Craving for Italian dishes? Executives spoiled for choice

BLACK truffles are offered generously at Osteria Art.

Dishes are hearty, packed with flavor, reminiscent of your grandmother’s cooking yet equally at ease in a modern fine dining setting.

Here are a few Italian restaurants worth pursuing.

Osteria Francescana, Modena, Italy

If you could dine anywhere in the world for an indulgent Italian meal, you must make your way to Modena, not too far from Milan.

This restaurant is currently No. 2 in the world. That should be enough reason to travel to this restaurant. But since the proof is in the pudding, do find out for yourself and get a taste of what makes Chef Massimo Bottura, the genius behind this establishment, tick.

He uses modern gastronomy to communicate Italian cuisine and promote Italian produce. A Caesar’s salad is presented in a bouquet of leaves with the ingredients of the well-known salad cleverly laid around and within the “bouquet” of lettuce. Cheese is played with to create the illusion of a dish made of way too many ingredients, but the waiter explains, “This is just parmesan cheese… and time.”

His pre-dessert looks like a lollipop but when you bite into it, you realize it is foie gras dipped in nuts! And as an ode to Modena, he serves this with balsamic vinegar. It will be the most memorable lollipop of your life.

Bottura is simply brilliant and his long degustation is worth it. If you are in Italy, this restaurant is a must-experience. Osteria Francescana Via Stella, 22, 41121 Modena MO, Italy +39 059 223912 osteriafrancescana.it

SINGAPORE’S silver service Italian restaurant Osteria Art by Beppe De Vito.

Osteria Art, Singapore

Singapore has truly mastered the art of being an international culinary hub. This tiny but mighty country that used to be known only for hawker food now presents restaurants with a wide array of culinary delights.

The latest addition to Singapore’s lineup of global restaurants is Osteria Art by restaurateur of the moment, Beppe de Vito. It brings authentic, hearty, homey Italian flavors to Asia but presents them with a touch of contemporary chic that young Singaporean entrepreneurs have mastered.

In other words, while service is silver spoon and dining is fine, by no means does this translate to an ambiance that is stuffy; and while the main dining hall boasts of red leather seats reminiscent of the thirties, it does not feel old—just classy.

The food, though, does take you back as Vito and Chef Andrea de Paola pay homage to their Italian heritage with classics like prosciutto di parma with cantaloupe, an array of pasta dishes including raviolis and papardelles, and mains like osso bucco and porchetta.

True to Italian hospitality, the servings are huge. The restaurant’s osso bucco is good for two voracious and maybe four calorie-conscious eaters. Each appetizer is good for at least two. Everything is big enough to share.

At this restaurant, though, there is a premium placed not only on quality but also on that feeling of indulgence. A tuna tartare is practically drowned in shavings of black truffles; burrata is served with 25-year-old balsamic vinegar; tagliolini is served with no ordinary tomatoes but with pomodoro di pachino.

And don’t leave without having the tiramisu. It makes for a perfect sweet ending.

Osteria Art

55 Market St #01-01 Singapore

+65 6877 6933 [email protected]

Open for lunch and dinner. Closed Sundays

Major credit cards accepted.

Wheelchair accessible.

OSTERIA Art’s lavish tiramisu

Casa Artusi, Frolimpopoli, Italy

It was a three-hour drive from Milan to Frolimpopoli but the meal was certainly worth it.

Our own Chef Margarita Fores, an ambassador of Italian cuisine, had been raving about Casa Artusi since she partnered with them a few years ago to open the first Casa Artusi outside of Italy. Last March, on a quick trip to Italy, we finally got a taste of what she had been talking about.

Fores hired a van and brought us to Frolimpopoli where we were served one of the best lunches of our lives by the culinary team at Casa Artusi.

The pasta is golden—not white, as we are used to—and Marietta Chef Carla Brigliadori of Casa Artusi explained that it’s because of the color of the yolk of the eggs they use, which are from their own chicken that are fed corn and carrots.

This tagliolini was served with rabbit ragu, which was savory and memorable.

While one can simply dine at this restaurant, since it is already a three-hour trip, you might as well make the most of driving all the way to Frolimpopoli by taking a cooking lesson to learn how to cook “the Artusi way.”

This is because Casa Artusi—home of the late gourmet Pellegrino Artusi—houses not only a restaurant but also what is referred to as a “living cookery museum.”

You will surely walk out of there not just satisfied but also enlightened on what makes an excellent pasta!

Casa Artusi

via A. Costa 23/31 47034 Forlimpopolic

+39 0543 743138 [email protected]

For cooking lessons here visit the Casa Artusi Philippines Facebook page.

Fifteen, London

There are those who criticize Jamie Oliver for being more of a TV personality than a real chef, but after eating at Fifteen London, even without his being in the kitchen because he was out somewhere in the world filming something, his kitchen prowess was evident and you can see why he has become such a popular chef, cooking shows notwithstanding.

Truth be told, the restaurant is not fancy at all. In fact it has the feel of a hip cafeteria. You may share a table with the couple beside you. But it is sexy in its own way.

First of all, because it’s all about Oliver’s advocacy of helping youth with potential in the kitchen. So Fifteen is a non-profit restaurant. But more importantly because the cooking by the chefs-in-training will impress.

As Oliver loves Italian cuisine, the dishes here also have a strong Italian influence. They are rustic yet elegant, homey yet restaurant-worthy. The menu changes all the time, depending on the batch of “chefs,” but you can be sure that each menu uses fresh produce, capitalizes on the creativity of the current batch of chefs, under the guidance of Oliver.

On the walls you will see the faces of the 15 current apprentices of Oliver. The smile on your face as you chew on your meal will tell them that they can be proud of themselves.

Fifteen London

15 Westland Place, London

+020 3375 1515

Major credit cards accepted.

8½ Otto e Mezzo Bombana, Hong Kong

This restaurant is the creation of Chef Umberto Bombana, voted the Chef of Chefs by the Miele Guide.

His restaurant is the first and only Italian three-star Michelin restaurant outside of Italy. It is so in-demand that reservations are a must.

It is named after the Oscar-winning movie Otto e Mezzo by Federico Fellini, a 1963 comedy-drama about the director’s years in the industry.

The influence of the avant-garde film on Bombana may be reflected on the food that is served. After all, in its own words, the restaurant’s title is “an invitation to savor life’s pleasures” through Bombana’s cooking. And how can you not, when he has been nicknamed the “King of White Truffles?”

You can, therefore, expect shavings of in-season truffles with your eggs; as well as excellent veal chops or beef cheeks.

Then indulge a little more with a bottle from the collection of over 2,000 labels and vintages.

The menu changes regularly, depending on what’s in season. But whatever is the menu, you can be sure of an Oscar-worthy performance by the chef every time.

8 1/2 Otto e Mezzo Bombana

Shop 202, 2/F Alexandra House

5-17 des Voeux Road Central

Central, Hong Kong

+852 2537 8859

More of Italy’s best restaurants in margauxlicious.com.

Follow @margauxsalcedo on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram.