If you want to carb out in preposterous style, the new Pasta Tasting Menu at Spago has your name on it. It certainly had Burppler Jayne Tan and mine.
Comprising of smaller portions of the four existing pastas from the a la carte menu, it is an ideal way to try them all at one sitting. Frankly speaking, I have only had the agnolotti (it’s pure magic, just ask everyone else I’ve introduced it to) and wasn’t quite aware of the other three pastas’ existence. Blame it on my usual must-haves that get first dibs on my belly’s real estate whenever I visit 😂😂 So thank you Executive Chef Greg Bess for insisting we leave it to you this time.
The first to arrive was a pile of exquisite frilly Mafaldine prepared in a far-from-basic cacio e pepe style with prosciutto and asparagus. The former added meaty savouriness while the latter threw in not only in extra flavour but also succulent bites of juiciness.
Second was a really appetising Rigatoni. The sauce of pork ragu, fennel seeds, Swiss chard, parmesan, parsley had a subtle kick of heat from chilli which paired beautifully with the big tubes of al dente #pasta.
I am a fan of tripe but only if it is done well, and in the case of the Bucatini “Trippa ala Romana“, our third pasta, it hit the bullseye. Superbly soft and gently chewy, the pieces of tripe were saturated in the spicy tomato sauce it had been braised in. Ricotta, mint, parsley and pecorino rounded this off very nicely.
Last but certainly not least was the handmade Agnolotti that had stolen my heart from day one. This season sees it filled with pumpkin with a hint of herbs, and served with a plate-lickably delicious sauce, as evidenced in my recent IGTV post starring @heyrozzz @dineshb and @iamkennethelee.
We were feeling rotund by then and common sense would dictate refusing dessert. But did we do that? Of course not. A very fragrant deconstructed Apple Crumble landed on our table soon after and in we dug, munching on the freshly baked fruit and crunchy pecan streusel, accompanied by raspberry gel and a magnificent brown butter pecan ice-cream.