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SINGAPORE: While many restaurateurs tweak their food to suit local palates, Chef Luca Pezzera at Italian restaurant Bonta is firm in sticking to his roots – not because he's your regular stubborn chef, but because "later, Singaporeans not happy".
"Singaporeans' taste buds adjust very easily to original flavour, unlike some 20 years ago, because people now travel a lot," explained the chef, who has been in Singapore long enough to know his Singlish. "We have to make the taste original, or many will question why the food tastes different from original Italian food."
The chef, who has been away from his Italian hometown of Bergamo for most of his career life as work took him to Switzerland, Istanbul, Dubai and Jakarta, settled in Singapore to set up his fine dining restaurant with a partner at UE Square just two years ago.
Apart from customers' demands for bona fide Italian food, cooking up good ol' hearty countryside meals is also a way for Chef Luca to feel closer to home.
Since it is now summer in Italy – a place he claims the food changes with the season as much as the fashion does – Chef Luca has decided that new additions to the Bonta menu are in order.
However, the food is not exactly 100 per cent authentic as the chef has given the menu at Bonta's a "modern touch". But worry not, it's a good thing.
The Vitello Tonnato thinly sliced veal served with light tuna sauce and seasonal greens (S$20) is a summertime speciality of Bergamo and is easy on the taste buds, served slightly chilled with a light flavour.
A check with Chef Luca revealed that the appetizer, was in the old days, made with leftover roast which was much too oily for the chef's liking. Thankfully, Bonta's version today uses pink veal loin fresh from Italy.
Another starter dish worthy of mention is the Grilled Jumbo King Prawns (S$22), dwarfed by its sidekick salad of Tropea onion which is crowned in southern Italy as the king of onions.
The prawns, served in extra virgin olive oil, are one of the few ingredients not imported directly from Italy. Rather, the prawns are brought in fresh from Indonesia, "because European prawns are just not big enough," according to the chef.
The pickled onions – set for weeks in vinegar, sugar and herbs – tastes unlike any other. They are so power-packed with juice it is surprising they aren't dripping.
A bite brings a mouthful of sweet and sour juice that excites the taste buds for the main course.
There's always the pros and the cons of going pure, and pasta with duck definitely does not score with this local palate, who much prefers Singaporean duck rice. The Garganelli (S$25), handmade like any self-respecting Italian chef would, is served with Duck Ragout and summer herbs.
If pasta is not your cup of tea, the new menu also serves up two Italian rice dishes.
There's Risotto with Sarinian saffron and green asparagus(S$24), or the hot winter Bergamo favourite Barolo Braised Milk-fed Veal shank (S$34) with Parmesan Risotto and beans.
In both dishes, the risotto is done to perfection, binding nicely together for a creamy, cheesy flavour that is altogether sinfully addictive.
And what is fine dining without the desserts?
The promising new menu winds down with peach halves (S$12) with ricotta and orange-thyme sauce.
As sweet and delightful as peaches can get, it may be a rather boring finish even if they are oven-roasted in their skins to keep the flavour in.
Those more demanding and with calorie count to spare can opt for Bonta's usual menu of desserts, including a must-have warm, melted chocolate cake (S$16) that's crisp on the outside with warm thick melted chocolate on the inside. If that's not decadent enough, the cake is topped with rum-and-raisin ice cream for a satisfying finish.
Wash the meal down with Bonta's proud collection of over 200 wines, set in a see through wine cellar against the backdrop of its chic loft-like interior.
Bonta means goodness in Italian and the restaurant certainly lives up to its name.
The food impressed, as did the service and the chef, who gamely tells you everything you want to know about Italy in charming Italian accented English.
Bonta Italian Restaurant & Bar
01-61, UE Square River Wing
(Junction of Mohamed Sultan and Unity Street
Lunch: 12 noon - 2.30pm
Dinner: 6.30pm - 11pm
- CNA
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