Housed just outside Hotel Michael, Fratelli is Resorts World Sentosa’s newest Italian dining concept. Taking over the space previously occupied by another Italian restaurant Palio, the 164‑seat pizzeria and trattoria is the brainchild of Enrico and Roberto Cerea of the family-run, three Michelin-starred Da Vittorio in Lombardy, Italy.

A wood-fired oven and other diminutive elements of a traditional Italian eatery gives the pizzeria a laidback vibe, while tables laden with starched linen and polished cutlery and stemware lend the adjoining trattoria a decidedly upmarket appeal. The kitchen, helmed by 31-year-old chef de cuisine Davide Bizzarri, turns out dishes designed by the Cerea brothers whose recipes are built on their Lombard heritage. The regional accent is most pronounced in the choice of ingredients, such as butter and cheese, and the construction of heavier flavours that are tempered with the brilliant use of lighter sauces.

Baccalà mantecato, a starter of cured cod fish mousse, is matched with an equally light and satiny polenta, while nuggets of lime meringue and a little ajoblanco sauce—made from butter, almond, garlic and bread—afford some contrast and intrigue to an otherwise potentially flat-tasting dish.

Scaloppa di fegato grasso

Scaloppa di fegato grasso comprises a 150g pan-seared foie gras escalope dressed with marsala wine sauce and sided by a green apple and capsicum compote. While the goose liver is the focus here, the sauce—made from beef stock enriched with butter—almost steals the show with its depth and intensity. The richness of the dish is balanced by a nuanced acidity of the compote.

Pizza Bianca

Pizza Bianca sees freshly baked focaccia topped with burrata sourced from the Artigiana cheese factory in Puglia, Pio Tosini’s 20-month aged prosciutto di Parma and arugula salad. It is an uncomplicated dish that appeals with clean focused flavours and superb ingredients, with a pizza base that offers some resistance to the bite.

Raviolone di ricotta e spinaci, tuorlo d’uovo e tartufo nero

A highlight on the menu is the raviolone filled with spinach and ricotta, crowned with a free-range chicken egg yolk, Emmental and black truffle shavings. Like a colourful tapestry, the various ingredients are thoughtfully composed and intricately woven together, anchored by the creaminess of the egg yolk, the nuttiness of the Emmental and the pungency of the black truffle.

Culinary virtuosity is even more apparent in the merluzzo in giallo, consisting of pan‑seared Atlantic cod fillet on a bed of Sicilian yellow tomato coulis (a thick vegetable sauce) and scarmoza (an Italian cheese similar to mozzarella), dressed with saffron-scented potato foam, and accompanied with an aromatic herb granita (a semi-frozen dessert). Derived from potato, leek and fish stock, the potato foam helps to maintain the lightness of the dish. The granita, meanwhile, lends a green minty herbal dimension, which is a nice contrast, if not a little discordant.

Maialino confit is a flawlessly prepared Spanish suckling pig belly, slow-cooked for over 12 hours and paired with grain mustard vinaigrette and Granny Smith apple spheres. There is sufficient acidity and tartness to uphold a delicate balance in the dish, while a restrained hand in seasoning keeps the flavours pure and pristine.

On the dessert front, tiramisu moderno is the Cerea brothers’ contemporary interpretation of the ubiquitous treat, featuring a sponge cake base layered over with coffee cream and hazelnut, crunchy chocolate pearl and mascarpone cream with dollops of white chocolate ganache. Coffee foam and almond crumble on the side completes the dish. While it does have its charm, the pistachio tortino with vanilla ice cream is considerably more enjoyable. Made from rice flour, pistachio from Sardinia, eggs and sugar, it has the texture of a relatively light and fluffy molten lava cake, whose lovely nutty character is complemented by the nuanced richness of the vanilla ice cream. 

Fratelli Trattoria & Pizzeria | Level 1, Festive Walk (next to Hotel Michael), Resorts World Sentosa, S(098269) | Call 6577 6688 | Email fratelli@RWSentosa.com