Osteria Mozza has been known as one of the celebrity chefs restaurants in one of our integrated resorts. The celebrity chef in this case, is Mario Batali. He has many restaurants in New York City, but I didn’t go to any somehow. In Singapore, Osteria Mozza is rather up market, probably due to the location. I wouldn’t say this is fine dining, because the whole restaurant was crammed and noisy, but definitely with very fine prices. Generally, the prices here are probably double of what you get in Los Angeles, where the other Osteria Mozzas are. I expected quite a lot from this, due to the hype and high prices, and I can say that the food has met up to expectations, but not so for the other aspects.
Uccelliera Rapace Toscana 2006 – $180.00++
The wines there are mostly premium and this was what the sommelier recommended. It was not bad, but not worth the premium price.
Seared tuna salad – $35.00++
This was recommended by the wait staff. While it was really not bad, I would rather get another plate of pasta for the same price, because this just wasn’t that special.
Mozzarella Tasting: burricotta,
burrata & bufala mozzarella– $35.00++
I liked this more than the salad, because the bread here was really good! I’m not sure how they made it, or what sort of bread it was, but it was really good. Among the cheeses here, I liked the bufala most. It was really soft and creamy. However, again I would rather get another plate of pasta than this.
Lobster tagliatelle with saffron and sea urchin sauce – $55.00++
I don’t have the exact name for this but it was something like that. This was on the menu for the Sunday I went, and I am not sure whether or not they have this daily. This was just super delicious. Probably one of the best lobster pastas ever. if you like the taste of lobster, you’ll love this.
Butternut Squash Mezzalune with Amaretti – $26.00++
This stuffed pasta was on the sweet side, because squash is generally sweet. This was like nothing I ever tasted before, and it was good. The filling was creamy and slightly flowy. Generally, I love stuffed pasta and this was among the better ones which I’ve tried.
Celery Root Cappellacci with Bluefoot mushrooms -$29.00++
This too is a slightly sweet pasta, though not as sweet as the one above. Again, I really loved it. By now I am convinced that Osteria Mozza has the one of the best pastas in Singapore.
Linguine with clams, pancetta & spicy chiles – $29.00++
This one is like fried noodles, and while it was not bad, I still prefer my clam pastas to have white wine sauce.
Corzetti Stampati with eggplant, olives & bufala ricotta – $25.00++
This was probably the most salty of all pastas we had. Again it was good, but not something I would miss.
Grilled Wagyu Beef Tagliata with rucola & Parmigiano Reggiano -$65.00++
Even though this was wagyu, it didn’t really have much marbling. Perhaps it was a rump/ hanger/ flank cut rather than normal steak cuts like striploin, fillet or ribeye (definitely not). As it was all cut up and charred on the outside, I couldn’t really tell. Or perhaps the wagyu was of the lowest marbling. However, the meat was quite soft and the cooking technique was good to create the desired doneness of medium rare. Even though I love my steaks, I would recommend getting more pastas over this.
So after raving about pastas, here comes the bad experience. You know how Italian food is always salty, and you’ll need a lot of water? Well I became really dehydrated because my water was never refilled. In the first place, refilling of water is expected to be automatic. Perhaps the lighting in this restaurant was too dark hence their visibility of our empty glasses was not clear, so I can let that rest. (I used flash in all my photos because it was really that dark!). However, I made my request when a waiter pops by to clear our plates. I get a polite and warm response of “Sure!”, and anticipated my water to come. However, it never came. I repeated this process about 5 times, with the same responses paraphrased like “certainly!”, “of course!” etc, but still, the water did not come. I feel somewhat cheated. How come they never forget when we ask for the bill? If it is so hard to serve water, I wouldn’t mind if they had put the entire jug on our table for us to do it ourselves. Or perhaps they wanted us to buy their drinks, hence not topping up our water – but if that’s the case, free water should not be made an option in the first place.
*****
Ambiance: 7/10
Food: 9/10
Value: 5.5/10
Overall: Good food but bad service. If you really need good pastas and can live without having water for a meal, go for it.
*****
The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands
2 Bayfront Avenue
B1 Galleria Level 42-46
Singapore 018972
*****
Dinner Daily: 5pm – 11pm
Hungry Bird 