The chef maestro speaks on coming to the Lion City, his inimitable gastronomic approach, and how the Singapore outpost is unlike any other
“Singapore is a place I return to with joy again and again,” declares Massimo Bottura, who was just in Singapore last month for the official opening of his casual Italian restaurant at Como Dempsey. This is his first permanent dining concept in the city (and the sister outlet of the original Torno Subito that opened in Dubai in 2019) after holding pop-ups and collaboration dinners on the island for the last decade. It has been a long time coming for Bottura, as well as gourmands who often had to fly overseas to try his award-winning cuisine.
Bottura, who is considered one of the best chefs of his generation, is the chef-owner of Osteria Francescana, his Italian restaurant in his hometown of Modena which holds three Michelin stars and held the title of World’s Best Restaurant in 2016 and 2018. He is also the mastermind behind Gucci Osteria, the wildly popular restaurant collaboration with the Italian luxury label; Casa Maria Luigia, a hotel property that offers an experience of the Emilian countryside; and Food for Soul, a cultural nonprofit, founded together with his wife Lara Gilmore in 2016, championing food waste prevention and social isolation by feeding the needy.
With Torno Subito’s opening in the Lion City, Bottura tells us that it all came down to having the right partner. That said, he expresses that the partnership with the hospitality and lifestyle group didn’t happen overnight. Instead, it stewed for over a decade when Christina Ong and Ong Beng Seng, the founders of Como Group, first dined at Osteria Francescana. Through that initial conversation over dinner and wine, ideas soon manifested into reality with talks about opening his first outpost on the island. The Ongs even invited Bottura to cook at the Four Seasons Singapore during the Formula One Grand Prix. Being a Ferrari enthusiast, he agreed and recalled having an absolute blast where he winded up “cooking for the Prime Minister of Singapore too”.