Restaurant-quality Italian cuisine in humble Toa Payoh coffeeshop with gnocchi & pizza from $5.50

Whenever I think of Italian food being sold in hawker centres and coffeeshops, I anticipate the same old plates of spaghetti topped with canned bolognese or cream sauce. However, as I perused the menu of Il Piccolo Pizzeria, I was blown away by the huge selection of dishes, with all donning traditional Italian names.

To give you some idea of how extensive the menu is, Il Piccolo Pizzeria offers 20 pizzas and 43 pastas, plus hotplate spaghetti, baked rice and desserts. I spotted uncommon dishes like calzone, gnocchi, crespelle and panna cotta— what other coffeeshop stall offers these?

What I tried at Il Piccolo Pizzeria

The first dish we tried at Il Piccolo Pizzeria was the Parma Ham Pizza, available in the sizes of 7″ (S$11) and 12″ (S$19.50). We opted for the 12″ pizza, which came topped with thin slices of prosciutto crudo and a runny egg in the centre.

I was thoroughly impressed by the Parma Ham Pizza— the crust was light and slightly chewy while the cheese was ultra stretchy. The prosciutto crudo provided the whole pizza with just enough saltiness, and the creamy egg in the centre was just the cherry on top. Honestly, this pizza tasted like it came straight out of a restaurant— if you’d told me that it had actually come from a random coffeeshop in Toa Payoh, I wouldn’t have believed you.

For S$19.50, this was so worth the price!

We moved on to the Gnocchi Di Patate (S$7.50), which contained potato dumplings served with asparagus, mushroom and cream & tomato sauce.

I’d never come across gnocchi in a hawker stall before, so I was excited to give this a try.

The gnocchi was very starchy with a soft texture that wasn’t too chewy or tough. The sauce coated each piece of gnocchi nicely, giving them a creamy and slightly tangy flavour. The mushrooms and asparagus were a nice touch that provided some textural variation to the otherwise carb-y dish.

The overwhelming starchiness of the gnocchi can get a bit overwhelming for some, but for a coffeeshop dish, this was pretty outstanding.

Though I was familiar with most items on the menu at Il Piccolo Pizzeria, Crespelle Di Spinachi (S$7.50) was a dish that I had never heard of before. A quick Google search explained that this dish consisted of Italian crepes wrapped around assorted fillings. How unique!

The Crespelle Di Spinachi came with 3 crepes filled with chicken, spinach and mushroom, submerged within a creamy sauce.

Tearing open the crepes revealed the generous fillings within. The crepe had a soft, slightly mushy texture that melted into the gooey chicken, spinach and mushroom concoction. The dish had an overwhelmingly soft consistency, and the cream sauce nicely elevated its indulgent flavours.

Given how mushy each crepe is, I found that the dish got a bit jelak after a while. However, I loved how Il Piccolo Pizzeria offered such a unique dish— I haven’t even seen crespelle on restaurant menus in Singapore! For the price and the generous portions, do give this a go.

The final main we dug into was the simple yet iconic Beef Lasagna (S$7.50). This version notably came with a pool of cream sauce, which I appreciated very much.

You can’t go wrong with a good ol’ lasagna, and Il Piccolo Pizzeria truly hit the spot with their take on this dish. The generous amount of beef and tomato filling in between each lasagna layer was glorious, and the additional cream sauce on the side did wonders in making this so much more indulgent and comforting.

Finally, to end our meal, we enjoyed the desserts offered at Il Piccolo Pizzeria. Both desserts were served in plastic cups— while the presentation was pretty mediocre, taste was ultimately more important.

The Panna Cotta (S$3) was incredibly silky and creamy— it dissolved in my mouth the instant I took a bite. The pudding had a strong milky flavour and the brown syrup beneath was surprisingly not too sweet. It had a slightly bitter flavour that complemented the mild sweetness of the pudding without being too overwhelming.

The Tiramisu (S$3), on the other hand, was fantastic, save for the fact that there was simply too much cream— I prefer for my tiramisu to have a higher ratio of sponge fingers to cream. Most spoonfuls consisted purely of cream, unfortunately for me, but in terms of taste, this was light and creamy with a fragrant coffee aroma.

Final thoughts

Il Piccolo Pizzeria blew my expectations out of the water with its incredibly impressive menu. These dishes tasted good enough to be served in a restaurant, and the fact that most mains can be acquired for under S$10 makes it even more appealing.

Who knew that Toa Payoh had been hiding such a gem? I would certainly make the trip down to enjoy these dishes again. After all, where else can you find such affordable yet delicious Italian food in Singapore?

Expected damage: S$5.50 – S$12.50 per pax

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