The Italian summer is arriving a little early, in Singapore.
The Italians understand the beauty of a long, lazy summer getaway so intrinsically that they invented a term for it – villeggiatura. Meaning ‘resting in pleasant places’, it’s how Italians summon that wonderful feeling of spending a whole lot of time doing nothing much at all.
This summer, luxury travel group Belmond is bringing villeggiatura to our side of the globe, with a ticketed dinner series at Singapore private members’ club Mandala featuring chefs from its top Italian resorts.
From the group behind legendary beach club Ulu Cliffhouse – as well as some of Bali’s most stunning villas – Mandala Club, Singapore is a private members’ club in the spirit of global communities such as Soho House. This dinner series is a chance to spy inside this meticulously restored heritage building in the middle of Singapore’s Chinatown, and experience the cooking of some of Italy’s finest.
Over January and February, Mandala Club x Belmond ‘A Taste of Italy’ sees four acclaimed chefs from Belmond’s peerless Italian properties fly in for four residencies.
The residency has kicked off with Vania Ghedini, the head chef at Oro, the Michelin-starred restaurant at Venice’s iconic Hotel Cipriani, where she works with legendary chef and Ciprani’s culinary creative director Massimo Bottura. Ghedini channels her childhood in Emilia-Romagna, the fabled Italian foodie region at her Singaporean stint, which runs from 14-18 January.
From 21-24 January, Roberto Toro, executive chef of the Michelin-starred Otto Geleng at Grand Hotel Timeo, steps into the chefs’ whites in Singapore. In his Sicilian kitchen, Toro sources 80 per cent of his ingredients from the island, and his Mandala Club menu pays homage to iconic Sicilian dishes such as rigatoni alla Norma.
For the first week of February, from 4-8 February, Tuscany arrives with Daniele Sera, Head Chef of Tosca at Castello di Casole. Sera brings his strict farm-to-table philosophy with him, plating up an edible garden inspired by the incredible vegetable patch at Castello di Casole.
Bringing it all home from 11-15 February is Armando Aristarco, executive chef at Ristorante Belvedere at Hotel Caruso on the Amalfi Coast. Aristarco channels the diversity of the Campania region, which encompasses both the famous coastlines of Amalfi and Sorrento, and mountainous terrain where rustic food reigns.
Over the course of the series, diners will experience a preview of the 2025 Italian summer season at these four iconic European resorts.
To get your seat at the table, find tickets here.
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