Cheryl Marie Cordeiro

Late evening visit at No Menu, 23 Boon Tat Street, Singapore.
Text and Photo © CM Cordeiro 2011

One of the more enjoyable part-time jobs I’ve held as a young student in Singapore some more than fifteen years ago was that of waitressing in a small restaurant. There I was on my feet, running to and from the kitchen with orders, water pitchers, new plates, napkins, most anything and everything that made a restaurant work at rush hour, and I didn’t feel the strain. It was more a constant pulse of a beating heart, that happily kept going.

In my very brief stop-over in Singapore this time around, I considered it an absolute privilege to have been invited to spend a late evening at No Menu with owner and Executive Chef Osvaldo Forlino, with his team and Head Chef Daniele Devillanova.

What struck me more than the food by itself which is the obvious thing to experience in a gourmet restaurant of this magnitude, was the atmosphere that at No Menu is spirited, generous and warm. The air was most often punctuated with bouts of heartfelt laughter and goodwill, where the food, the people and ambiance feels like an orchestrated symphony by light, set against a fabric of seductive fragrances wafting from the kitchen… making the full experience of dining here so much more than just one more dinner however excellent.

Osvaldo Forlino in an evening of mix and mingle.

Warm smiles all around in the kitchen at No Menu! Daniele Devillanova in the foreground, Osvaldo Forlino in the background.

It’s all in the details that makes dining at No Menu special, from homemade artisan goodies such as pickled tomatoes that decorate the counter…

…to handwritten bottle labels tucked away neatly on the second floor private dining area.

The slow absorption of the ambiance through and between each dish, takes time. A room to yourselves in No Menu’s private dining area is a good alternative.

What I think No Menu has to offer runs slightly counter to high stress everyday workings and living in cosmopolitan Singapore. Sensory dining, the slow absorption of the ambiance through and between each dish, takes time.

And when there, I think you could well kick back your heels and expect to spend a full evening here lounging in the comfortable and ample chairs, in the midst of the dim lit interiors. Live a little, laugh a little, and forget your working week’s humdrum worries, at least, for this night.

Apart from the very many details that made No Menu special to me, were the numerous luxurious rugs that covered the floor to the restaurant. Those rugs, the antique furniture found upstairs, I’m sure all had a story to tell on their own.

I already look forward to the next opportunity I will have to spend another evening or two here. Simply sitting, indulging in a dessert or two, listening to whatever stories that unfold from each individual item that is Osvaldo Forlino and his family’s Italy.