@candidcuisine because red dishes are for celebrations 🇸🇬 #NDP2022 #sgfoodie #italianfood #burrata #pizza #cheese #pasta ♬ Ooh Ahh (My Life Be Like) [feat. Tobymac] – Grits
Address: 1 Scotts Rd, #03-23/24 Shaw Centre, Singapore 228208
Opening Hours: Daily 11:30am – 3:00pm, 6:00 – 9:30pm
Official Website: linopizzapastabar.com
PICOLINO Pizza and Pasta Bar, Shaw Centre, Singapore
I’ve been wanting to try out PICOLINO Pizza and Pasta Bar for quite some time. The place is peppered with good reviews on Google Maps and even on TikTok that I decided to get over my procrastination and strike one more restaurant off my bucket list. I was curious about LINO because it’s owned by famed 3 Michelin Star Les Amis, who also owns Tarte by Cheryl Koh, Bistro Du Vin, and Tenjin (one of my favorite tempura restaurants to go to in Singapore).
LINO Pizza and Pasta Bar doesn’t disappoint. We ordered its popular pizza — Burrata Pizza — which comes with a giant blob of Burrata atop tomato pesto pizza. I’m not a fan of thin crust pizzas but this one was well-executed. The only drawback was the crust. If you let it sit for way too long in A/C, the cold crust quickly becomes stale. So best to eat it fast!
We also ordered Smoked Scamorza, topped with generous mushrooms and a nicely cooked fried egg and parmesan shavings. While a lot have raved about this, I didn’t see anything appealing with this pizza and you can definitely skip it.
We ordered quite a bunch of pasta dishes — Aglio Olio with prawns, squid and bird’s eye chili; Truffle macaroni and cheese with bacon-crumbs; and the Rigatoni Pollo, which was a July special. I only liked the mac and cheese, and so did the rest of my companions. I felt that the aglio olio was too basic. And the Rigatoni Pollo, though I appreciated the huge chunks of tomato chicken breast, felt that it was also not the pasta bowl for me.
On the other hand, the biggest surprise of the night was the starter (and yes, I saved the best for last). You have to order the Sweet Potato Fries drizzled with sriracha mayo. This one’s a sure winner for any large groups.
Overall, I think LINO best fits groups of 4 with a pizza and 2 orders of pasta dishes. Go beyond 4 and it might be slightly expensive for such a casual restaurant. But then, another great spinoff from the Les Amis group.