SINGAPORE – Thin crust, thick crust, crunchy crust, thin and crunchy crust. Classic toppings, luxe toppings, out-there toppings. Classic Neapolitan, contemporary Neapolitan, Tokyo-Neapolitan, New York, San Francisco sourdough.

There is an artisanal pizza for every palate in Singapore.

In recent years, big brands from overseas have opened here, many using the city as a springboard to proliferate in Asia. Home-grown brands have not been slouching either – they have upped their game by focusing on their dough and coming up with pies topped with South-east Asian flavours.

Before there were artisanal pies, pizza came from big American chains. Then, in December 2010, Osteria and Pizzeria Mozza opened at Marina Bay Sands. American chef Nancy Silverton brought in her artisanal pizza and ushered in the golden age of artisanal pizza here.

Today, her pizza can be had at Osteria Mozza at Hilton Singapore Orchard. She founded La Brea Bakery in Los Angeles in the late 1980s, and brings a bread baker’s sensibility to her pizza dough.

Her pie has a distinct puffy rim and is different from a Neapolitan pizza in that it is an even golden brown, not spotted with char. The crumb is airy; and the pizza is not wet and not supposed to flop over when diners pick up a slice.

Diners and purveyors started bandying about terms like hydration, which refers to the percentage of water in the dough relative to the weight of flour; cornicione, the puffy rim of a pizza; and starter, preferment and sourdough, which some pizza-makers use alongside or instead of commercial yeast.

In 2024, more heavy hitters began to open in Singapore. There was Il Clay Supper Club by Naples-born Ciro Sorrentino, who owns pizza restaurants in Italy and Vietnam; L’Antica Pizzeria Da Michele, a brand from Naples with a history that goes back more than 150 years; Italian chef Massimo Bottura’s Torno Subito in Dempsey; Fortuna, a buzzy brand from Sydney; and Beyond The Dough, with Japanese pizzaiolo Eddie Murakami slinging pies in the Tokyo-Neapolitan style.

So far, in 2025, there have been Vincenzo Capuano Singapore, serving the social media star’s contemporary Neapolitan pizza; and Pizza Studio Tamaki, whose founder Tsubasa Tamaki pioneered the Tokyo-Napoli style.

Chef Antonio Miscellaneo, 52, of La Bottega Enoteca, says: “I did think that at some point, pizza would reach the level that we have in Europe. But I didn’t think it would ramp up so fast.”

Chef Travis Masier...