elia is one of the new kid on the block along the long stretch of cafes in Keong Saik Street. The restaurant is considered huge with two stories. .Elia serves homemade pastas and sandwiches and have earned some strong approval from the food blogging community so far. To be honest, to hear raving reviews about food in new cafes these days is few and far between. So given the rarity of finding such a place, I was raring to give it a try on my first break.
Usually, I won't bother to blog about the beverages because I tend to stick to boring flat white. What's there to write about flat white right? In this instance, this is one of the best flat whites I've had. The .Elia flat white ($5) comes in 3 different sizes - 3Oz, 5Oz and 7Oz. The one I picked was the standard 5Oz. I've tried multiple flat whites in cafes everywhere, some lacked the sweetness which meant I needed to add sugar, some used coffee beans I deemed too bitter, blah blah, just not perfect. This version on the other hand got the mix just right. I didn't have to add sugar because it was sweet enough. The coffee beans was aromatic, and didn't have an overwhelming bitter taste. I enjoyed the creaminess of the milk which meant that the balance of coffee, sugar and milk was just right before it was served. It really made me look forward to give their other coffees a go now.
One thing I need to gripe about is how cafes have weekday and weekend menus. Seriously for working adults, we only ever get to try the weekend menus but most of the much raved about food is on the weekday menu! Does the cafe really think people will visit them to eat their food on a weekend if they work nearby or specially take leave or taxi/drive over on a weekday if their workplace is faraway? There's no logic in appealing to different crowds on weekends and weekdays.
Due to their weekend menu, I settled for the Spice Girls ($16.90), This pasta is made up of fried chicken with curry sauce. The curry has a very authentic Indian flavour, just like how a good curry chicken would taste. It's definitely an interesting way to blend it with pasta. I felt that while the sauce, pasta and chicken was well executed, the combination didn't work for me. It reminded me of curry noodles in Hong Kong cafe with thick mee pok. Not a good match in my opinion.
On the other hand, Vain Pot chose the Italian Job ($16.90) which was a combination of brown butter and egg yolk cooked with generous chunks of Italian Bacon. This combination is very delicious and gives me the eagerness to devour the food. A perfect choice if you love pastas.
.Elia has shown a lot of potential in terms of food execution. I would love to try their weekday menu some time but it's really a bad idea to offer different menus for weekends and weekdays in my opinion. I noted that the waiting time is really long. I finished my flat white before our food arrived. Vain Pot finished her pasta before mine arrived. I wonder how they coped with a weekday lunch crowd with their current efficiency. So good food with slow service, you can give them a chance if you aren't in a rush!
.Elia
10 Jiak Chuan Road, S089264
(remember your parking coupons if you drive here)