Picolino (Balestier)

Food was pretty good, ambience was relaxed and peaceful as the mall wasn’t too busy. Just to note that the Burpple Beyond “30% off 2 pasta/pizza” actually means 30% off ONE of the pasta/pizza (lower priced item) with minimum purchase of two. I gave feedback to the staff to change the wording of the Burpple voucher as I feel it incorrectly represents the deal.

Our carbonara actually had a ~2cm eggshell in it, but the staff apologised when they noticed it on our empty plates. They even gave us a free lava cake as compensation, which I thought was very good service recovery - since they initiated it on their own (we didn’t make any noise, didn’t even bring the eggshell issue up, they were the ones that saw it and could’ve pretended not to see it, but acknowledged it).

Savour unique and interesting pizza flavours at Picolino with Burpple Beyond's 20% Off Pizza/Pasta (Mon-Thu) deal! Be adventurous and try their Picolino's Laksa, a never-seen-before Singaporean pizza or opt for a more classic option, their Picolino's Margherita.

📸: Photo by Burppler Russell Leong

Their signature. The taste is quite different from Lino's version, because the dough is different. Still very good, needs a bit more of the basil sauce

Very quiet place tho, there's only 3 tables during a weekday lunch

The scarmoza pizza was quite mild, thankfully we added the salami for more umami and saltiness

Their crust is damn special. It's almost a little pastry like, super crispy even in the middle, but the external ring is too chewy and not blistered much

They have a 1 for 1 pizza until end of may as part of Les Amis group's event

Before my final post, a quick shout out to the folks from Burpple and Picolino for generously hosting us for the #eatup!

At $30, the duck leg risoni is the single most expensive item on Picolina's menu. It featured red wine risoni pasta in burnt butter topped with a duck leg confit, hazelnut, balsamic and grated pecorino cheese.

There is nothing much to fault about the duck leg confit. The skin was crisp and the meat tender and well marinated (albeit a little dry).

The risoni pasta though was a little disappointing. Risoni pasta is a rice grained shaped pasta. It may have gotten a little soggy whilst we were busy taking photos and tasted rather starchy. The red wine reduction was rather bitter probably due to a slightly tannic wine being used and its combination with burnt butter and balsamic just didn't work for me as the three strong and distinctive flavours just seem to counteract each other.

Cacio e pepe is a traditional Italian pasta and literally means "cheese and pepper". It will therefore come as no surprise that the dish contains grated pecorino romano cheese and black pepper, together with spaghetti, or traditionally tonnarelli.

Some may consider cacio e pepe to be a "dry" version of carbonara when they are two distinct dishes with different ingredients and taste profiles. The traditional carbonara is richer and more creamy due to the use of eggs and guanciale. Cacio e pepe has a distinct flavour because of the sharp pecorino cheese flavour is more pronounced and the heavier use of pepper.

Picolino's take on this dish is a little non-traditional. It uses mafaldine, a ribbon type pasta and tops the pasta with a fried egg and hamburg steak. The dish kinda works for me as the egg yolk adds an additional layer of richness to the pasta and I ain't saying no to adding a protein to an otherwise meatless dish!