STILL GOOD

Fresh from a lockdown and eager to remind people what it can do, Italian mainstay Cicheti is back with a new menu. Singaporean head chef and coowner Lim Yew Aun hasn’t had the chance to visit Italy, and we’re beginning to suspect that it’s the reason for Cicheti’s success. The food’s perceptibly Italian, but sneakily fine-tuned to fit local palates. Think less acidic and more robust flavours.

Besides the mainstay wood-fired oven pizzas, there are market-fresh tiger prawns, grilled over an open fire and slathered with an umami, garlicky smoked herb butter, and eggplant, charred over the same fire but receiving a caper-butter-chilli flake-toasted breadcrumb dressing.

Other highlights include beef cheek paccheri (a large, tube-shaped pasta) made with eight-hour ragu and a deconstructed lemon tart with rosemary-infused cream, candied lemon peel, almond crumble and surprising rounds of briney capers. They’ve also got an Enoteca now, so expect more exceptional wines available by the glass.