L’Amo Bistrò del Mare at METT Singapore sails into Singapore’s dining scene with a case for why Italian coastal cooking — restrained, generous, and confident — never goes out of style.
Italian food has always enjoyed a curious kind of immunity in Singapore’s relentlessly dining scene. Dining trends may come and go — Nordic this, contemporary Asian that — but Italian dining simply shrugs, pours itself a glass of Soave and gets on the business of making people full and happy, from red-sauce trattorias and casual pizzerias to swanky Tuscan steakhouses and white-tablecloth fine dining. Into this well-populated landscape struts L’Amo Bistrò del Mare at the newly opened METT Singapore in Fort Canning Park, bearing the promise and confidence of Italian coastal cooking.
L’Amo Bistrò del Mare arrives from Dubai trailing some serious credentials, including a Gambero Rosso Due Forchette. This Singapore opening is its first international outpost, and it comes armed with a tidy bit of brand storytelling. L’amo, the hook, symbolising the purest catch from the sea; l’amore, the love and conviviality at the heart of Italian hospitality. It all sounds dangerously close to marketing poetry, but here’s the thing: it thankfully manifests on the plate.
This is seafood-led Italian cooking that favours clarity over fireworks. No smoke machines, no edible gravel, no frantic attempts to “reimagine” dishes that were never broken to begin with. The kitchen shows admirable restraint — a quality far rarer than real truffle oil in this part of the world.
Take Le Tre Tartare, for example, a trio that could easily have descended into luxury-name bingo. Instead, it’s thoughtful and precise: sea bass with bottarga and candied orange zest, tuna belly sharpened by Japanese lime mayo, and sweet Mazara del Vallo red prawns crowned — sensibly, not smugly — with caviar. Each component tastes of what it claims to be, which is no small achievement.
Hovering quietly over all this is Chef Daniele Sperindio, Director of Culinary and F&B at METT Singapore, and known in dining circles as the man behind the excellent Art di Daniele Sperindio (which, I am glad to announce, will be making a phoenix-like return at METT Singapore in due course). His involvement matters. You can feel it in the discipline of the menu, in the refusal to overwork ingredients, and in the confidence to let regional Italian cooking speak in its own accent rather than forcing it to adopt a trendy new dialect.
That same sense of calm assurance runs through dishes like Tonno Rosso, where thinly sliced bluefin tuna is lifted gently by candied tomato and citrus, or a simple Burrata, its cool creaminess set off by genuinely sweet heirloom tomatoes and the salty punctuation of taggiasche olives. These are dishes that know when to stop.
That same philosophy carries through dishes like Polpo al Josper, where octopus emerges smoky yet supple from the charcoal oven, paired with a carrot, ginger and cardamom purée that adds warmth without distraction.
Nowhere is this clearer than in the pasta — Chef Daniele’s forte — which forms the emotional centre of the meal. Spaghettone Cacio & Pepe, enriched with Japanese uni, takes a Roman classic and nudges it towards indulgence without turning it into parody. The pepper still bites, the pecorino still hums, and the uni brings a saline richness rather than a show-off flourish. Tagliolini Lime & Caviale performs a similar balancing act, its lime butter emulsion brightening the caviar rather than smothering it.
Even the Truffle Pinsa — a dish that so often signals impending wallet trauma and gastronomic regret — manages to be both indulgent and oddly comforting.
Heartier options don’t abandon this restraint. Catalana dell’Amo lets you choose your catch from the seafood display, then dresses it simply with seasonal vegetables and the house L’Amo dressing — a dish that feels designed for lingering lunches and unhurried conversation. Impepata di Cozze does exactly what it should: plump mussels, garlic, wine, citrus, and bread to mop up the lot. Costolette d’Agnello alla Brace offers lamb chops that have been marinated patiently, grilled precisely, and served with just enough accompaniment to remind you that this is about the lamb, not the garnish.
Desserts lean unapologetically into familiar nostalgia. Cannoli are crisp and properly filled. Profiteroles are puffily delectable without collapsing under their own weight. And the tableside Tiramisù delivers theatre with a light touch, providing a sense that the meal has been wrapped up with care rather than drama.
There is, admittedly, something faintly ironic about a restaurant dedicated to coastal Italian cooking being located nowhere near the coast, tucked instead into the greenery of Fort Canning Park. But L’Amo’s breezy, harbour-inspired interiors do their best to sell the illusion, and mostly succeed. By day, it feels relaxed and sunlit; by night, the lighting softens, a pianist appears, and the room slides gently into something more intimate without tipping into too much formality.
L’Amo Bistrò del Mare does not attempt to reinvent Italian dining in Singapore, and thank goodness for that. What it does instead is remind us why Italian food never really falls out of favour: it understands pleasure, it respects ingredients, and it knows that generosity doesn’t need to be flashy. With Chef Sperindio’s guiding hand and a menu built on restraint and respect for ingredients, L’Amo drops into Singapore’s dining scene in a way that promises to be a dependable new favourite.
L’Amo Bistrò del Mare
Address 11 Canning Walk, METT Singapore, Singapore 178881 (Google Maps link)
Opening Hours 12pm to 2.30pm and 6pm to 10pm daily
Website www.lamorestaurant.com/singapore
Instagram @lamobistrodelmaresg
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