Buddies who are decade old regulars of Trattoria Nonna Linna jio-ed (invited) me to join them for dinner there. I've never been to Italy before but the cooking here made me feel as close to being there as I ever felt.
Finding Trattoria Nonna Linna is easy. Just look out for the Italian flag along Cantonment Road which is steps from Outram Park MRT station ๐
Trattoria Nonna Linna is a typical, small shoplot restaurant, long and narrow inside. It was full house this Sunday evening, so reservations are a good idea if you are coming.
Buddy is a regular, so I got a front row peek into the kitchen. Chef Simone cooks everything here, so it's like an Italian daddy cooking for you. No kidding ๐
From where we were seated I can feel the energy from the kitchen as chef Simone cooked for everyone who was there. It felt like a home party actually with a talented host.
While waiting for everyone to arrive we had some appetisers.
This bruschetta really works as the aroma of tomatoes on freshly baked sourdough bread already had me salivating.
I don't know the name for this but it was sooo.... good. Show them this picture if you want to try some too ๐คญ
Insalata della Nonna (price $28). Salad of seasonal greens, cherry tomatoes, black olives, fresh mozzarella, walnuts and avocado.
Carpaccio di Manzo con Porcini all Essenza di Tartufo (price $40). I love this thinly sliced aged raw beef topped with porcini mushroom dressing, shaved parmesan, drizzled with home-made truffle oil i.e. real truffle.
I love the creamy savoury subtly sweet buffalo mozzarella so much that I was eating it neat ๐คญ
Soup of the Day (price $24) was a seafood broth choked full with fresh clams, crab, fish, etc. The gently savoury sweet umami broth was so homely delicious that I was asking for more sourdough bread to mop up the soup, filling my stomach, forgetting that our main course was still on the way ๐ฌ
Tah... Dah.... The main course ๐
First thought in my mind was... Italian version of crab bee hoon?
Not really but it was nice too!
Actually our crabs were quite poor thing lor. Chef Simone flambeed them with liquor, lashed them with olive oil, torched them, made them come alive with flavours before laying them on our pasta.
This is actually off menu but I am sure chef Simone will oblige if you ask.
We had our crabs with linguine (you can ask for any pasta) in white wine sauce.
I love, love the al dente texture of the pasta. It was firm with subtle crunch and tenderness. So belly shiok.
The sauce was a blend of layered savouriness with a bit of umami and sweetness.
Our two crustaceans weigh 1.6 kilos altogether. The crab meat was soft tender, juicy and sweet with natural umami that went perfectly with the pasta.
Pinched a bit of pasta from buddy's spaghetti (Tony is like that one ๐คญ ) in basil and white wine sauce. The sauce was quite intensely savoury in a good way with cheese and a bit of nuttiness.
The al dente pasta texture was mind blowing ๐ฅ Doubly confirming that with chef Simone's hand, you can't go wrong with pasta at Trattoria Nonna Linna ๐ช
At one time, I was a little crazy about lava cakes because the molten chocolate gushing out of the cake looks so irresistibly photogenic.
But, this one by Trattoria Nonna Linna doesn't have lava gushing out. The lava has the texture of kaya (coconut jam) and not half as sweet as those lava cakes I had before. The soft cake too wasn't sugary sweet. I love this despite not having that Instagrammable picture ๐
Chef Simone is very focused and serious when cooking but will come out and kacau (make fun of) people when his work is done ๐ Disturbing me when it was my turn to be focused and serious ๐
Will definitely be back for more at Trattoria Nonna Linna.
Menu ๐ click
Yo Tony, how much did the crab dish cost?
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