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The godfather of mod-Sin cuisine, Willin Low, is semi-retired now. The COVID-19 pandemic brought years of stress for the 52-year-old, who had to keep his restaurants like Relish and Five &2 in Singapore, and Roketto Niseko in Hokkaido, going during the lockdown.
“After Covid I decided to heck it and see the world,” laughed Low, who closed Relish in 2022 and Five &2 in Punggol Park earlier this year. “We didn’t manage to renew the lease [for Five &2] with NParks,” he shared.
His Cluny Court restaurant, Relish by Wild Rocket, is still operating.
He started travelling extensively, booking trips to exotic locales like Kenya and New Zealand on top of getaways to nearby spots like Ipoh. Work-wise, he splits his time between Singapore and Japan, and is based in ski town Niseko around four months of the year during winter season to cook at Roketto. “I’m in Singapore for about 10 days every month,” he shared.
But he’s now back on home ground, having opened a two-week-old pasta bar called Pastaro. “I keep telling myself no more, but here I am,” he chuckled. “My friends said I’m like a singer who announces his retirement, then makes another comeback with a concert!”
The reason for opening a new eatery, he shared, is to retain his staff from his shuttered restaurant, some of whom have been working with him since he opened his lauded restaurant, Wild Rocket, in 2005. It closed in 2018.
“Two of the chefs [at Pastaro] opened Wild Rocket with me. I was thinking about how not to lose both of them, and Pastaro came about ’cause for years, we have been talking about making fresh pasta,” recounted Low.
His restaurants had been profitable, which gave him the funds to open new concepts after closing others. “We open restaurants with money we made from our restaurants. My investors are all my staff. We take a more long-term view; we hold on to more money in the bank so that when something like COVID-19 hits, we can ride it through,” he said.
The tiny, cosy 40-seater is in a pretty unique location: On the second floor of Chancery Court, above a Cold Storage supermarket.
In fact, Pastaro is so obscure that Willin Low had to brainstorm ways to signpost his restaurant so that his diners could find it. The lift lobby leading up to it is tucked away at the back of the building, and you either have to take the lift or climb the stairs to the second floor.
That said, it feels like stumbling upon a hidden gem. The space is decked out in warm, earthy tones with customised wooden tables and chairs, and pliant wood strips stretch this way and that across the ceiling. “It’s meant to look like pasta,” Low said with a smile.
Looking out of the tall windows in the restaurant, you can see Cold Storage’s grocery aisles and large chillers. “The special thing about this place is that you can’t tell whether it’s day or night here,” Low pointed out.
He modelled the space after the little eateries dotting Tokyo’s chic neighbourhoods. He explained: “It’s the kind of place that you pass by and you tell yourself, ‘I must come back here the next night to try it’. The trick is to make people feel like they are leaving the worries of the world when they step in.”
There is a Hokkien mee-style Singapore Fried Noodles (S$26), mushroom-centric Lion Spaghettini (S$18), Buah Keluak Spaghetti (S$21), Miso Bolognaise Spaghetti (S$22) and Spicy Vongole Fettuccine (S$26).
Also on the menu is the Carbonara Fettuccine (S$24), with Sarawak pepper and a mod-Sin smattering of fried pork lard cubes, and Laksa Pesto Spaghetti (S$28) where, instead of basil, Low blitzes laksa leaves to make a Singapore-style ‘pesto’.
“We were known for this at Wild Rocket, and we have customers asking us to bring this back,” he said.
The succinct menu also includes a tight list of sides, some elevated versions of well-loved local food that you would recognise: Har Jeong Fritter (S$14) with pork belly chunks instead of chicken, Calamari Friti (S$15) with calamansi mayo, and a Japanese-style Charred Napa Cabbage (S$14) drizzled with miso butter, nori and bonito flakes.
They are meant to go with tipples like a Sng Muay Sour (S$12), beer on tap (from S$14 for Sapporo Beer) and sakes that Low, a certified sake sommelier, created together with 358-year-old Japanese sake brewery Yaegaki. “They were created to pair with Singaporean food,” he pointed out.
Take for instance the Yaegaki x Willin Low sake (from S$15), a perkily fruity sake with a tinge of sweetness.
“It’s necessary for spicy food,” explained Low. “The only other place that sells it is my place [Roketto] in Niseko.”
Pastaro’s first paying customer was singer Kit Chan. Low shared: “She’s a friend, and she had always said she wanted to be our first customer. When she came, she told me, ‘It feels like I’m in Tokyo’, and I was like ‘Yes!’”
CARBONARA FETTUCCINE, S$24
At first glance, this is a proper plate of carbonara: Freshly handmade al dente fettuccine ribbons tossed with pancetta, parmigiana and a raw egg yolk.
The Willin Low mod-Sin touch? Fried pork lard cubes that give the decadent dish extra crispy richness.
SINGAPORE FRIED NOODLES, S$26
Those who have been to Western countries would have seen a curious ‘Singapore Noodles’ dish on menus. It’s a version of fried beehoon that, strangely, doesn’t exist here.
Low’s cheeky take on Singapore Fried Noodles is a riff on Hokkien mee: Fresh springy prawns and firm linguine dressed in crustacean oil and a smattering of chilli flakes and kaffir lime leaves.
Oh, and half a calamansi, per Hokkien mee regulations.
We enjoy the chewier pasta here, which holds up better than the usual yellow noodles and thick beehoon.
LION SPAGHETTINI, S$18
According to Willin Low, this is a pasta dish that he makes for his friend’s kids in Niseko, artfully sprinkled with chopped walnuts and a hint of bright lemon zest. Delish, and vegetarian-friendly. The lion’s mane and pearl oyster mushrooms used are deliberately sourced from local farm/social enterprise Mushroom Buddies, which employs staff with disabilities.
LAKSA PESTO SPAGHETTI, S$28
No laksa is served at Pastaro, but there’s spaghetti coated with laksa pesto. Wild Rocket regulars would remember this wave-making dish when Willin Low first served it at his restaurant. Its pasta version has a 2024 update: The king prawns have been swapped with slipper lobster, but the laksa pesto is still headily punchy.
HAR JEONG FRITTER, S$14
Here’s what you do with this side dish: Order a beer, and start popping these little chunks of deep-fried, impossibly tender pork belly served with cincalok. Is that our cardiologist screaming in the background? We can’t hear over the crunch of these sinfully salty morsels. Order it, no regrets.
CHARRED NAPA CABBAGE, S$14
If you want to accumulate some dietary karma points, this relatively more virtuous pick is also tasty. A thick slice of napa cabbage, charred and loaded with a medley of miso butter, bonito flakes and nori. It’s a good interlude if the pasta ever gets too heavy.
PURIN, S$13
The dessert menu here is no slouch. Like a good mom-and-pop eatery in Japan, there is an old-school sweet like house-made dark chocolate lava cake (S$13), but the deceptively plain-looking purin (the charming Japlish word for pudding) blew our mind. “I had a version in Nagoya that was so good, I decided to do it with pandan and gula melaka caramel,” Low said. Even after tucking away a few plates of pasta and fried pork belly, we found space in our tummy for this smooth, rich treat.
Pastaro is at 36H Dunearn Road, #02-45, Chancery Court, Singapore 309433. Open daily except Mon. Tues to Fri 11am-3pm; 5.30pm-10pm, Sat & Sun 10.30am-3pm; 5.30pm-10pm.
This story was originally published in 8Days.
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