Theirs is a fairy tale business and love union- neat looking Italian boy meets sweet looking stewardess onboard our national airline and the next thing, wedding bells and the desire to pursue their dream of setting up an eatery ensue. Buko Nero was set up in 2000. The premise was simple – he cooks, she serves. He’ll whip up to his level best, the comfort food and flavours his mummy had instilled in him since childhood and she serves with the finest polish and verve she can muster outside of her sarong kebaya uniform.

Husband & wife duo Oscar and Tracy Pasinato have been running the restaurant since 2000

Then more whispers and comments came fast and furious – that these simple and idealistic fairytales have a very quick ending and are not realistic in a very real Singapore, where dreaming cannot be KPI-ed (key performance index). Even the décor looks like a homey amateur arty-farty Ikea inspired living room with 26 seats with a small fire-less (he uses induction heat to cook) kitchen behind.

When they began over seven years ago, publicity was aplenty; politically correct and politely cynical, it was good enough for them. The wait list, if you booked then, was three weeks long. I re-visited them earlier this month and realized that their fairytale did not end at the foot of the rainbow where they lived happily ever after on a bed of roses. For starters, the wait list is still three weeks.

“Working with the wife is a love-hate-give-take venture”, and chef Oscar Pasinato pauses before he further offers “sometimes it’s 50% give 50% take but most times it 90%-10% and 10%-90%”. This, from a chef who is used to coming up with creations that startle and yet pleases. His base approach is always Italian but he regularly employs Asian hints to accent the finish. His Tau Kua Tower ($16.50), which is essentially a fancy tauhu goreng, is done with sweetish balsamic vinegar, rocket salad and sautéed vegetables. It has been in the menu, much to his frustration, since day one as the regulars will never have him do away with and “it gets tiring to do this day in day out but the wife says it is about business, not just creativity”.

“Half of our customers,” counters a pleasant and smiley wife Tracy, “are friends and regulars who like good food and the other half, just like good food. We have to be realistic and while Oscar likes to create new stuff every now and then, I have to remind him that some things in the menu are like hawker items- the folks just come back for the same item.” They handle one-and-a-half turns every evening they are open, and if you want a last minute seat, “ pray and come try your luck at 9.15pm for the last order.”

But she is particularly ‘irritated” by the nonsensical rumours folks and the media spin and speculate about them. “To put the record straight, we did not meet in the airplane but over dinner and I was not pregnant before marriage with twins”, and Tracy adds that she hates customers banter about how she’s kept her shape in motherhood.

Honey-Glazed Pork Chop with Miso and Vegatables

The couple takes time off every three months for about a week to refresh and recharge and Oscar usually comes back a-charging with new ideas, like offering a twice cooked honey glazed pork chop with miso on mash ($28.50). You can sort of taste the description but just imagine the pork to be tender and you’ll get the whole picture in the mouth. He’s also in love with the Japanese momotaro tomatoes - big, juicy and sweet. He does it in several styles and sometimes smoothens it with olive oil or with balsamic vinegar reduction. If you’ll notice, fruits feature very fondly in his menus, from salads to beef as Oscar knows that this region is very blessed with such abundance of a variety of exotic fruits. Once he came up with a chocolate pasta with braised artichokes with sultanas, carrots and celeries. It did not stay long in the menu as most customers were not taken in by the weird concoction. Yet his sticky dates pudding with vanilla gelato ($14.50) is a permanent menu resident as is his creamy porcini mushroom soup with white truffle oil ($10.50).

Sticky Dates Pudding with Vanilla Gelato is a perennial favourite

Reminder, if you like to subject yourself to Oscar’s “eat whatever I cook” meal philosophy, it’s a three-week wait if you book today (provided they are not away on holiday). And that is no fairy tale ending.

Buko Nero

Address 126 Tanjong Pagar Rd

Opening Hours Tuesday to Thursday: 6.30pm to 9.30pm Friday-Saturday:12pm-2pm, 6.30pm-9.30pm Closed on Mondays, Sundays and Public Holidays.

Telephone 63246225