Hidden away in Alexandra in the midst of all office building lies a gem of a cafe and its none other than Portico. If not for the invited session, I would have never knew that such place exist. Portico presents a unique concept with an edible herb garden surrounding them. They are creating some innovative comtemporary Western and Eurpoean style cuisines with a taste of home.
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Portico Cafe.Restuarant.Bar |
Be stunned by this wooden horse structure looking over the entrance of Portico.
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Wooden Horse |
The outdoor dining area is spacious, with seats up to 100 and is ideal for celebration be it a wedding or a party. In fact, With Portico being surrounded by the sprawling herb and vegetables garden which gave a very relaxing ambiance, especially during the night falls. Do bring some friends over here for a chill out session after a hard day of work.
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Alfresco Dining |
Spot
on! This little corner is awesome. People who come here to chill out or
even during the night time over their beer session, they can challenge
each other over the table.
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Snooker |
Moving deep into the restaurant, you can feel the inviting ambiance even in the day time.Settings had given a modern and leisure vibe which let patrons feel as comfortable as home.
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Dining Area |
Interior may was laid with cement screed ground which gave a industrial concept, however with its lovely furnishing it somewhat gave a casual and relaxing environment to be in. What's more, Portico is a pet friendly cafe, therefore, Pet Owners, you do not have to worry if you are bringing your cat over too.
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Interior |
Starting off with the sharing sessions, we were welcome by such alluring deep fried wings in the skillet with chilli and lime dip. The outer layers had a very good crispy texture and as I sink my teeth into it, I felt the succulency in its meat. Not only that, they were well marinated. Making taste perfect, their wings came with a familar taste from the Belachan chilli that I could not resist in more helpings. On a side note, if these yummy wings were to pair with the cooling beer, that would be a bonus.
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Portico Chicken Wings |
Make your Saturdays fruitful! Head over to Portico on Saturday afternoons for special
activities. The sessions at Portico not only draw a closer relationship
with food, it also let us enjoy the sharing demo sessions by the chefs.
Head Chef, Nixon Low was featured as a Top Local Chef in Singapore 2014 by SG Magazine Online. It was such a pleasure to have him leading the session with plating of Portico's Signature Tomato Salad.
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Plating Demostration by Head Chef, Nixon Low |
Plating might seems easy but it required some skills in order to achieved such beautiful output. The meticulous and professional inputs by Head Chef Nixon were very helpful.
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Plating of Salad of Vine-Ripened Tomato - Product of Chef Nixon Low - $17 |
We felt the pressure! We were given the ingredients and was told to recall the plating demonstration procedures done by Chef Nixon earlier on. Fortunately, the instruction was very clear and ingredients were all laid out neatly by the hospitable staff on duty.
Ingredients include, organic quinoa, honey melon dressing, plum dressing, tomato, herds and jamon serrrano slices.
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Ingredients |
Ta-da! The session by Chef Nixon was came in handy and I had done up my first plating ever. Besides the colors that made it attractive, the blanched skinless Vine-ripened tomato was a total scene stealer. Munch on it and let the bursting effect of its juice tell you more!
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My First Plating |
Latte Art Demo Class was another session that I looked forward to. As a non coffee lover, I never learn to enjoy a simple cup until I went through the process to appreciate such art done by a Barista.
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Add caption |
Fill the roasted coffee powder on the portafilter and getting prepared for the process!
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Roasted Coffee Powder |
We are almost done with the latte art demonstration, keep your hands steady!
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Demonstration |
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Demonstrated Cup |
Steaming of milk under the active steam pressure marked the importance. It has to be of significance temperature and as the temperature increase, it can be felt by our hands.
And here comes the formation of latte art. If you heat the milk much beyond a certain temperature you are at the risk of ruining the beautiful texture.
The rolling effect was both very exciting as we need to tilt both the milk and the cup as we pour them into each other.
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Rolling Effect |
I thought there was a tendency of overflowing but with the steady guidance of the staff, I manage to get it done in no time.
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My Latte Art |
The 3rd Part the of session we had was the sharing session by Pollen Nation, Singapore's only Bee Hive and Bee Swarm Relocation Service. Many people see Bee Hive as pests but their school of thought is totally different. They believe that bees play an important role in the urban Eco-system by upholding the main role of pollination and all thanks to their beliefs we get to taste our LOCAL Raw Honey. Since these honeys were rather exclusive, they are not commonly seen on the shelves. And interestingly, there are some R&D going on with Portico. Look forward to something new on their Menu soon.
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Give the bees another chance of survival |
To avoid disappointment, it is better to check on their website or call in to find out more on the demonstration classes.
Rating: 3.5 / 5
Portico
Location: 991B Alexandra Road #01-10 Singapore 119964
Operating Hours: Lunch: 1130 – 1500 (Mon-Sat)
Dinner: 1730 – 2330 (Mon-Thurs), 1730 – 0030 (Fri-Sat)
Website
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