Masens

Gillman Barracks, 8 Lock Road 6694 2216 | masons.sg Go for: Casual, colonial-chic setting

Masons is located within the historic Gillman Barracks, which has become the art hub of Singapore, with lots of interesting galleries to visit; so, if you need a bite before or after your galleryhopping, this place is a good option. Set in a colonial black-and-white bungalow from 1935, the restaurant’s got a lovely outdoor area, where we kicked off our evening with some bubbles. It’s breezy and quiet, and surrounded by trees – a relaxing escape from the city.

While the menu incorporates a variety of cuisines, we were excited to try the Italian specialties, since Masons is part of the same restaurant group as Verve pizza (which means they must know a thing or two about Italian!). For starters, we had the calamari ($16), which was done right – crispy, but not chewy or heavily battered – and a caprese ($18), along with truffle fries ($12), which were lovely.

Moving on to mains, we were interested in trying some of the restaurant’s homemade pastas. We chose the prawn, zucchini and arugula linguini ($24) with fresh chilli, olive oil and garlic, and the Seafood Nero ($28) – squid ink linguini with a selection of seafood. The pasta portions are what an Italian mamma would give her child – huge! – so, come hungry! Still, while both pastas tasted good, we felt they lacked that Italian grandma “magic” – which, admittedly, is really hard to achieve!

There are over a dozen pizzas to choose from, with a range of flavours and cheeses. Among the signature pizzas here are the Clemenza ($26), with goat cheese, sweet balsamic onion chutney, beetroot, red onion, basil and baby spinach leaves, and the Corleone ($26) with Parma ham, arugula and shaved Parmesan.

The must-try: Calamari

Tip: Don’t miss happy hour from 4 to 7pm daily, when you’ll get 50 percent off the price of drinks; we recommend sipping your drink on the patio!