SINGAPORE – When waitstaff at a restaurant hover as I peruse the menu, I trot out the phrase “choice paralysis”. I usually want to order everything, but of course, that is ridiculous.

Osteria Mozza, American chef Nancy Silverton’s Italian restaurant at Hilton Singapore Orchard, is trying to help. It launched the Chef Nancy’s Signature Tasting Menu on March 1, when the 70-year-old chef was here on a visit.

Priced at $138 a person for five courses, the diner has to contend with only two choices for each course. If you dine with a friend, you can order both options and sample most of the 120-seat restaurant’s greatest hits.

The menu will change often, but this first one is strong. The kitchen, led by Australian chef Peter Birks, 41, grills very expertly.

The Grilled Asparagus option from the Mozza Bar course, the Grilled Octopus from the Antipasti course and the Sea Bream and Chargrilled Porcini-Rubbed Short-Ribs in the Secondi course are perfection – smoky and instantly appetising.

Those asparagus spears are shorn of skin, the better to expose the tender, juicy stems. Even the crostini that holds up Nancy’s Caesar is perfectly done. That option is a must – it is piled with seriously good anchovies.

Housemade pasta is one of the restaurant’s strengths, and of the two options, I prefer the Corzetti Stampati – flat, round pasta stamped with intricate patterns. It is sauced with pesto and topped with a blob of creamy burrata and toasted pine nuts.

There is nothing wrong with Chitarra, with red prawns, butter, garlic and chilli, but it is difficult to beat freshly made pesto, which gets a lift from lemon zest and juice.

For dessert, I am hit by choice paralysis again. How do you choose between Torta della Nonna, a tart with a cream cheese, mascarpone and goat cheese filling served with honeycomb, acacia honey and chestnut honey; and Cannoli filled with ricotta cheese and candied fruit, and studded with chocolate pearls at one end and pistachios at the other? Guess I’ll have both.

Where: Osteria Mozza, Level 5 Hilton Singapore Orchard, 333 Orchard Road MRT: Orchard Open: Tasting menu available daily for dinner only, from 5 to 10pm Info: osteriamozza.com.sg, go to str.sg/a2w7 to make reservations

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