3-Michelin-Starred Chef Mauro Colagreco Opens Italian Eatery At Capella; Fab Pizzas From $24
The casual restaurant has a swish ambience and a reasonably-priced (by swish standards) menu.
The Argentine-Italian chef’s Singapore connection came via a Mirazur pop-up at the members-only Mandala Club in 2021. The same year, he opened an outpost of his Argentinian burger chain Carne here, which has since closed.
Photo: Fiamma
New Italian restaurant at the Capella Singapore
But the man was back in town last week to launch Fiamma, his new Italian restaurant at the Capella Singapore. The casual eatery serves up an unpretentious menu similar to what chef Mauro’s Italian grandmother cooks at home — comforting plates of handmade pasta, homely polpette - Italian-style meatballs draped in a feisty tomato sauce - and made-from-scratch pizzas, fired up in an enormous applewood-lit oven.
Photo: Fiamma
The look
Fiamma takes over Capella’s Mediterranean restaurant The Knolls. The airy, high-ceilinged space has been transformed into a tasteful, elegant nook that looks like a model home in an interior design magazine. In the morning, the restaurant functions as a buffet breakfast spot for hotel guests (Fiamma only serves its Italian menu for lunch and dinner).
We expect the prices here to make our wallet weep - after all, it’s at a five-star luxury hotel and we see a whole row of supercars parked outside the villas behind the restaurant. But the menu is surprisingly not exorbitant, considering the ambience and chef’s pedigree.
A pizza, portioned for eight pax, starts from $24. Appetisers start at the same price, while house-made pasta dishes like a Confit Lamb Bolognese goes for $28. The food is served in portions meant for sharing between at least two diners. Naturally, don’t expect to pay hawker prices here. But for an atas meal, we say Fiamma’s prices are still very reasonable for the dining experience you get.
A Culatello di Zibello aperitivo.
Traditional Italian meal
A full traditional Italian meal consists of around five parts: Aperitivo (pre-meal tipple), Antipasto (a light hot or cold dish to whet the appetite), Primi (a heavier appetiser, usually pasta or pizza), Secondo (main course, usually meat or seafood) and Dolce (desserts).
As such, this is how you should navigate Fiamma’s menu. 8days.sg dropped by the restaurant for two meals and here’s what’s worth ordering (and not).
Order this: Tartufo Pizza, $36 (feeds eight)
You can watch the restaurant’s chefs make the puffy-crusted pizzas — the pies are shaped by hand and shoved into the oven’s gaping maw to cook for a few minutes. There are four types of Neapolitan pizzas on the menu here (from $24 to $36) like the Tartufo (Italian for ‘truffle’), which is topped with creamy smoked scamorza (a mozzarella-like cheese that’s smoked over burning straw), Tuscan salami and fresh Australian black truffles that are shaved over the pizza just before it’s served.
Our piping hot slice oozes rich scamorza, which is not that jelak when cut with salty slices of salami and a smattering of perfumey truffle slivers. Everything is nudged into place by an airy, crackly cornicione (the pizza crust). If you’re the type to feel full easily before the meal is in full swing, go for a lighter pizza instead. The earthy pesto-based Genovese ($28) is also good, paired with unfussy chunks of mozzarella and shaved parmigiano reggiano. 
Order this: Polpette, $24
Mauro Colagreco’s veal-pork polpette nestles in a pool of thick tomato sauce, tinged green with a piquant basil-ginger reduction that boosts the tomato’s tanginess. We could eat the whole bowl of meatballs - each orb, a little firm to the bite yet soft inside, is smothered in that delicious orange sauce, which is perked up with just a bit of chilli.
Order this: Carpaccio Di Pomodoro e Pesca, $26
Most of the menu items have Italian names for dramatic Italiano flair, but this refreshing appetiser simply means “tomato and peach carpaccio” (chef Mauro, a gardening enthusiast, considers this his signature dish).
The fruits are sliced to a 2mm thickness, almost Casper-transparent. Each sliver soaks up a good amount of its ginger vinaigrette dressing studded with little pistachios. If you have always tossed out the tomato slices in your burger, it’s time to give it a shot here.
Order this: Crudo Siciliano (seabream carpaccio), $34
We enjoy sashimi because it showcases the seafood’s natural flavours, and by itself raw seabream has a clean, mild flavour. The delicate fish is dressed up with frills here like mint oil, little dollops of orange sauce, onions and pistachios, which come together so nicely, we actually welcome the fussy additions.
Order this: Crudo di Gambero Rosso di Mazara (red prawn carpaccio), $48
If you’re looking to splurge, this carpaccio dish with kumquat halves is just as delightful. It’s also very pricey because gambero rosso, the red prawn with unparalleled sweet, springy flesh, can only be found in specific parts of the Mediterranean sea 700m-deep.
Can consider: Tagliatelle All’astice, $56
The great house-made tagliatelle here is cooked al-dente and served with chunks of blue lobster (famous for its bright blue hue) in a tomato confit. It’s fab.
Do we need blue lobster in our pasta? No, but somehow the seared tuna Penne Alla Calabrese ($32) doesn’t quite cut it for us. If you got a nice bonus this year, the lobster tagliatelle is a worthy way to flex. The Gnocchi Alla Sorrentina (pictured above, $38) in tomato sauce with black truffles is also decent. 
Can skip: Bistecca Alla Fiorentina, $160 (feeds two to three)
For this price, you get a hulkin’ 1kg dry-aged beef chop served with balsamic grilled eggplants and baby potatoes. During our first visit to Fiamma, the steak was dry (though much juicier on our second visit - it’s highly likely that the staff is still getting used to their new kitchen grill).
Order this: Moringa Cotta, $16
Save room for the desserts here - the selection is one of the best we have tried in a restaurant. Like this Moringa Cotta pick with slow-baked meringue that crumbles to nothing in our mouth, sweetened with vanilla cream, fresh berries and a berry sauce with crunchy seeds in it.
Order this: Panna Cotta Esotici, $18
This velvety vanilla panna cotta comes with a crown of tropical pineapples, mangoes, passion fruit and some pine nuts for crunch. The smooth, silky cream and tart fruits is a lovely end to our heavy Italian meal (there’s coffee on the menu to wash it all down like the Italians do).
Fiamma is at Capella Singapore, 1 The Knolls, Sentosa, S098297. Open daily 7am-11am (breakfast), 12pm-10pm (lunch & dinner). Instagram, website.
Photos: Yip Jieying
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