Singapore certainly has no shortage of good Italian restaurants, and another fine one has appeared on the scene. With ex‑Gordon Ramsay chef Domenico Savarese heading the kitchen, this restaurant delivers authentic, well‑prepared south Italian cuisine in an elegant setting. Our lunch sets were excellent value for three courses with a good choice of starters and mains; although only the obligatory tiramisu was provided for dessert. The starters of Parma ham with rock melon; and breaded squid with vegetables were delicious—the ham was soft and thinly shaved; the melon was really sweet; and the squid, fresh and tender. The mains fared similarly well. We chose pasta mains; and highly recommend them, or any of the pasta dishes—because Savarese makes his own pasta, something all good Italian chefs should do. We went for something we don’t usually order in restaurants because it is often done poorly—spaghetti bolognaise. But it was superb here. The fresh, tasty spaghetti topped with a real meat sauce (as you would get in Naples) had us scraping the bottoms of our plates. The prawn linguine was pretty good too, although the crustaceans were a little overcooked. We also had no complaints about the service, which was friendly and quick without being intrusive. Interestingly, the restaurant was humming with a decent lunchtime crowd in spite of the restaurant’s odd location in an inconspicuous boutique hotel on a street dominated mainly by karaoke bars that have led preceding restaurants here to not work out. We’ll definitely come back, as there was a lot on the menu we’d like to try.
