Trattoria Italian Restaurant at 313 @ Somerset

A few months ago I was complaining that I hadn’t been able to find decent pizza in Singapore, but I think that quest has finally ended.

You may be thinking that Singapore has Pizza Hut, but that doesn’t do it for me.  Even in the US I think Pizza Hut is gross.  The stuff is just too oily.  You shouldn’t be able to see grease dripping from your slice of pizza when you pick it up.  I prefer pizza that’s lighter, where you can taste the flavors of the toppings, not just the grease.

So, I’ve been sampling around, trying to find good pizza.

We did try Pizza Hut once when I first got here but, besides the fact that it’s Pizza Hut, the servings are small compared to how much they charge.  It feels like a rip off for poor quality food.  Also, they have a lot of bizarre (to me anyway) topping combinations, but last I checked (which was quite a while ago so don’t hang me) they were missing some of the traditional ones that I enjoy.  They also didn’t have plain pepperoni.  They had chicken pepperoni (I think it was), but not the real pepperoni.

Canadian pizza isn’t too bad.  It’s like the Domino’s of Singapore.  It’ll do in a pinch!  Still, it wasn’t quite up to par.

We also tried pizza in the New York New York restaurant.  I was hoping that a restaurant named after a city that has incredible pizza would live up to its name, but I was disappointed.  It was incredibly oily and very bland.  The sauce was spread so thin it might as well have not been there at all.  I didn’t even finish it.

In the US, I’d gotten spoiled on great pizza from pizzerias in New York City.  Notably, Mariella’s.  That stuff is just good!  Good enough that it draws celebrities sometimes.  Plus it’s a good price.  For about 3 bucks, depending on what you order, you get a slice of pizza that’s so big you almost have to hold it with two hands.  Here’s a photo:

When I wasn’t in New York City I would go for thin crust pizzas from Papa John’s.  Depending on what toppings you order, they are really good and the cheese, garlic butter, and marinara dipping cups you can get along with your pizza are great.

Sunday my wife and I were checking out 313 @ Somerset, the new mall on Orchard Road.  On the ground level just across from the escalator that leads down into the MRT station is a restaurant called Trattoria.  It’s very nice looking.  The decor is very well done and the menu looked good, so before heading home we stopped by to give it a try.

Getting seated was a bit confusing.  The staff is obviously new.  When we first walked in I asked the first person I saw if we have to go to the counter to order.  He directed us to a register.  When I got there the cashier asked me for my receipt.  I told him we hadn’t ordered yet and we were then directed to a table.

After that, the confusion didn’t end.  We ordered a pizza and two raspberry Italian sodas.  While waiting on our order, another server came by and dropped off a plate with a complimentary appetizer.  It was good and it reminded me of Italian restaurants in the US.  In the US you’re typically served a loaf of fresh bread and a type of butter while waiting for your meal.  Sometimes it’s plain butter, sometimes cinnamon, honey, or even garlic.  It depends on where you go.  What we were served was a bit different but still a pleasant surprise.  After we finished it a third server took the plate and a few minutes later a fourth server dropped off another plate of the appetizers.  I think they didn’t realize we’d already been served an appetizer.  I’m not complaining that I got something free, just noting that the servers were a bit unorganized.

Shortly after that one raspberry Italian soda showed up at our table along with a receipt marked with one pizza and one soda.  I had to get up and tell a server that we’d ordered two, not one.  It took about 10 minutes for the second soda to be prepared, despite the fact that only four tables in the restaurant were in use.  The soda showed up at the same time as our pizza, but we never got our receipt back which made the check-out process a bit more annoying later.

The pizza more than made up for the questionable service.  The crust was thin and crispy along the edges, which is just how I like it.  A regular crust pizza gets you full on bread and you can’t enjoy as much of the sauce or toppings!  The sauce on this pizza is what stood out the most.  It tasted really fresh. It wasn’t sweet and they didn’t overdo the seasoning.  Typically I hate an aftertaste, but all the way home on the MRT I savored the lingering taste of that pizza sauce.  The pepperoni on the pizza tasted a lot like what I’m used to in the US as well.  The pizza was light, with a balanced amount of toppings and was a great overall dish.  I could’ve eaten the whole thing by myself and still craved for more.

I can’t really hold the shaky service against Trattoria.  It’s a brand new restaurant and the servers looked inexperienced.  They weren’t even serving everything on the menu yet.  Also, it was about 10:30 PM.  The end of the day is always kind of rough in a restaurant.  I’m sure that aspect of the Trattoria dining experience will improve over time.

That aside, the pizza was excellent.  The raspberry Italian soda tasted great!  I’m curious as to how their other dishes taste, but I’ll probably just go back again for more pizza.  Thanks for satisfying my craving, Trattoria!  See you soon!

Oh and by the way, the Vespa on display is a really nice touch!