Acqua e Farina - Rail Mall

As you head northwest up the hill through Bukit Timah, the landscape gets progressively greener. And, though you might think otherwise, the range of restaurant options doesn’t get thinner on the ground. Just before you hit the Rail Mall on Upper Bukit Timah Road is an Italian restaurant that has the rare privilege of being helmed by two chefs, each with a respective northern and southern Italian specialty. It’s thanks to this that Acqua E Farina – water and flour, the basic ingredients – can offer Singapore diners a comprehensive, balanced Italian restaurant experience. Reserve a table today!

Water and flour – Acqua E Farina – are the foundational ingredients in the triumvirate of Italian staple foods: breads, pasta and pizza. Here at this rather special Upper Bukit Timah Road restaurant, the flavours of both northern and southern Italian cuisine make onto and into all three typical dishes. Chef Antonio Manetto hails from a small town near Naples in sunny southern Italy, and swears by the house signature red Neapolitan pizza topped with spicy salami, creamy ricotta and a scattering of baby spinach. The seductive white pizza tartufo, loaded with mascarpone, mozzarella, mushrooms and truffle, is also popular among Singapore’s Italian food fans.

Taking a culinary journey to the north of Italy means you’re moving onto chef Roberto Galbiati’s turf. A proud native of northern Milan, his spaghetti al nero di seppia is a typical Northern-style seafood pasta whose hearty flavours balance earthiness and the freshness of the ocean. This is what’s so special about this Bukit Timah restaurant – in a city like Singapore that seems to boast a good number of Italian restaurants per capita, it’s a delight to find an example where the chefs put their names and their reputation, not to mention their gastronomic heritage, behind each and every dish. Acqua E Farina comes highly recommended!