Pizza Fabbrica, Kampong Glam: One of the Best Restaurants This Year

By Rubbish Eat Rubbish Grow on February 23, 2015 • ( 11 Comments )

Engineer-turned-restaurateur Sumeet Singla, whose family owns a Michelin-starred restaurant in USA, leaves no things to chance. Every little detail is considered. Here is a sample of our conversation:

Me: Why do you want to open an Italian restaurant? There are so many in Singapore.

Sumeet: 90. There are 90 Italian restaurants in Singapore.

See what I mean by he’s prepared and has done his research?

Wanting to create a casual restaurant with exquisite food, Pizza Fabbrica (which means “factory”) has a sleek industrial look to match its shop name. To go with pizzas, craft beers are imported from Italy, and behind each beer, there is a story. Sparkling water is free and freeflow.

Italian Chef Matteo Boifava, who has worked at Fat Duck, presents an amazing menu; every dish we tried that night could be specialties. For pizzas, dough is proofed for 48 hours, using caputo flour imported from Italy, before entering the wood-fired oven.

Not sure if it was the Fabbrica Beer (imported from Italy, $14), with hints of strawberry, that opened my tastebuds but everything I tasted was perfetto. The vegetarian Pizza Fabbrica ($28, fresh mozzarella imported from Italy, pumpkin base, broccolini, and sun-dried tomato) was irresistible. I stuffed it in my mouth with speed faster than an actress can be impregnated by her gay actor-husband. The dough wasn’t the crispy kind; it was soft, which went well with the pumpkin base. It tasted like unagi don! so I didn’t miss meat at all.

The Garganelli ($24) had a perfect al dente bite, paired with chocolate lamb ragout and smoked ricotta. It was still a savory, not sweet, dish: the chocolate came as an underlying flavor.

It was, of course, nice that the piece de resistance, truffle risotto ($32), another vegetarian dish, was full of truffle that in every mouthful there was a slice of umami. But really, the rice! Whenever you see “Acquerello rice” on the menu, order it! It is aged from 1.5 years to 7 years, and it really makes a difference. The rice here was al dente, robust and rich, but without being sickening. This was heaven on a plate.

The baked seabass ($28), covered in zucchini and tomato, was another umami-rich dish. The fish was soft, tender, full of its natural juices, but not mushy. Gave me a feeling of bliss.

My experience is that when the mains are good, the desserts are bad, but not at Pizza Fabbrica. The quirky and sour saffron panna cotta ($12) in Sambuca red berries was wobbly like tofu, but didn’t disintegrate upon spooning. The chocolate cake ($12) with hints of orange was the right amount of density so you won’t feel bloated after a heavy meal.

There are thousand-and-one things I like about Pizza Fabbrica, including having very delicious vegetarian options so that friends of dietary restrictions can come together; clean, unpretentious decor that isn’t oppressive; excellent range of beers; and prices aren’t exorbitant. To me, Pizza Fabbrica exemplifies the perfect restaurant. And what the perfect Pizza Fabbrica needs now is a little bit of luck, and then it will become insanely popular.