Smoked Duck Broccoli Genovese It does seem that the idea of quick service eateries serving up pasta is getting rather commonplace in the F&B scene in the past couple of years — whilst such establishments tend to be either standalone eateries or situated within the Central Business District, some of such establishments had also seen to have found their way into the heartlands within coffeeshops. J.K. Pasta is one of such establishments that had found itself within the Lucky Stars coffeeshop situated within Blk 27 Upper Changi Road. These folks shouldn’t be too difficult to locate considering how they occupy a stall within the middle of the coffeeshop, while the signboard is also brightly illuminated with the logo of the stall and the namesake of the stall being backlit; quite contrasting when compared to the signboard of neighbouring stalls surrounding it. As the namesake of the stall suggests, J.K. Pasta is a stall serving up pasta as its primary offering — the stall carries pasta with four (4) different sauce bases for patrons to choose from; Genovese, Tomato Sauce, Aglio e Olio and Mentaiko Cream, all of which where patrons can choose to opt for their preferred choice of meats / seafood. Apart from the various pasta dishes that they have to offer, J.K. Pasta also offers side dishes for those whom intend to share a dish across the table as well.
There are quite a number of options that one can go for when it comes to the accompanying meats to have alongside its pasta offerings — for our order of the Genovese, we decided to go for the Smoked Duck Broccoli Genovese. Interestingly, J.K. Pasta does allow patrons to also opt for their preferred type of pasta out of three (3) that they offer — the Fusilli, Linguine and the Spaghetti; we found ourselves opting for the Fusilli. Also noted is how J.K. Pasta actually pairs up their pasta offerings together with a salad on the side; perhaps an attempt to serve up something more wholesome on their part — though one thing we quite disliked about the presentation of their dishes would be the prevalent use of disposable ware despite our orders being made for dine-in. While there are no descriptions in the menu that would detail what had exactly went into the Smoked Duck Broccoli Genovese, one can observe that the pasta comes with slices of smoked duck, broccoli, cherry tomatoes and our choice of noodles all tossed with the Genovese cream sauce. Digging into the bowl of pasta, we did find the Fusilli being a little bit overdone; the pasta carrying a soft texture that lacked a tactile bite, while it was also quite evident that some of the pasta pieces have already been broken off as well; the Genovese cream that it was tossed with was tasty, though this would done with a slight note of cheesiness without being too creamy, though this also results in the notes of basil being a little bit on the milder side as well. Going for the smoked duck here does make for quite a good choice, considering how the inherent savouriness of the smoked duck would match the creamy, lightly tangy and savoury notes of the pasta well; quite something they we would call a classic combination by this point. The broccoli was also cooked to a soft texture, and doesn’t require much effort to chew through as well.
Meanwhile, we also went for the Mentaiko Ebi Fry which is an item that is listed on the Side Dishes section of the menu — the Mentaiko Ebi Fry comes in a portion of three (3) pieces per serving, and these are pretty much standard fried ebi pieces that comes free from grease and with a crisp, golden-brown batter on the outside. The Mentaiko mayonnaise carried a saltish that is also albeit briny; the Mentaiko mayonnaise also has been flame-torched for a smokey note as well. It does seem that the folks at J.K. Pasta are ones who are looking to provide their patrons with quick and wholesome pasta meals just like how the office folks in the Central Business District are pretty used to having such items as a dining option there. This is evidently so from how J.K. Pasta does serve up a complimentary salad on the side that has been tossed with vinaigrette dressing which stalls serving up such forms of pasta do not usually offer alongside their pastas. That being said, the execution of the pasta at J.K. Pasta still has some room for improvement as seen in the Fusilli that we had opted for with the Smoked Duck Broccoli Genovese; we also do wish that they could perhaps cut down on the use of one-time use dining ware for dine-in patrons — after all, eating from cardboard / plastic boxes in a coffeeshop setting isn’t quite exactly that desirable. Prices of its pasta offerings range between $5.80 for the Spinach & Mushroom Aglio E Olio and $11.80 for the Ebi Asari Mentaiko / Ebi Asari Genovese; the prices still relatively decently priced when compared to the typical coffeeshop / hawker centre / food court stall serving up western fare.
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