La Cala

Decent place for Spanish food. I know it's Tapas stuff but portions served are too small, even for some of the mains. Came here a couple of times and tried the white anchovies, halibut fish in green sauce, chicken croquette, crispy suckling pig, simmering prawn, the 500g steak, and squid ink paella. Don't look at my pictures 🤣

Nice quiet environment to have a long chat with your friends. Attentive staff, regular water and wine top up. One middle age asian male staff who is handling our table is very friendly and approachable. One of the female staff, could be new, did not know what's she's serving. Food on the whole are quite decent. Was alil disappointed with the patatas bravas, was expecting the sauce suppose to at least a lil spicy. Prefer the original ones. Overall still a good meal.

We opted for the seasonal set lunch that comes with a starter, main, dessert and coffee or tea for $28 nett excluding service charge & GST. The staff were friendly and very patient with our questions about the food. I got the chicken cannelloni with bechamel & parmeggiano cheese for the starter, meatballs with potato confit & calamari for the main, and peppermint tea. Overall good dining experience.

Came here for lunch due to their lunch pasta (5 options) sets which were $15 for a pasta and drink. Lunch price point seemed substantially lower than their regular menu which may be on the steep side for frequent regular repeat customers. For those who need some sort of meat added such as chicken or prawns to the oglio olio/ pesto/ arrabiata, top up is $10. They didn't have the item we were interested in which was the macaroni. So we tried their carbonara (bacon included), aglio olio and pesto, and ordered an appetizer, foie bon bon. They provided hot bread to start, olive oil and a very thick balsamic syrup. Bread was warm, chewy with nice crunchy crust, and the oil+syrup was a good addition. 9/10 Foie bon bon was a small piece of foie gras wrapped in thin apple slice, with apple sauce. It was very pretty, just that it the apple flavour overwhelmed the delicate foie gras taste. Feedback was given to the chef, hopefully it is tweaked for future. 6/10 Pastas were all excellently executed. The spaghetti texture was a perfect al dente. Pesto sauce was substantially tasty with lots of pine nuts. Carbonara was lightly creamy, tasty, with large meaty chunks of bacon. Aglio olio was tasty and spicy as well, just a little on the salty side. 9/10 Service by our male server was attentive, and he was knowledgeable, but the lady seemed new. The drinks that came with the meal were not offered to us until the pastas came and we asked if the set came with a drink. 8/10 #localguides