Capella Singapore’s Fiamma presents a festive line-up of Italian fare under the loving and expert hands of Chef Mauro Colagreco.
Capella Singapore is a getaway location that almost exists independently of the mental image of Sentosa. The lush green interior sits serendipitously by the pool and the wider blues of the sea, with the sprawling beach just a walk away from grand rooms of luxury and respite. If Christmas is about homecoming, this place is a ‘home’ I don’t mind coming back to — be it with family, friends or solo.
But the year-end, of all seasons, should not be about going solo. Joy thrives in the presence of others, and if food is the best kind of social glue, the Italians are a group of people one should turn to for a season of joy that guarantees a warming of the heart and stomach.
Fiamma, the resident Italian restaurant at the urban resort, is one abode you should consider for celebrations.
Helmed by the fun but earnest Chef Mauro Colagreco, Fiamma presents festive favourites and seasonal offerings of comfort Italian food made from decades-old family recipes, and a full heart of love. As part of the aperitivo, the meal begins with a hearty Baccala Alla Veneziana, a very old dish that has Venetian-style salted cod and crunchy pave of fried polenta and rosemary oil that Chef Mauro remarked as a warm reminder of his mother’s cooking.
In the antipasti section, there are two gorgeous crudos, which include a Crudo Di Capesante, a Hokkaido scallop carpaccio with pine nuts, dry cherry tomatoes, olives and a ginger honey dressing, as well as a Crudo Di Orata E Ricci Di Mare, a marinated sea bream with charred lemon condiment and sea urchin. The lemon of the latter lies in the ash all night, which is why the taste of the citrus is equally enveloping as the grilled aroma. But both truly embody the sea’s wonders in a refreshingly good look and feel in the mouth — a good interlude before the fuller and richer flavours come.
Setting the tone for the main events is a Risotto Ai Gamberi Rossi Di Mazara, a Sicilian red prawn risotto with sea algae and a sublime perfumed citrus. According to Chef Mauro, this is made with three different kinds of seaweed, inspired by a seaweed soup he had while visiting Shanghai. This is something that he is unafraid to emulate — foreign foods, for they come out of his hands as an unequivocally Italian creation with that distinct “flame” or fiamma of intensity Italians are proud of.
A noteworthy dish from the entire meal was the Cappelletti Fatti In Casa, which includes homemade ricotta, culatello ravioli, and black truffles in chestnut soup — Chef Mauro informs that chestnuts are integral to the festive season in Italy and soups are often drunk in winter, so this combined with the savoury, meaty aroma of culatello is well representative of what Christmas looks like there.
If this is a family gathering, the Filetto Di Wagyu Cotto Alla Brace will be a crowd favourite, a wood-charred beef fillet with potatoes dauphiné, black truffles and rubra sauce that will surely melt taste buds and hearts. The rubra sauce, which is a homemade ketchup but cannot be called so according to Chef Mauro, is made with sugar, wine and fresh tomato, with the concoction caramelised and deglazed for a rustic feel.
If the wagyu is something the adults appreciate, the younger ones will surely fall for the rubra — an important element of sweet that is particularly important to the Italian palate.
The Monte Bianco closes the feast with coconut flakes around a cherry, for a distinct reminder of the purity that rings in every Christmas. No wonder meals in Italy take so long to prepare and consume. They are heartfelt, sincere, and are the perfect setting for all to embrace the human connections that one holds most near and dear.
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