After going through an overhaul, Fairmont Singapore‘s Italian restaurant Prego has recently reopened its doors, introducing its fresh look and a new menu under head chef Mauro Sanna. The 240-seater, located on the ground floor of the hotel, is a sleek, modern space that features a grab-and-go deli, an antipasti station, an island bar, and an open kitchen with brick ovens (where the pizza magic happens).
With a color palette of green, white, and wood furnishings made colorful with mosaic tiles, the eatery is a comfortable, contemporary one. We’d imagine it can easily host everyone from large family gatherings to couples on a date to colleagues out for after-work drinks.
If you haven’t got the time for a long lunch, stop by the takeaway counter for pastries, sandwiches, or even gelato. Otherwise, plop down at the emerald-and-gold bar to sip on a glass of wine complemented by meats cured in-house. Those seated near the open kitchen can peek at the pizzas feeling the heat, while diners by the window get a glimpse of passers-by along the street.
In the kitchen, chef Mauro, whose mother taught him the art of Italian cuisine, brings with him more than four decades of experience. Under his guidance, the revamped menu offers pastas, wood-fired pizzas, and grilled meats made with fresh produce.
Starter highlights include anguilla affumicata ($24), made of smoked eel, golden beets, Italian leaves, and horseradish, and ali di razza in “agliata” ($18), a dish of skate slathered in a sweet and sour garlic tomato sauce.
The pastas and pizzas here are made in-house daily with Italian flour, resulting in hearty dishes like angel hair spaghetti with Maine lobster, tomatoes, parsley, and chilli ($40), and pappardelle layered with gorgonzola on a baby spinach sauce ($32).
If you’re the type to go for light and crisp pies, Prego ($38) is the restaurant’s signature pizza, and it comes with sundried tomatoes, ham, wild and brown button mushrooms, fresh cream, and parmesan. For a more traditional tomato base, try the Rustica ($36), which is topped with Italian sausages, pepperoni, mushrooms, onions, and capsicum.
Alternatively, you can avoid carbs altogether and make a beeline for the oven-baked red snapper ($42) or slow roasted pork belly seasoned with salt, garlic, and rosemary ($42).
For dessert, end with a scoop of gelato ($6) in flavors like coconut and lychee, pistachio, white chocolate hazelnut, and yogurt and berries, or go for the spaghetti di gelato con salsa di lamponi ($20), which is basically vanilla ice cream and raspberry compote laid out on a plate to look like spaghetti.
FIND IT:
Prego is at L1, Fairmont Singapore, 80 Bras Basah Rd.
6431-6156. Mon-Fri 11:30am-2:30pm, 5pm-10:30pm; Sat-Sun noon-2:30pm, 5pm-10:30pm.
MRT: City Hall
