Meal at Acqua e Farina Keong Saik

We love our Italian food and after a series of new Italian restaurants which opened in the past few months from the likes of Locanda, Fortuna and Casa Vostra, the latest to join the Italian ranks is Acqua e Farina located at the buzzing Keong Saik Road. Acqua e Farina, which means “water and flour” in Italian, was first opened in 2016 at The Rail Mall and is helmed by chefs Antonio Manetto from Naples (South of Italy) and Roberto Galbiati from Milan (North of Italy).

For a start to my meal, we had the Tegamino con Cipolle, Asparagi e Guanciale (S$32), a combination of sweet braised onions along with green asparagus. I also like the bits of pan-fried guanciale, a rich salt-cured air-dried pork jowl charcuterie, which adds that contrast of crisp texture to the onions and greens. The guanciale with the onions in the starter was supreme. Chef mentioned 3 types of onions go into this dish - coming out with caramelised perfection. The white, yellow and red onions in perfect symphony.
The guanciale just brings this to the next level! This was a 7.5/10

Moving on to pasta, I highly recommend the Tagliatelle al Cacao con Gamberetti e Nduja (S$36), which features handmade cocoa pasta. It is not common for me to come across cocoa pasta and if you are thinking if it tastes like chocolate, not at all. The result is a savory and flavourful pasta in a luscious sauce, especially from the slightly spicy nduja salami paste which makes this pasta a very appetising dish, and not at all cloying. The tagliatelle is complemented by portobello mushrooms and shrimp.
The pasta was 7.5/10 at the very least. One of the best (Top 5) pasta in Singapore surely. The cacao pasta hit me with the complex, nutty and spicy flavours. Done al dente, perfection.

The other starter was the crayfish and crab meat bisque - 7/10

The mushroom penne was also very good at 7.25/10.
The nutty flavours of the (red wine, brown sauce?) really shine through. Such simplicity into such elegance by Chef.

Chef Manetto, one of the two chef-owners, was attending to us. This one sitting, we could not try the risotto (with bottarga) - one of the defining ingredients of Sardinia. We got a very nice bottle from Sardinia - an underestimated wine producing region.