It’s nearly 2pm but the lunchtime crowd at Otto still is lingering around the tables. The ladies are enjoying their limoncellos as the men work out the bills between sips of espresso. The 60-seat main dining room of the Italian restaurant at the Red Dot Traffic Building is almost full and there are parties asking for the wine list in two of three private dining rooms. Paolo Zanin, the manager, does his best to rise above the confusion, doling out charm and grappa and making sure that no one has to wait too long for service.
In the kitchen, Chef Michele Pavanello also has his hands full. In a couple of days he will roll out a fresh menu for the restaurant – just as he does every three months – and in April he will serve special World Gourmet Summit meals for an entire week capped by an all-cheese, one-night-only dinner. There’s also a family trip in June to his native Treviso for a joint birthday celebration for his son and his father.
But for now, he banishes those distant errands and focuses on preparing a starter of seared slipper lobster with Jerusalem artichoke veloute. A deceptively simple dish, it hinges on the earthy tuber and the sweet crustacean — both of which have delicate yet distinct tastes. To add flavour and seal in the moisture, Chef Michele wraps the lobster in cured Tuscan lard and balances the dish with a garnish of fine Jerusalem artichoke chips. Although elemental, such dish is obviously a treat in Asia where, despite slipper lobsters’ availability, Jerusalem artichoke remains a novelty.
For a year now, Chef Michele has been creating menus at the three-year-old Otto based on the seasonal produce of Italy. It’s not a remote possibility that what he serves in Singapore is being enjoyed at that very moment in some Italian trattoria. This is the same modus operandi that caught the attention of diners at restaurants where he has helmed the kitchen previously, including Il Lido and Senso. Key to his strategy is procuring the season’s best ingredients direct from Italy and finding the rest nearby. If health officials, say, suddenly lift the ban on Italian pork, Chef Michele will be among the first to import the black Calabrian or Caserta pigs to put on his menu.
It does not help either that Chef Michele remains a staunch supporter of Italian originality who never thinks of expediency as an excuse for substituting ingredients. Mention tiramisu with liquor other than the classic Marsala and be prepared to get an impassioned lecture on the original Italian recipe. Nightmarish as it might be for restaurant owners, it’s a dream come true for diners. That he has never been led astray by popular demand for what passes for fusion food is remarkable considering the arduous task of assembling menus whose ingredients lie halfway around the globe. One of his dirty little secrets, however, is a swishy Italian version of the local laksa that he cooked for friends — a venial sin that he will never dream of serving in his restaurant despite wide acclaim.
Just as well. Chef Michele is putting foie gras agnolotti on the new menu — yet another deceptively simple dish that succeeds only with elaborate preparation, precise technique and very fine ingredients. His pasta calls for Idaho potatoes that make for smooth and strong yet tender casing. The foie gras filling is a naughty touch that adds a rich contrast to the potatoes. A coat of rich hazelnut butter and a sprinkling of nutty, bitter cocoa nibs provide another layer of contrast to the dish. (Up to that point, the dishes can be enjoyed with the Prosecco that Paolo dispenses as welcome aperitif, but switching to a hearty Merlot is a much better idea.)
Lunch progresses with tagliatelle, but the highlight here is undoubtedly the ragout of truffle-scented lamb. A reminder to the gastronome: ragout is a rich, well-seasoned stew of meat, fish or poultry; ragu is meat sauce for pasta. Chef Michele’s is the former — a hearty dish of lamb that can stand on its own, but proves much better with any of the sumptuous reds on the long wine list.
With two other mains coming up, Chef Michele emerges from the kitchen to see how diners are rating his new menu. A large man who could easily pass for a rugby prop or hooker, he reserves an accessible man-boy mien for his patrons. “My wife taught me how to see the restaurant beyond the four walls of the kitchen,” he confesses. Indeed, Singapore has seen the charmers — from the Diego Chiarinis to the Beppe de Vittos — of the Italian restaurant scene but few have exchanged words with Michele Pavanello. But as part-owner of the establishment, an appearance in the dining room has become de rigueur that he is starting to enjoy.
Chef Michele He takes time to introduce his next dish, a pan-roasted halibut fillet with baby spinach and langoustine sauce. Versions of this dish abound — a token fish with poached vegetables on the side and perhaps a slightly sweet veloute or creamy mashed potatoes, but his base of langoustine sauce is a worthy effort that stratifies the fillet with rich seafood flavour. It is not a haphazardly constructed dish. The flavours do support each other to provide focus on the fish. The restaurant has a selection of white wines that might have been a more appropriate accompaniment, but with another big dish coming up, it is wise to retain the bottle of Merlot.
Crispy suckling pig suffers from sheer ubiquity; there’s hardly any restaurant, including noodle eateries and hole-in-the-wall operations, which does not dabble in some interpretation of it. Chef Michele must be aware of this commonness that he has lacquered his pork with tree honey and fortified it with aged balsamic vinegar. It might find proper place amongst appetizers, but some diners might find it deserving of more attention as a main.
Giamaica coffee tiramisu — with Marsala wine, of course! — and candied orange peel and ricotta cheese trifles with dark warm chocolate sauce round out lunch. Desserts are often denied the consideration they deserve, and are sometimes regarded as an afterthought. Chef Michele reverses this by opting for a strong finish. These desserts are thoughtful endings to a powerfully structured new menu, one that highlights balance of taste, fresh seasonal ingredients and discernible structure.
The pinstripe crowd is gone and only a handful of regulars hang around. Paolo brings out the grappa—if not for anything the Italians must be praised for their choice of digestif—and the potent coffees. The new menu starts with an easy yet surefooted vivace and gradually builds up to a crescendo that is sustained to the last sip.
Red Dot Traffic Building
28 Maxwell Road
Singapore
Tel 6227 6819
Mon – Fri: lunch and dinner
Sat: dinner only
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