Review: Dubai’s Italian seafood restaurant L’Amo Bistrò del Mare off to a swimmingly good start in Singapore debut

Singapore’s appetite for Italian cuisine is insatiable — judging from the number of pizzerias that keep mushrooming and the snaking queue at Scarpetta.

When new-to-market hotel brand METT Singapore, which opens on October 28 in Fort Canning Park, announced that it has an Italian restaurant as one of its four F&B concepts in the heritage building, we were not exactly jumping out of our seats.

In a nutshell

Enter L’Amo Bistrò del Mare, an Italian seafood concept with a raw bar with fresh fish and seafood from the Mediterranean in a more subdued urban setting.

The Gambero Rosso-recognised restaurant first made waves in Dubai when it opened in 2022. It is part of the sprawling umbrella of hotel and F&B concepts by the Dubai-based Sunset Hospitality Group, which also runs METT Singapore hotel, and Sushisamba and Mott 32 restaurants here.

The 86-seat restaurant, with sky-blue walls flanked by banquette seating, is a pared-down version of the Dubai original, which is swathed in sweeping views of the Dubai Harbour.

L’Amo Bistrò del Mare has a seafood-driven menu, designed to conjure sun-drenched memories of languishing on the Amalfi Coast with its tight selection of antipasti, pasta, mains and desserts.

There are also cocktails and a wine list, comprising over 300 Italian and French labels. The menu is mainly imported from the Dubai mothership, save for minor tweaks by the hotel’s director of culinary and F&B, Daniele Sperindio.

He is also reviving, Art his Italian fine-dining restaurant in a cosy and more personal space, adjacent to L’Amo Bistrò del Mare. 

What to order

The seafood dishes are the ones to zero in on. We started with the Le Tre Tartare ($88), a seafood alternative to beef tartare. For the princely sum, you get a platter of three glistening peri dish-sized seafood tartare that comes with toast.

The lush gambero rosso tartare sings with sweetness, offset by caviar, while seabass is topped with pops of mullet roe, and the tuna tartare is the “meatiest” of the lot.

The highlight of my dinner is, undisputedly, the whole salt-baked seabass (market price, about $200/kg), selected from the catch of the day at the raw bar. The fish is blanketed in salt and egg white to form a solid crust when baked. An entire fish is good to feed a party of five to six.

The light brown seabass parcel is a sight to behold as it arrives piping hot at our table. The salt crust is sliced to reveal a perfectly cooked fish. The moist meat flakes beautifully as it is deboned and filleted by the table.

We love how the fish is perfumed with aromatics like dill, cilantro, and lemon, stuffed in its belly, and a tinge of saltiness that permeates through the salt crust into the flesh. The fish is so good on its own that we almost excluded the lemon butter sauce and Datterini tomatoes on the side.

Another hit is the Polpo al Josper ($32), which features octopus grilled in a Josper oven. Octopus can be tricky to cook, but it is cooked just right here. The texture is completely tender and doesn’t border on being chewy. The charred octopus edges inject some smokiness from the carrot and ginger purée that it sits on, and we relished every bite of it.

We are also won over by the Tagliolini al Tartufo di Stagione ($78), (though slightly taken aback by its hefty price tag.) We are guessing it is because of the generous shavings of truffle that obscure the entire pasta dish.

The neat coil of ribbon-like handmade pasta is a slippery-smooth dream to slurp up, along with chopped hazelnuts for a toasty and buttery aftertaste.

What could be better

Tiramisu is a shoo-in for desserts to order at an Italian restaurant. Over here, it is called Ti…Amo…Su ($19), a cheeky ode to “Ti Amo” (I love you). We enjoyed the theatrics of seeing the slab of tiramisu assembled tableside, from soaking the savoiardi biscuits in espresso, folding of the velvety mascarpone cream and sprinkling of cocoa powder and chocolate crumble.

Something’s amiss; a splash of amaretto or coffee liqueur would have given the dessert an extra kick. 

The anchovies in the Tagliatelle alla Puttanesca ($36) come off too strongly in the traditionally Italian sauce made with tomatoes, garlic, olives, capers and anchovies. Though the tagliatelle, tossed with just the right amount of sauce, is rightfully crowned with diced tuna and tomatoes. 

Verdict 

It is hard to go off the charts with a safe and likeable Italian seafood concept, so a meal at L’Amo Bistrò del Mare is both pleasing and toothsome. We were especially impressed by how the seafood dishes turned out, especially the salt-baked seabass.

With a white grand piano by the entrance, there are plans for live music performances, making the coastal laidback Italian dining experience closer to reality in this urban hideout.

L’Amo Bistrò del Mare is at METT Singapore, 11 Canning Walk.