L'antica Pizzeria Da Michele, Singapore

[CHINATOWN, SINGAPORE] Tried the very famous @damichelesingapore and while their pizzas were absolutely fantastic, their pasta and sides fell short of expectations.

Out of the many pizzas we've had that night, the Truffle Porcini Pizza ($40) was absolutely heavenly. With a huge amount of umami coming from the mushrooms within the pizza, the truffle paste had a good amount of truffle flavour without being too overwhelming. Their dough is really of a different level, as it was chewy yet pillowy. They were very generous with the cheese as well, and speaking of which, if you love your cheese then you gonna love the 4 Cheese Pizza ($35). It had the right amount of savouriness and earthy flavour, with a slight funkiness from the blue cheese. What a delight!

As much as I would like to give compliments for their pizza, their pastas and sides were unfortunately rather disappointing. We had a couple of them like the Linguine Alle Vongole ($35) and their Ragu Della Portiera ($36), and they were at most average. Indeed they were fresh tasting, but just normal.

Their sides were pretty overpriced too, like the Insalata Di Polipo ($36) or Octopus Salad. There were only a few thin slices of octopus for the price paid 😂

All in all, still great vibes but maybe just come for their pizza?

Update:
In Naples now and I have to say, it really is quite similar. Napolitano pizza don't have super crispy crusts. In fact da Michele is unique in that the pizzas literally fall apart, however clearly they tuned it here so we can accept it better. While it's 4x the price in Singapore, since you don't have to queue nor have to jostle w crowds, this piece of authenticity is not a complete ripoff.

Although after a few pizzas in Naples, I do think Singapore's pizza scene is almost there, esp with many places doing particularly crispy crusts( which is not the norm in Naples) which is more enjoyable for us. We really are blessed, and I think there's no need for a special trip to Naples just for pizza

Original review:
Lets just say I can tell why some ppl say it's average and others think it's the most authentic thing ever.

The dough is thin and chewy, with a strong fire aroma and sufficiently salted to have flavour on its own, but hardly any crisp. Tomato sauce was more like blitzed tomato, very plain and simple. Cheese was standard too.

Portion is huge btw, this is enough for 2 to share even if you don't get anything else.

As for the verdict, it's really something simple done simply without too much fuss. It's not life changing, but it's not surprising why they're (apparently) popular in Italy as well.

I guess the nearest comparison would be something like tiong bahru ckn rice. It's a chain that many locals enjoy, but at the same time it would be ridiculous if we paid 30 bucks for it. That's the sentiment.

As far as pizzas go, there's places that are more suited to our palate and more atas for the same price, esp those with good crusts like cicheti/blue label etc, as well as stronger flavours like d.o.c

Come to satisfy your curiosity, although if you split amongst 2, this is very value for money as it should be for such a chain

Margherita 3/5
Zuppa Di Cozze Di Tropea 2/5