Handmade Spaghetti You Won't Forget: Forno Adds Fresh Handmade Pasta to Menu

Vincent R. Vinci, Contributing Editor | Oct 3, 2022 4:31 pm | Add a comment | 146 reads

After switching up their pizza game last year by moving from Roman pizza by-the-slice to rustic flatbread pizza, Forno has another new addition to their repertoire: fresh handmade pasta.

Named "Pasta Fresca," these new additions even have their own separate menu complete with pictures, explanations and more. Plus, the pasta on offer goes beyond just spaghetti and tagliatelle.

While these classic long pastas certainly are available, along with linguine, pappardelle, fusilli and rigatoni, there are also more intriguing options. These include reginelle, a long Sicilian pasta that, when furled, resembles cabbage.

All pasta is made each day at the restaurant's Instreet location, where it’s either served in-house or taken to their Taikooli shop.

"All the equipment to make the pasta is imported from Italy," explains Forno and Bottega general manager Daniele Salvo. The hardest part is getting the attachments to form the different shapes, with Salvo telling us that each shape attachment had to be shipped separately from Italy, making for a time-consuming process.

The results are well worth the wait, though, with each pasta shape utilized in its own separate dish on the Pasta Fresca menu. With each dish starting at RMB 109, the choices range from special takes on classics like the Pappardelle alla Bolognese and their Spaghetti Carbonara al Tartufo, to more special options.

These out-there dishes include the Maccheroni al Forno, which sees curved maccheroni baked with a four cheese sauce and crispy bits of pancetta; and, our personal favorite, the Rigatoni alla Zozzana, which Salvo says is a lesser known Roman pasta dish of Rigatoni combined with pancetta in a rich, spicy tomato and egg yolk sauce.

Yet another dish to try is the Fettuccine al Tartufo, long fettuccine pasta in a cream sauce topped with freshly shaved black truffle, which makes for a flavorful concoction that's also not overwhelmingly rich, like so many pastas with truffle can be.

Along with the pre-made dishes, diners can opt to take fresh pasta home with them. Each of the aforementioned pastas are available boxed and ready to cook at home (starting at RMB 40 each). What's more, you can even grab freshly made sauces, from different kinds of pesto to pickled eggplant and even a cheese truffle sauce (starting at RMB 39 each).

Forno's Pasta Fresca is available for in-house dining or waimai, and it's well worth trying for a fresh take on pasta in more ways than one.