Chef Denis Lucchi of Michelin-starred Buona Terra opens Assaggi, where simplicity trumps formality

Chef Denis Lucchi doesn’t do things by the book — or at least, not the fine-dining rulebook that’s kept his one Michelin-starred Buona Terra in Singapore’s upper echelons for years. His newest venture, Assaggi, is proof of that.

Tucked along Neil Road’s ever-busy dining strip, the Italian degustation concept, which opened on August 10, comes with a philosophy that sounds almost like a dare: Taste over form, instinct over polish, and — as the restaurant’s own tagline puts it — “imperfect by choice”.

A lauded chef’s case for letting go

For chef Lucchi, Assaggi is something of a departure. Where Buona Terra trades in the exacting choreography of contemporary fine-dining, Assaggi is built around a looser, more instinctive idea of Italian cooking — one rooted in the unfussy honesty of home kitchens rather than the precision of a Michelin pass.

It’s not the first time chef Denis has stepped outside Buona Terra’s fine-dining format either: Locanda, his casual trattoria in Little India, already offers a homely, comfort-driven take on Italian classics. Assaggi sits somewhere in between, retaining a degustation structure and a fine-dining pedigree, but applying Locanda’s instinct-led philosophy to a more elevated setting.

The name itself, derived from the Italian word for “taste”, signals the shift: Technique here is meant to serve flavour, not the other way around, and a slightly imperfect edge on a dish is treated less like a flaw and more like proof that a human hand was actually behind it.

That philosophy translates into a set-menu-only format, deliberately stripped of the sprawl of an a la carte list. Diners choose between two dinner menus. 

There’s the Signature Journey and Pasta Journey (six courses with an option for a supplementary course, S$88 each) — with a shorter, three-course lunch menu (S$58) for those on the clock.

The drinks list carries the same “imperfect by choice” thread through to the glass. Its wine programme, put together with a focus on natural and biodynamic bottles from small-scale producers, leans into the same instinct-over-polish sensibility as the food — favouring wines with a bit of funk and character over anything too clean or “serious”.

The cocktail programme — a collaboration with Bar Kakure — keeps things similarly unfussy, working through seasonal, low-intervention ingredients.

Where Assaggi shines

The Signature Journey set opens with bread that has no business being this good.

The glazed soft roll — finished with a balsamic reduction, duck fat, and acacia honey — arrives warm, but it’s the whipped salted butter alongside that steals the moment: Whipped to an almost cloud-like airiness, yet unmistakably, indulgently fatty in the best way.

It just goes to show that sometimes the bread course deserves more attention than it usually gets.

For this session, we were also treated to the tubetti from the Pasta Journey menu — small tube-shaped pasta bathed in an anchovy stock with nettle puree, finished with black lemon, brown butter-toasted sourdough crumbs, and a scatter of lemon zest.

On paper, “anchovy-forward” might suggest something heavier or more aggressive, but the combination of black lemon’s sharpness and the crumb’s crunch keeps things balanced rather than briny for brininess’ sake.

One of the Signature Journey’s highlights is its main: Roasted duck, peaches, fennel, where Assaggi’s instincts feel most assured. 

Dry-aged for 14 days and glazed with orange blossom honey, the duck is seared to a crisp skin and plated with duck jus, roasted peaches, fennel puree, and a fresh fennel salad — sweetness meeting anise-edged freshness in a pairing built on a pleasant contrast.

Then comes the convivio section of paccheri Amatriciana style, wheeled out and served tableside with a bit of theatre. The tomato sauce, deepened with guanciale fat and finished with more guanciale and shaved parmesan, feels like the dish Assaggi’s whole ethos has been building toward — generous, unpretentious, and entirely unbothered by looking too neat on the plate.

Oh, and all throughout your meal, there must be a drizzle of Assaggi’s house chilli oil — a small, unassuming bottle that punches well above its weight.

Made with several types of chillies (one of which is bird’s eye), it’s easy to underestimate at first glance, but a teaspoonful stirred through any of the pasta courses proves it carries real heat and staying power at the table.

Dessert brings things full circle with peach & granita, where seasonal yellow peach is layered with peach espuma and granita, and finished with raw almonds for crunch. It’s a clean, palate-resetting note that closes out the meal on a lighter register.

A confident debut, with a few loose threads

Not every dish needs to be a showstopper to earn its place on the table, and Assaggi’s lineup makes a reasonable case for that. The stone bass, parsley, zucchini, Mugnaia (a style of cooking where fish is lightly dusted in flour and cooked in butter) is dry-aged and charcoal-grilled, layered over a parsley and yoghurt puree with lemony brown butter — a sound choice for anyone looking to come up for air after the richer pasta courses.

It just didn’t quite hold the same pull as the duck, which is perhaps unfair competition given how assured that dish felt by comparison; the bass was good, but it was missing that one extra note that would have made it memorable rather than merely competent.

The rum baba, vanilla, olive oil, salt dessert suffered a similar fate, if for different reasons. 

On paper, a rum-soaked yeast cake with vanilla ice cream, chantilly cream, and a drizzle of olive oil should have been the meal’s grand finale (which it was by course sequence), but by the time it arrived, the peach & granita before it had already done its job a little too well.

As a palate cleanser, the peach course was genuinely one of the highlights of the meal: Bright, cold, and precise enough that it reset the appetite almost entirely, leaving the rum baba to follow an act it simply couldn’t match.

It’s a minor gripe in an otherwise solid debut — and if anything, a testament to how well Assaggi’s pacing works for the savoury courses, even if the sweet ending doesn’t quite stick the landing.

But a restaurant built on imperfection was never promising a flawless meal — just an honest one. On that front, Assaggi delivers.

This was a hosted tasting.

For more ideas on what to eat, check out Skosh, a new handroll and matcha bar on Orchard Road, and Chef Lai’s Cafe, opened by an ex-Chatterbox chef.