PUBLISHED April 1st, 2014 11:00 pm | UPDATED May 22nd, 2017 05:26 pm
Tucked away in the ‘Dining Edition’ wing of Marina Square is Italian-Japanese fusion restaurant, NUVO. As soon as you arrive, you can understand why it was all hands on deck to be open in time for the F1 weekend last September: the restaurant sits in prime position, overlooking a stretch of road which transforms into part of the race track for the Singapore Grand Prix. With full length glass windows running the entire length of the bar, a screen for those who would rather not be deafened (although there is also a section of terrace if you feel the need to get involved) showing all the action, and stylish whilst not overly-flamboyant décor, we made our minds up that this would be one of our top picks for a place to hang out when the F1 circus rolls into town… particularly once we sampled the cocktails!
Since its opening, chef Mark Richards has joined in January 2014 and revamped the menu, serving up carefully crafted plates which draw from both Italian and Japanese cuisines. The result seems to have gone down extremely well particularly with the lunchtime crowd of city professionals, but with larger (and likely noisier!) tables kept in a different section of the restaurant to more intimate tables for 2 and 4, this is somewhere which works well for almost any size of group.
In terms of food, stand-outs for us were the utterly delicious Focaccia Curry Pan ($22) – Wagyu beef in a beautifully light Japanese curry sauce, served with a refreshing pickled cucumber accompaniment and sour cream.
The Kurobuta Pork Belly ($32) likewise was a treat – expertly cooked, served sliced and with melt-in-the-mouth texture. We ate this with a portion of the Angel Hair Wakame ($18 for a smaller plate) alongside, which was light, scented with lobster essence and VERY more-ish!
The Grilled Pork Rack ($32) with a green chilli & yuzu dressing (‘yuzukosho’) was also excellent and came served with a delicious serving of creamy acini de pepe and full of chorizo smokiness which we happily wolfed down.
The Baked Olive Black Cod ($35) didn’t impress so much however, largely due to an overkill in terms of the number of ingredients and flavours.
Desserts are light, fun, and popping with interesting flavours. The Wild Honey Panna Cotta ($16) was a favourite, with the beautifully silky consistency of cooked cream offset by tanginess of the dehydrated lychee, satsuma (‘mikan’) and luscious fruitiness of fresh fig.
Seeing as it would have been rude not to sample some of celebrated mixologist’s Ethan Leslie Leong’s creations, we rounded things off with some cocktails. Our favourite was undoubtedly the Nashi Hana – featuring pear vodka, elderflower, basil and fresh lime juice, all shaken with egg white. Dee-lish.
NUVO has got it right on many fronts: a chef whose passion for food is apparent in the quality & originality of dishes being produced, great cocktails created by an expert mixologist, stylish interior décor and clever configuration of dining areas making it suitable for small or large parties. Not to mention that track-side view of a Ferrari shooting past…
Written by Cazerole
On this occasion the meal was compliments of NUVO
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