Pasta mia

Noodles are quite possibly my favourite starch, and if not then they are second only to bread. They are a wonderfully versatile medium, able to carry a multitude of different flavours; and are equally capable of being either the centerpiece or merely a foil for a main protein. As a dish, it is easily scalable in quantity, so you can serve however large or small a portion as an appetiser, an entrée or simply just a snack. Best of all, it is food you can play with on your plate.

It may go unnoticed by the average diner, but noodles are an integral part of Singaporean cuisine. Rice noodles, wheat noodles, egg noodles; you can get noodles in all shapes and sizes – thick or thin, long or short, wide or slender. Some of our most popular dishes are noodle dishes – hokkien mee, char kway teow, mee goreng, wonton mee. So why is it then, for the love of God, that I cannot get a decent plate of pasta in this town?

I had a plate of linguine marinara with lobster at Privé the other day, and was thoroughly unimpressed. First of all, the pasta was not house-made. There is something about fresh, homemade pasta that just tastes a thousand times better. I think it is because when pasta is made fresh, in non-industrial size quantities – the ratio of egg to flour is always higher. This is primarily to help bind the starch but it also sweetens the pasta and masks the grainy flavour of the wheat in the eventual product. Even allowing for uninspired pasta, the tomatoes in the marinara were bitter (easily overcome with the addition of milk or cream to the sauce) and the lobster tough and overcooked. It was poorly seasoned – no basil, too little oregano, and all I tasted was salt. It was a deflating experience eating that pasta, and if not for the delightful conversation I would have been thoroughly miserable.

Perhaps I have been spoiled. I think back mostly to Annie’s pumpkin ravioli in Bologna, but also I think back to my many trips up to New York City – where Italian food (and food in general) is quite excellent indeed. I had a truly great pasta with clams and spring onion pesto at Felidia, and a wonderful ricotta cannelloni at Lo Scalco, which has since closed. Our night at Babbo in October 2007 was nothing short of magical. Pasta and organ meats? There is no better life, really. Even in DC where there was no great Italian, Al Crostino on U St was always a decent time, and the chef genuine and gregarious enough to compensate for any failings in the food.

There are a couple of supposedly great Italian places in Singapore – Garibaldi on Purvis St, San Marco at One Fullerton. I have not been to these places, so perhaps it is premature to write off Italian cuisine in Singapore. I will say, though, that it is difficult for true Italian – be it modern or rustic – to succeed in Singapore. If anything, a fusion place like Buku Nero in Tanjong Pagar has more chance of success. For one, there is a lot of cheese and dairy in Italian food; and the Singaporean palate just does not skew that way. But the locally available varieties of basic herbs and spices – basil, pepper and so forth – just do not taste the same as they do in Western Europe. Cured pork products and organ meats, though, should appeal more broadly to the Singaporean diner. And if any restaurant can serve up truly transcendent pasta – made well enough to rival the local noodle dishes – then maybe, just maybe, it will do well.

Until then, however, I will stick to hokkien mee.