“Porta-Porta” oozes an eccentric atmosphere when you peer through its doors. Shirts, pants and bras suspended on clothesline gracing the ceiling zoom into sight as you step in; plastic vines twining around the wooden dividers at a corner become noticeable as you descend on your seat -- and then you cannot help wondering if you are in the midst of an eclectic Italian streetscape or a restaurant.
The Napoli usher, Daniel, a 13-year resident of Singapore, accustomed to curiosity cast on the laundry, was quick to explain with a Singaporean accent that the clothes were dipped in starch and cement to form an inevitable feature of his restaurant which he prided as enshrining the real Napoli - in spirit and in taste. Shortly, I was to appreciate the semantics of the phrase, “real Napoli” once my skepticism on the possibility of recreating a Napoli in Singapore vanished after just savoring the initial morsel of egg-plant in olive oil and herbs from a delightful platter of tomatoes, cauliflower and squash. The Cesari Mara (2001) that Daniel recommended outrageously scourged my appetite, and the desecration of dieting oaths was about to begin with bruschetta with tomatoes ($16.50) -- a dish that Kevin, the chef, and the loving father of Daniel, ensured would burst with aroma at every crunch into its warm golden crust crowned by soft, cold tomatoes and herbs. “I have to be so careful with timing here,” he explained the feat involved, “that’s why I often lose my voice in the kitchen.”
But it is certainly not precise timing alone that makes wonderful creations indelible: the calamari’s ($27.50) sheer thin coat lightly crumbled to give way to lingering succulence unfound in other versions; and aracini, meticulously rotund rice-balls with mozzarella-filling like Japanese koroke with an Italian expert’s twist, both manifested the belief that the inner core of freshness should be accorded supreme. These rice-balls have to be ordered in advance.
But it is certainly not precise timing alone that makes wonderful creations indelible: the calamari’s ($27.50) sheer thin coat lightly crumbled to give way to lingering succulence unfound in other versions; and aracini, meticulously rotund rice-balls with mozzarella-filling like Japanese koroke with an Italian expert’s twist, both manifested the belief that the inner core of freshness should be accorded supreme. These rice-balls have to be ordered in advance.
The climax of this orgasmic dining experience was reached with the family’s handmade ravioli al nero ($26.50) squid ink flavored ravioli with filling of clam, squid and codfish) before Daniel added a wholesome touch to the meal: a fresh salad and a hearty fish soup. That was not the end, he promised, as he brought out penne al dente with shrimp in tomato-base cream with a tinge of chilli-hot ($23.00). I queried its fragrance and found out that its magical scent exuded partially from the chopped cilantro. “But this is no place for fusion cuisine; my taste buds are true-blue Italian,” he stressed, as he made sure that I cleaned up the scrumptious sauce with Porta-Porta's divine homemade bread.
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