Singapore slice

Here’s the thing. I love pizza. Beer (maybe a couple of glasses of red) and pizza to be precise. It’s the ultimate comfort food and I’ll search for it anywhere in the world. Sure I’ll sample and love the local cuisine of any country I’m in but after a couple of days, I go searchin’ for a slice.

Comfort stop ...Batali's

Singapore has recently welcomed one of the world’s best exponents of pizza, New York’s Mario Batali, into town and let’s just say, it’s probably the best in Singapore. I realise it’s not a huge claim in a city offering a vast range of excellent culinary options with pizza not really among them but if you want pizza in Singapore, you’re probably best heading to Batali’s newest creation Pizzeria Mozza at Marina Bay Sands.

Yes, it’s a restaurant sitting in a vast shopping mall and kind of has the ambience of an airport departure hall but there’s good pizza, Birra Moretti and a pretty good Valpolicella available by the glass. And when you’ve been going hard at work and play for a few days, it’s a comfort stop.

Batali’s Singapore venture is his first non-stateside restaurant where he’s one of the more ubiquitous celebrity-chef faces on American television. What he has created at Marina Bay Sands is a pretty laidback pizzeria on one side and a more upscale enoteca on the other.

Sitting at the pizzeria’s bar on a couple of recent evenings after having had a few days of great local food including mainlining Singapore chili mud crab as usual, I was in need of comfort. A pretty good fennel sausage pizza hit the mark one evening while a solid salume piccante pizza with extra chili soothed my delicately frayed disposition on another. And the key, as with any pizza was a good thin base with the right mouth feel – slightly salty dough which holds the topping without being sticky or too soft.

Faizuli, my man behind the bar kept the ice-cold Birra Morettis coming and shared his tips on Singapore nightlife and food. The place was full with a happily buzzing crowd and I kind of forgot that I was away from home and sitting in a shopping mall restaurant for an hour or so.

Mark Eggleton

Osteria Mozza and Pizzeria Mozza

Located at The Shoppes at Marina Bay Sands, #B1-42-46 (Across from the Theatre)

Tel: +65 6688 8522

www.marinabaysands.com/Restaurants/Pizzeria_and_Osteria_Mozza.aspx

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