I’m a huge fan of Cicheti restaurant (the one at Kandahar St) for their rustic, traditional oven baked pizzas and hearty handmade pasta. I think I must have visited the joint several times over the years since they opened doors 5 years ago.
And I was equally excited when I got invited to a media tasting at Bar Cicheti – a more modern, avante garde wine bar, a different concept to their big sister. A pasta & wine pairing dinner at their relatively new pasta and wine bar?!? That only means there will be lots and lots of pasta and wine! Is that even a good idea for a post detox meal? I was skeptical at the beginning but I was glad I went anyway.
Starting with the Antipasto: we had the Burratina, served with a burnt onion jam which makes it unique, quite different to the other burrata starters elsewhere. The sage leaves served in tempura style was interesting too.
The regular ala carte menu offers 11 different pasta dishes plus a wide selection of antipasto. They also have a new Spring menu with a couple more seasonal pasta dishes. If you love eating pasta, and can’t remember all the different names or shape, this is a good place to try them all. Best to round up a group of your friends so you can order the small plates to try and get a taste of every one of them! I’m usually not a pasta fan (carbs in general) but when you know its all handmade inhouse, you just got to try them. We had 5 different varieties and they were all good with just the right amount of sauce on them, even though one or two of them were a little too salty for my taste buds.
Oh, and their desserts are irresistible too! I’m not a fan of sweet desserts, especially Italian desserts like the cannoli. But this one offered by chef Lim Yew Aun was very good. It’s a mini sized roll, stuffed with marsala ricotta, candied citrus, cranberries, choc chips and chopped Israeli pistachios. They were like none others I have tasted before. It was crunchy, creamy, citrusy with the right amount of sweetness.
And I love the Tiramisu that’s made with Amaretto liquer! I will go back again just for these sweets!
As it was a wine pairing dinner we had about 8-9 different wines, served with each course! They have quite a wide selection of wines from the off the beaten path regions, unknown varieties, some biodynamic, organic and sustainably farmed labels. We couldn’t drink fast enough with the wine served, let alone learning about the labels! I think I’ll probably need a private session with co-owner and master sommelier Ronald Kamiyama to learn more about the origins of these wines.
10 Jiak Chuan Road
Tel: +65 6749 9801
Lunch | Tue – Sat 12.00 p.m. – 2.30 p.m.
Dinner | Mon – Sat 6.00 p.m. – 10.30 p.m.
Closed on Sunday