5 luxurious pastas you have to try in Singapore

This rebranded CBD restaurant perched on top of Ocean Financial Centre continues to serve modern Italian food topped with a stunning view. Tuck into beautifully plated ravioli filled with finely minced braised wagyu beef. The stuffed parcels are perked up with chitarra anchovy, and paired with with Grana Padano fondue, sweet onion molasses, and beef and onion consommé.

Executive chef Andrea De Paola took inspiration from Pasta alla Genovese, made with a sauce of slow-cooked beef and onion, which was one of his favourite dishes since young. Here, he reshapes the hearty dish into his special rendition of ravioli and adds anchovies (a secret ingredient in his mother’s original recipe) for more depth of flavour.

Another luxe dish to slurp up is the house-made tagliolini dressed in a light scampi sauce infused with chilli oil and elevated with scampi crudo marinated with house-made Amalfi lemon garum. It is complete with a scampi bisque and briny sea grapes.

10 Collyer Quay, Level 43, Singapore 049315

This one-Michelin-starred restaurant at 29 Scotts Road offers a variety of contemporary pasta specialities. Resident chef Denis Lucchi’s creations include seasonal items such as linguine with bamboo clams, sea asparagus and bottarga. The linguine comes from Rustichella d’Abruzzo, a multi-generational family business in Abruzzo, known for their artisanal pasta prepared using traditional methods. The chef tosses the ribbons of pasta with the juice from cooked Scottish bamboo clams and a briny sea asparagus puree, then complements the dish with tender bamboo clam meat marinated in extra virgin olive oil, lemon juice, parsley and bottarga. The dish is finally crowned with sea asparagus and more bottarga shavings.

This season, diners may also get to try the tagliolini with butter emulsion, parmesan cheese and luxurious Italian white truffle. From end October till December (or when the white truffle season ends), guests can enjoy white truffle available at market price. What you’ll get is robust 36-month aged Parmigiano Reggiano sauce clinging on to freshly hand-crafted tagliolini, which is scattered with shavings of white truffle before serving.

29 Scotts Rd, Singapore 228224

The new La D’Oro at Mandarin Gallery mall features Italian-Japanese casual and omakase menus using the best seasonal produce from both countries. Chef-owner Yohhei Sasaki is a veteran Japanese chef with over 20 years of culinary experience in Italian restaurants in Japan, Italy and Singapore. One of his signature dishes is the linguine coated with an umami-rich sea urchin sauce brightened with yuzu juice. It is partnered with slices of Sardinia bottarga and fresh Hokkaido sea urchin.

There’s also the Chef’s Special Aglio Olio served at the end of the meal. Although not particularly decadent in terms of ingredients used, this unique creation is composed of specially made semolina flour spaghetti that has a thicker, slightly chewier texture. The chef uses a stock made of reduced chicken jus (derived from three different types of chickens), katsuobushi, niboshi (dried sardine), kombu and vegetables. All this is painstakingly simmered for eight hours to achieve a welcome depth of flavour.

333A Orchard Road, Mandarin Gallery, #01-16/17, 239987

One-Michelin-starred Braci at 52 Boat Quay is known for its unique Italian creations. A mainstay here is the sublime 32-yolk tagliolini made with 32 egg yolks and 1 kg of semolina flour. The slurp-worthy tangles of pasta is partnered with two types of sea urchin from Hokkaido: naturally sweet bafun uni (available in winter) is preserved and turned into a rich paste and added to the sauce, well as fresh and creamy murasaki sea urchin. The perfectly coiled tagliolini is then crowned with delicate Ossetra caviar alongside a sprig of kinome or shiso flower which lends a subtle spiced aroma.

52 Boat Quay, #05-01/ #06-01, Singapore 049841