Watching the leaves turn orange, huddling around the fire during a snowy evening, and noticing the landscape slowly become adorned with flowers — these are all seasonal touchstones not possible in Singapore’s tropical climate. However, for those longing for seasonality and change, the fine-dining restaurant Somma is bringing a taste of Italian winter spirit to Singapore.
Founded by chef Mirko Febbrile, Somma delivers avant agarde dining without the fuss and most importantly — with flair. Four years in the making and Febbrile’s biggest project yet, Somma is a love letter to Puglia, heritage, seasonality, and the act of coming together. Located at the heel of Italy’s ‘boot’, Puglia offers a different perspective on Italian cuisine than typically found in Singapore.
Known for their seasonal menus, Somma is currently offering their Folklore menu until the end of March. Drawing inspiration from the regions winter gatherings and communal spirit that brings people around the table together, folklore offers a 6-course tasting menu to fill your stomach and heart.
The key philosophy behind Somma’s cooking comes from Puglia’s concept of cucina povera: cooking with purpose and respecting every part of the ingredient. And cook with purpose they do. This circular approach requires innovation as seen in the creative repurposing of ingredients. From a kombucha made of leftover carrot ends, kitchen scraps infused into house cheeses, and unused bones to infuse broths with extra kicks of flavour, innovative cooking methods and fusions can be found all over Somma.
Upon entering the restaurant with a warm welcome from the staff, you are also greeted by two amuse-bouches that feel like a homecoming. For the first, a smooth broth tasting of roasted potatoes with rosemary is served in a hollowed potato coated with beeswax to form a cup. More whimsical than gimmicky, not only is it earthy and soothing for the soul, it’s also an indicator that your night is going to be special.
As for the tasting menu itself, you can also add on drink pairings as well as their two signatures: the cheese experience and the spaghetti Kharosan. The cheese experience is a must-have; taking place in their own cosy cellar, the experience pairs drinks with a variety of cow, goat, sheep, and buffalo cheeses aged in-house with kitchen scraps such as preserved fruits, cocoa pulps, and truffle whisky as part of their circular approach to food.
For seafood lovers, the tasting menu incorporates lobster, eel, clams, and fish roe, a nod to the seaside location of Puglia as well as indulgent ingredients typically reserved for festive celebrations. The first course, a blue lobster dish, fuses Italian seafood sensibilities with asian cooking methods to create a silky lobster porridge made with koji and razor clam broth topped with a lobster garum and smoked trout roe. The result is smoky, savoury, and with a bright citrus heat and briny pop. A refined take on Puglia’s most iconic ingredient: cimi de rapa, eel is served in a Hokkaido pork broth with with slow cooked cannellini beans, panfried cimi de rapa, and finished with bay leaf dust.
Another standout of the meal, unsurprisingly, was their signature spaghetti Khorasan. Spaghetti made from ancient Khorasan wheat is cooked in a carrot reduction (20kgs of carrots miraculously gets slowly reduced to 1kg) and paired with a mantis shrimp bisque, sea snails, and caviar, it’s a comforting, yet utterly new flavour. With sweet, savoury, tangy, and earthy notes — it’s no wonder it’s the one dish on the menu that has never changed. A personal favourite of mine was the mountain lamb; slowly cooked over the fire for a crispy exterior, tender meat, and smoky depth, it’s served with a pumpkin ceviche salad that tastes like a “walk in a cold forest”.
If it’s warmth in a bowl you are seeking, look no further than the eggplant ditali and pigeon tortellini. The former utilises every part of the eggplant, cheese whey, and aromatics to maximise flavour, so much so that no salt is added to this dish, and when combined with the ditali (a small, tubular pasta usually used in family broths), it creates an irresistibly creamy and smoky dish. As for the latter, roasted pigeon bones, carrots, and celery form the broth that houses delicate tortellinis filled with pigeon breasts and legs with mortadella, parmigiano and nutmeg as a tribute to Boxing Day’s restorative and lights foods after a period of celebratory eating.
Because all good things must come to an end, two perfectly balanced desserts crafted by Jeanette Ow round out the meal. Combining the creamy and citrusy flavours of classic winter holiday desserts, the first dessert is a delightful phyllo-pastry mille-feuille with chestnut cream, blackcurrant caramel, and clementine ice cream. The tasting menu finishes with a grape and fennel sorbet that closes the folklore menu on a bright, refreshing note — a satisfying conclusion to a culinary celebration that leaves you feeling more sweet than bittersweet.
Although some of the ingredients and dishes might sound or feel foreign — especially to Singaporean palettes — it manages to evoke feelings of nostalgic warmth and comfort. From chef Mirko showing the clay cooking methods used for the eggplants to him letting you smell the aroma from the truffles he shaves onto a dish, Somma builds a convivial feeling where the roles of chef and patron melts away to feel like a gathering of like minded people who are celebrating good food, community, and culture. To quote owner and head chef Mirko Febrille, “True luxury lies in the warmth of being genuinely well cared for”, and Somma succeeds in making Puglia — a place most Singaporeans probably haven’t visited — feel like home.
Once you are done with this story, click here to catch up with our December/January 2026 issue.