A meatball cafe? This new family-owned restaurant has a fun hook with heaps of potential - after all, everyone likes meatballs.
Polpetta is the brainchild of 20-year-old Egbert Nah, largely inspired by The Meatball Shop chain in New York City, as well as Egbert's stint working at MyBurgerLab. Egbert's family has deep roots in F&B - his uncles own Champ's in Centrepoint & BSC & Bernard's in Centrepoint.
The concept's similar to The Meatball Shop's - choose your balls (beef, chicken or meat-free mushroom), select a sauce, topping & an optional base. True to Polpetta's name, the recipes are mainly Italian.
Chicken meatballs with a pasta base, marinara sauce & parmesan cheese topping (RM13). The meatballs are big - supposedly six centimetres in diameter, bigger than a golf ball & close to a tennis ball.
Chicken meatballs with mashed potatoes, pesto sauce & beef bacon crispy crunch (RM15). Polpetta is still tweaking its recipes to make these meatballs juicier, though they're already nicely textured, with a home-made coarseness & real-meat tenderness that combine for a satisfactory bite & a fulfilling chew.
Note that stocks can run out fast; we reached at 1pm on a weekday & the vegetarian balls made with white mushrooms were sold out for the lunch session (they would only be replenished during dinnertime). Polpetta is also open on weekends, when parking is much more plentiful in the 10 Boulevard complex.
Beef balls with more mashed potatoes (the brown rice & salad bases were also sold out), cheesy cream sauce & roasted garlic topping (nuts or roasted onions are the other two possible toppings) for RM13. Further customisation is possible - patrons can skip the base & save RM3 or add on a fried egg for RM1 or hash brown for RM1.50.
No complaints - portions are hearty; everything tastes fresh & reasonably nourishing, tasting pretty much as good as they look. Total comfort food. As time goes by, we hope Polpetta will come up with more imaginative preparations & components to keep things interesting & expand the horizons of this 'meatball canvas.' Service is friendly, efficient & welcoming.
Polpetta has other dishes to add variety - we like the eggplant 'toasties' (RM8), served steaming-hot, crispy on the outside & succulent within, crowned with creamy tomato sauce & cheese to make this pretty much a parmigiana - absolutely addictive. Fried chicken wings, beef goulash & oxtail soup are available too.
The petite Red Cupid cupcake - red velvet with Nutella cream cheese frosting - is freshly baked everyday & makes for an enjoyable ending to a meal at Polpetta. Pair it with a green tea latte.
Polpetta Cafe: Your Meatball Canvas
10 Boulevard, Kayu Ara, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. The cafe is on back row of the complex, not visible from the Sprint Highway.
Open daily, 11am-9pm
10 Boulevard, Kayu Ara, Petaling Jaya, Selangor. The cafe is on back row of the complex, not visible from the Sprint Highway.
Open daily, 11am-9pm
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