SINGAPORE, Feb 3 — The restaurant scene in Singapore has become so vibrant that more and more of the world’s top chefs seem eager to set up shop here. The latest entrant is Chef Davide Oldani, whose restaurant D’O in Italy has one Michelin star.

Oldani lends his star quality to the restaurant FOO’D by Davide Oldani, which opened quietly in December at Victoria Theatre & Concert Hall and was set up in collaboration with a Singapore partner. The kitchen is helmed by Sardinian executive chef Simone Depalmas, who has been based in Singapore for five years; and the core kitchen team trained at D’O in Italy for two months.

At the same time, Oldani also opened a FOO’D restaurant in Manila with a Philippine partner. The timing was right to open in Asia because he met the right people, he told TODAY. These are his first ventures outside of Italy, where he has three establishments.

The 49-year-old chef was in town briefly last month, where he saw the restaurant for the first time. Singapore, he said, is "a nice city, and very importantly, an international city”. He also likes the fact that the Victoria Theatre has a rich history.

Caramelised Onion with Hot and Cold Grana Padano. — Handout via TODAY

His signature dishes include Caramelised Onion with 20-months aged Grana Padano (a hard Italian cheese) served hot and cold, in which onion halves are baked into a pastry, topped with Grana Padano Riserva gelato and served with hot Grana Padano Riserva cream; risotto made with carnaroli rice that has been aged for a year to give it more bite; as well as a dessert of lettuce ice-cream served with cocoa crumble and lemon meringue.

Since he opened D’O in his hometown of Cornaredo just outside of Milan 14 years ago, Oldani has become known for a philosophy that he calls Cucina Pop. In short, he explained, it means serving "high quality food” that is also affordable.

"Affordable means seasonal,” he said. It also means using "popular ingredients” and working "with our know-how, so that the product can be king of the kitchen”. Oldani developed this philosophy, which he calls his way of life, after training with top chefs including Gualtiero Marchesi, Alain Ducasse, Pierre Herme and Albert Roux. "I started to work with regular ingredients, to give them more value with the know-how I learned from the big chefs,” he said.

It is no different here in Singapore. "First, we look at the best ingredients in a place, and then we decide to use them,” he said. "We’re going to use Mandarin oranges in our cooking, just for the Singaporean people. We have suckling pig, because that’s very Chinese.” Another way in which the menu has been tweaked to suit local palettes is that the typical Italian cake served is made lighter and less sweet.

For Oldani, Cucina Pop is all about meeting as many people as he can and giving them the opportunity to experience quality food. His guests are so far up on his priority list that he has even designed cutlery to enhance their experience, such as wine glasses with uneven rims to aid in tasting, and even a water glass with one side of the rim for tasting sparkling water and the other for still. There is also a spork, because "when you eat my food, I prefer that you pick up all the ingredients together”; the utensil also has blunt edges for cutting and was designed with both left and right handers in mind.

Risotto with breadcrumbs and marsala. — Handout via TODAY

Interestingly, the spork was born out of practical necessity: "It’s one utensil, as opposed to two or three — because my kitchen (at D’O) was so small, we didn’t have a place to put things”. He also showed us pictures of the furniture he designed for his new flagship restaurant in Italy: Chairs with pockets to store things and only one armrest for sliding easily in and out.

"I think about what is not already on the market,” he said. "I watch people when they eat and see what’s missing to make them happy. I didn’t design things because one day I woke up and said, ‘I’m a designer’. I’m not. I’m a real good chef who watches and listens to clients. You give me the idea, not me.”

If you have had the pleasure of dining at D’O, expect a slightly different experience here. FOO’D, he said, is "a kind of spin-off of D’O”... It’s not D’O but it is D’O. The difference is that I don’t work here and my chefs don’t work here. And we do not use the same ingredients. It is for that reason that I didn’t use the same brand. We can play with the country where we are.” And "food”, he said, is a word that is understood, needed and loved internationally.

He may even be taking ideas from Singapore back to his research and development kitchen in Italy. "I get inspiration every time I travel,” he said. "Life is nice when you travel and learn and compare yourself with other people.” — TODAY

FOO’D by Davide Oldani is at 11 Empress Place, #01-01 Victoria Theatre & Concert Hall. Lunch is S$45 (RM140) for three courses and S$52 for four courses. Dinner is S$138 for five courses and S$168 for seven courses. Closed Sundays.