Buono Pizza Bar & Italian Restaurant

Sunday lunch and to celebrate the ROM of Chocolate Chip and Cookies and Cream.

Tucked in the quiet estate of Serangoon Gardens, Buono Pizza offers a good variety of Italian food packed with home-made goodness. This is not our first visit but first review of the place because the camera was always left at home.

Buono do have a good selection of wine. Watch out for their wine pairing offers every once in awhile. It is worth going. We know, because we did. :)

Buono Sampler

The sampler is an amazing spread of appertisers. Parma ham with rock melon, fried calamari, bouquet of mushrooms with awesome cheese sauce and grilled eggplants and friends. At $48, it is meant for four diners but more can feed 6-8. Calamari was nicely fried with the right level of seasoning, the cheese sauce goes perfectly with the sauteed mushrooms and the grilled veggies were nice and moist. The parma ham were a bit dry though but good enough for us. (4/5)

Caesar Salad

We have got to have greens and we decided on the Caesar Salad ($15). This is one of the lightest Caesar we had had, in terms of the dressing. I like the taste of the grated Parmesan but the lack of heavy mayo that some joints serve in their sauce. The finely shaved Parmesan were a delight to bit into, together with the cool crispy romaine lettuce. Would have loved it if there were bacon bits! (3.75/5)

Mushroom Soup &Seafood Soup

It was a celebration and how can a celebration be complete without any soup? The mushroom soup ($9) and seafood soup ($12) were it! The mushroom soup was a tad thin for our liking but you could still taste bigger bits of mushroom. Well flavoured, but at the price, we would had expected a more mushroom-y soup. (3.5/5) The seafood soup was on the other hand very intense. Too intense for some of us. The serving of seafood was generous and the thick creamy tomato based soup was a delight. It is a tad bit fishy after awhile, especially when the soup turns cold. (3.75/5)

Buono Pizza

The Buono Pizza ($23) is THE pizza. Topped with sausages, tomatoes and a bed of rocket leaves, this really got us going. The pizza base has the kind of authentic european bread feel and the toppings comes together very nicely. I swear I could taste eggs in there. An explosion of flavours, fresh ingredients and rustic bread. What more can you ask from your pizza? (4.75/5)

Ravioli Crustaceus

I admit. I am a sucker for ravioli ever since I had my first salmon ravioli as a 13-yr old. The ravioli crustaceus ($22) is packed with crab meat and served in the seafood tomato sauce. Marvellous combination. But just one downside, we just had the seafood soup. And we believe, the same base was used. So.... I would say, just order the soup or the ravioli. Both of them together in one seating is an overkill. That being said, this is still a awesome dish and I would order it again. (4.5/5)

Lamb Chop Gorgonzola

This is the highlight of the meal. Absolutely adore the lamb chop gorgonzola ($29). Lamb chops is not an easy meat to season and cook, and therefore I am very appreciative of one that is nicely done. The seasoning was perfect for this one and the meat is nicely cooked pink (and NOT bloody) on the inside. Moist and juicy, and tender. Topped it up with the gorgonzola cheese sauce.... we were all totally blown away. (5/5)

A very nice homely ambience but expect crowds even if it is a weekday night. The service is good and consistent for the couple of times we visited. If you are lucky, you will get to talk to Buono, the chef owner who will make his rounds and talk to the customers.

It may get a little noisy though.

Buono Pizza Bar & Italian Restaurant

27 Lichfield Road

Tel: +65 6733-5646