Alba 1836

When Matteo Trabaldo Togna and Cm Shih put their heads together, they realised they could combine not only their entrepreneurial nous but their love for good food and wine. After scouting the perfect, peaceful location along bucolic Duxton Hill in Singapore’s Tanjong Pagar, the pair, in collaboration with executive chef Alessandro Frau (chef and owner of the award-winning Acqua in Phuket), set about recruiting the best for what they dreamed would be one of Singapore’s finest Italian restaurants. With head chef Luca Piras, a native of Sardinia, and sommelier Andrea Ligas looking after the cuisine and wine cellar respectively, Alba 1836 was born – to immediate popular and critical acclaim.

Alba 1836’s signature dishes include a simple dish of pecorino cheese from Piras’ home island of Sardinia, grilled until golden brown, drizzled with chestnut honey and served with fresh figs. It’s perfect as a dessert or as an appetiser, opening the doors to dishes such as Alba’s Milanese-style red Sicilian prawns cooked in a crust of yellow polenta and served on a bed of black squid ink risotto with Stracchino cheese and Mediterranean sea urchin – a delicacy sure to please Singapore’s seafood-obsessed gourmets. There’s an incredible diversity of regional Italian cuisines represented on Alba’s menu, but we would certainly be remiss if we weren’t to mention the carefully curated wines, a portion of which greet diners as they stroll through Alba’s glassed entrance along Duxton Hill in Tanjong Pagar. Over 40 wines are available by the glass – not to mention those available by the bottle – all served from state-of-the-art Italian wine dispensers ensuring a fresh pour every time. In keeping with the authenticity on show at Alba, the wines are almost exclusively Italian, hand-picked by sommelier Ligas. Alba 1936 deserves all the hype it receives – undoubtedly a top-ranking Italian restaurant in Singapore.