Bottura is a new Italian restaurant which sprung up from the newly renovated Suntec City. It was a pleasant surprise from my friend, bak bak (Hokkien for meaty) because it's a place I told myself I gotta try.
Being more of a mains lover, we decided to forgo the antipasti and headed straight for the serious food. 2 pasta and 1 pizza (bak bak can really eat, it's okay). The pasta we picked were tagliolini zebrati con gamberetti e zucchini ($22) and linguine alle vongole ($20). Both dishes were cooked to perfection. Pasta al dente and sauce rich enough to appreciate the flavor but not overpowering till the pastas tasted the same. Being a hardcore pasta fan, I'm extremely particular about pastas. Bad pastas typically have pre-made sauces or even when cooked by the chef are diluted and stingy with the ingredients or time spent that you can't tell the ingredients used to produce them. This one is none of the above.
For pizza, we chose frutti di mare ($22) This is a traditional seafood pizza topped with tomatoes, mozzarella, calamari, salmon, clams and shrimp. The taste was light, yet sufficiently distinct that you can appreciate the individual ingredients that topped the pizza. I felt the crust wasn't the best I've eaten but definitely could pass off as a very traditional stone baked pizza.
Bottura definitely passes off as a good traditional Italian restaurant that is smack in the heart of town. As they are relatively new, there're deals available on groupon, deals.com.sg and other deals websites which you can capitalize on for now. I'm already a Bottura fan, and definitely I'm incentivized to keep them in business so that I can keep eating.
Bottura (Closed Permanently)
#02-472/473/474 Suntec City Mall
North wing between tower 1 & 2
Aside from pasta, there's my favorite bak chor mee which I must have on my birthday. This stall hasn't been discovered by the blogosphere at large yet as it just found its way into this obscure coffee shop in Serangoon last year.
28 Noodles is run by this old husband and wife team. At $3, it's the most generous serving of bak chor mee I've ever eaten in Singapore. What I like about this bak chor mee is what I deem (my own perspective) as old school bak chor mee taste. When I was living in jurong 20 years ago, I recalled eating a bak chor mee which was riched in its bak chor taste and had very Q noodles with chilli that goes well with the bak chor. I recalled it tasted heavenly. When I grew up, I tried to find a similar bak chor mee but have never succeeded till I chanced upon 28 noodles. This is the exact same taste and even with its anonymity, it'll take you half an hour to buy it so be prepared to queue.
28 Noodles
Block 204 Serangoon Central #01-104
And finally, I thought I share about my staycation experience which I was very happy about. Capri by Frasers is located within 1 min walking distance from Changi City Point. It's a service apartment with a small kitchen for cooking, a very spacious room with enough floor space to play board games and a big enough toilet that won't wet the entire floor when one uses it to bathe or wash up.
Service was good too! Fussy Pot arranged a cake to be delivered and a cake was prepared and served up right after check in. In fact, this staycation was very different from the others I've had because the kitchen gave us room to explore cooking without having to clean up!
Boy did we have fun. Angel hair salmon pasta with Chinese wonton and ah balling. We bought glutinous rice flour, wonton skins and all the necessary ingredients to have a fun and memorable cook-out activity. The damage to the pocket was fairly manageable as well. All in all about $180-$200. You may wish to have your next singapore stay over at Capri by Frasers :)