After some 20 years as a much-loved casual Italian restaurant, Prego at Fairmont Singapore has morphed into a five-star trattoria that offers communal dining, rustic wood dining tables and the trappings that suggest Italian farm life. The feast for the eyes begins with the décor of Parmesan wheels, Italian proscuitto and sausages hanging from the ‘stalls' and a new antipasti bar and wine barrel bar located at the entrance.

The emphasis on quality food remains, as new Chef de Cuisine Samuele Baudoino from Genova applies regional cooking styles to the new items on the menu. Antipasti is varied, from the affettati - hand-sliced cured meats - to freshly tossed seafood salad with Amalfi lemon, rice salad with olives and provolone, and fava bean salad with Fontina and more of the delicate prosciutto. From the hot appetisers, rustic, round fat links of homemade fennel sausage had a sweet, almost lemony aftertaste, served hot and steamy on a cast iron dish. 

While all-time favourites of carbonara penne rigate and seafood linguine remain, we were enamoured with the dish of potato gnocchi with porcini, spinach and bagna cauda - a garlic based butter sauce which is typically used as warm bread dip. The creamy, silky emulsion enveloped the perfectly made potato gnocchi cubes in each perfect bite. Pizza lovers reading this far will be pleased to find out the pizza selection has expanded with new Calabria-style hand stretched pizzas, which were developed under the baton of Giorgio Riggio, a Calabrian four-time pizza world champion. Resplendent under the jewel colours of Parma ham, buffalo mozzarella, tomato sauce and arugula, the soft chewy pizza base was finished with a crackly crust from the wood-fired oven. 

If you love your carbs as much as we do, there will likely be little room for dessert. The solution? Leave the chocolate profiteroles, battered panettone, vanilla panna cotta and homemade gelato for next time, and just tuck into the house signature tiramisu. Don't be surprised if you feel fireworks in your mouth - this modernised version has fizzy pop-encrusted chocolate thins and a superb scoop of raspberry ripple gelato. Prego is out to prove that traditions can be updated with inventive results.  

Prego is located at the ground floor of the Fairmont Singapore, 80 Bras Basah Road, 6431 6156, or email dining.singapore@fairmont.com

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