This restaurant has closed.
What’s not to like about Saveur? The intrepid hawker-turned-bistro first burst onto the dining scene serving up helpings of affordable French fare – now they’re back with another spoil-the-market concept, aptly named Concetto, which makes Italian food a whole lot cheaper.
If there’s a minor quibble we have with the original Saveur, it’s their limited menu – only five options for mains – that just falls short of qualifying it as a regular haunt. Happily, there’s no such problems at Concetto, located on the ground floor of The Cathay. The stark industrial-chic minimalism gives way to a well-worked menu bursting with possibilities – it’s divided into Earth (salads and soups), Land (pastas and meats), Seas (seafood dishes) and Light (desserts).
Among the multiple hits are the handmade, silky smooth fettucine (a steal at $9.90), drenched in a balanced cream sauce that comes with a sous vide egg, a decent-sized chunk of confit pork belly and crispy bacon bits. Plus, there’s the tender grilled octopus morsels with a fennel salad and zippy anchovy dressing ($9.90), and the oyster blade steak ($13.90), a flavourful cut of beef accompanied by a smear of potato purée and vegetables, using herbs grown in their very own garden.
There are plenty of other dishes left to try – such as the seafood soup ($8.90) done cioppino-style and duck tortellini with poached egg and parmesan emulsion ($13.90) – so we’re looking forward to plenty of return visits. Concetto is still in its infancy, but the signs are already promising that it might just overshadow Saveur. So brace yourself for the customary long queues for one of its 85 seats once word gets out. Lee Min Kok