Altro Tempo

Head Chef Andrea De Paola of Altro Zafferano resists the trappings of modern dining fads and frivolities - and dishes out what South Italian cuisine and he has been doing so immaculately: bringing people to the table for a good time.

- Bryan Goh

Congratulations on the restaurant’s 10th anniversary. Are you a chef who looks back to look forward, or do you look instead to the future? I always look into the origins of traditional Italian dishes for inspiration and love discovering classic dishes that are rarely offered in restaurants. It’s an exciting journey for me, especially when I can extract elements from these recipes and highlight them in dishes to bring traditional flavours back to dining tables. Quality produce from Italy, and other countries are executed with modern techniques at Altro Zafferano. The dishes are presented in a refined style that appeals to today’s diners. With this in mind, we are determined to deliver wonderful dining experiences to all guests.

Do you have a candid way of describing what South Italian cuisine is? To me, South Italian food is amore — it is about love and how we always cook with love. In the famous song about Naples by Dean Martin, he compares the beauty of passion and romance with a Neapolitan dish in the lyric: “When the stars make you drool just like a pasta e fasul, that’s amore!”

Chefs usually say that childhood memories inform their food. Can you share three memories in your life — youth, adulthood, and your time in Singapore — that have influenced the new menu? I will never forget the summer holidays with my grandmother. She was always in the kitchen, and because I wanted to spend time with her, I ended up learning to cook from her. She guided me when I made my first tomato sauce at nine years old, and this has remained one of my most precious memories. The appetiser Spaghetti with San Marzano Tomato and Oregano celebrates this memory. Although it looks like a simple pasta dish dressed with confit tomato powder, the flavours are so intense and lively. It’s a celebration of the tomato sauce in the classic Pasta al Pomodoro.