Pasta (& his Italiano Friends)

Ravioli might be juuust slightly on the hard side, but boy the whole dish is just full of umami explosions. Caramel and leek can never go wrong indeed. My first time having sunchokes (aka Jerusalem artichoke) in pasta and although texture was in between crunchy and soggy, it was pretty addictive imo. Not for purists, but if you love great flavours, you’ll enjoy this!

Pleasantly surprised with the gnocchi here! Made of sweet potato and buckwheat, it comes with bold colours of purple and yellow and. Each gnocchi is charred as well, which makes it crispy on the outside and soft inside. The gnocchi is not the fluffiest, but I suppose it’s because the dishes here are gluten-free, including this pasta dish. Sauce is a tad watery but so easy to drink with all the grated cheese and mushrooms. Surprisingly enjoy this dish more than I thought I would.

Pretty much hooked on this dessert the moment I saw the ingredient forest berries sauce. Sauce was tart and a good balance to the slightly sweet vanilla-flavoured pannacotta. The pannacotta texture is firm but still light in the mouth. Really glad we chose this to end our meal on a refreshing note.

Using 3 types of cheese — Fontina Cheese, Gorgonzola Cheese and Provolone Cheese, Ai Formaggi is a pleaser to cheese fanatics like me. Le bf didn’t really fancy the slightly pungent Gorgonzola cheese and smothered those found on his slices on mine. While the pizza base is sufficiently thin and chewy, I prefer a more airy dough and base. Nonetheless, still a pretty good pizza that’s good for sharing.

The four juicy tiger prawns might steal our eyes at first, but what stole my heart was the al dente eggy tagliatelle. Each strand is thoroughly coated in squid ink, with bits of garlic to add some pungent kicks to the briny base flavour. Could’ve done it without the zucchine, but still a well-executed dish.

We can’t have too many options in Singapore, can we? The woodfire baked dough boasts irregular airy crust and thin base. It comes with buffalo mozzarella, cherry tomatoes and fresh basil. Personally found it rather messy to eat- the ingredients slipped off the dough as it’s just too wet, quite possibly because of the use of fresh cherry tomatoes.

And the plus point? Hand-made pasta! I picked tagliatelle to go with my carbonara although the waiter suggested the normal pre-packed spaghetti or linguine instead *sorry, I'm a weirdo* He also said that the carbonara came with bacon, and voila - it was guanciale!! Geez, so much surprise for this pasta shop. The carbonara might came with a tad too much "sauce" but every strand was well coated. It's not an easy dish to execute (I've tried so many times at home) so kudos to these guys. I definitely enjoyed my pasta and wiped the plate clean within minutes!

Sitting atop the rich hummus are chunks of octopus, sous-vide for 6 hours, as well as nduja (spicy pork "sausage"). The octopus chunks were tender though a tad too salty, probably because of the spread of nduja. Like how each element brings different textures and flavours to the whole dish. Finding it a bit pricey for the portion though.

Burrata pizza is another popular order at LINO. Served in cold temperature, the burrata must be quickly broken and mixed well with the slow roast cherry tomato and basil. While not as addictive as the mixed mushroom pizza, I still like this pizza for its super sweet cherry tomatoes and, of course, burrata.

Proofed for 48 hours, LINO's pizza dough was somewhere in between doughy and crispy with lots of air pockets, and I was immediately sold! The mixed mushroom pizza was so earthy (talk about the wild mushrooms and truffle cream) and stretchy (thanks to the three types of cheese used: fior di latte, fontina, and taleggio). On my list of must-orders!

Striving for simplicity, the sea bream is lightly seasoned with sea salt, stuffed with lemon slices to get rid of the fishy taste, and wrapped with napa cabbage. You have the options of sea salt, salsa verde and lemon juice to go with the sea bream. The salsa verde was made from several herbs (one of them is mint!) — something nice and minty, but not up to my alley. Prefer the usual dash of lemon juice and a sprinkle of sea salt. Price tag may be rather steep, but not a bad idea for a splurge meal.

Vegetarian, tomato-based pasta with ricotta cheese on top. Not a big fan of tomato base, so it may not be something that I would order again, but it's still pretty yummy! Like how generous they were with the bell peppers, onions, and tomatoes — a summer dish that you will enjoy if you love tomato-based pasta!