Paid a visit to newly opened Cenzo, focusing on serving Australian-Italian inspired dishes with chef Drew Nocente’s latest return. The place was actually full for a weekday lunch and given located at Club street which was actually quite a walk from the mrt, we were surprised. We took one set lunch and given nothing else really excited me, I decided to pick something from ala carte as well
Meatballs, Tomato, Parmesan $18
The meatballs were good. You could tell it was homemade with the texture. And I liked the tangy tomato sauce even though it reminded me of pasta sauce
Grilled Squid, Charcoal, Garam
Part of the set meal, the squid was cooked nicely but I felt the sauce was on the saltier side. So much we wished our pasta had arrived and we could eat it together with them
Focaccia, Smoked Mozzarella, Onion $12
So we added on an order of Focaccia, cos we thought the bread could go with the squid sauce. The bread was nicely done. Love the crisp yet soft texture alongside some smoked mozzarella for that flavour
Casareece, Cacio o Pepe $22
I didn’t know what I was ordering cos my vocabulary of pasta was limited. But this pasta surprised in every way. The texture, doneness and the flavour though if you eat the pasta on its own, it was a little salty. Glad I kept some meatballs to pair alongside as well
Bucatini, Spanner Crab, Clams
Part of the set lunch, this was an interesting pasta. Never tried this before. Cooked al dante, it was slightly bouncy but there was a distinct hollow opening in the centre. The pasta was also so long that we had to break it up into smaller pieces in order to curl it. There was a generous portion of clams and we loved the broth that was infused with the herbs, though I definitely preferred my choice of pasta to this
We finished it off with some panna cotta (not pictured) that took so long time to come. That aside, the panna cotta with lemon sorbet was refreshing and had a good balance of sweet and sour notes
I thought the pasta here was decent, and would love to give the mains a try as well. For 3 course set lunch priced at $35, it’s also pretty reasonable on the price-point. And for those working in the area and wanted to try somewhere new, probably can give this place a shot too
Cenzo
81 Club St, Singapore 069449
Easily satisfied, Hard to please 