You may have walked past one of these Caffe Pronto in Japan, but may not have paid special attention.
While the Italian-Japanese fusion restaurant Pronto has over 330 stores all over Japan, perhaps it isn’t as obvious as some of the more prominent mass coffee places there such as Doutor, Excelsior, and Tully’s.
Pronto has opened in Singapore, within Capital Square along Church Street.
It is located within a Japanese-themed gourmet space called GOCHI – which houses six different Japanese food concepts. These include Chojiro (sushi), Unaemon (unagi), Suage Express (soup curry), Morozoff (cheesecakes and chocolates), and Paletas (popsicle).
“Pronto” is Italian for “ready”, and the concept is somewhat between an Italian coffee place and a restaurant-bar.
It changes its menu and service style according to the time of the day. This is where you can enjoy Italian-style coffee and bread in the morning, then a plate of pasta for lunch and dinner.
”Welcome to Pronto. Welcome to Pronto!”
You may have wondered if the staff was previously from Uniqlo, as they called out to potential customers in that some energetic tone.
This is in contrast with the inside, where some of the CBD workers are in discussions about work.
There is quite a variety for the drinks, from the standard Café Latte ($5, $7), Brown Sugar Bubble Milk Coffee ($6.50, $8.50), Iced Earl Grey Tea ($4.50, $6.50) to Iced Watermelon & Berry Tea ($6, $8).
A recommended item was the Chill Brew, a morning cuppa which is brewed at a lower temperature than cold brew coffee to produce natural sweetness.
I had the Iced Kyoto Matcha Latte ($6.50, $8.50) which had a nice lingering bitter matcha flavour at parts, but was unfortunately too diluted (lessen the ice perhaps).
During lunch, customers can order a reasonably-priced lunch items of pasta and salads.
Pasta choices include the classic Bolognese ($11), Porcini Cream Sauce with Truffle Oil ($15), Scallop & Bottarga Aglio Olio ($13), Crab & Broccoli Arrabiata ($18), and Mozzarella Tomato Sauce ($15).
Since the Salmon & Avocado Basil Cream ($13) is prominently featured on their publicity pamphlet, I thought I had to order that.
Japanese-style pasta are typically lighter. This was not too heavy on the cream, in fact you could almost slurp it up like soup. Ingredients could be less sparse, but at least the price was friendly for the CBD.
Come night time, Pronto transforms into a bar, serving alcoholic beverages such as Japanese-style draft beer, Sangria and highball cocktails.
There are also moreish plates on the evening menu to go with the alcohol, such as meat platters, Fried Chicken ($13), Chicken Nanban ($16), and Angus Beef Steak ($18) with 3 sauces.
Pronto Singapore
Capital Square #01-02/08, 23 Church Street Singapore S049481
Opening Hours: 7:30am – 11:30pm (Mon – Thurs), 7:30am – 2am (Fri), 11am – 10pm (Sat, Sun)
Other Related
Unaemon (Capital Square)
Sora Boru (313@somerset)
JW360° (Jewel Changi Airport)
Yujin Izakaya (Zion Road)
Menya Kokoro (Suntec City)
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