If pasta types were personalities, are you spaghetti or fusilli? Chef Drew Nocente decodes it for us

The world of pasta is a lesson in diversity. Straight, curly, long, short, green, black, and even a few named after body parts – it’s a celebration of different looks, textures and abilities. The only difference between pasta and real life personalities is that we’ve never met a pasta we didn’t like.

Chef Drew Nocente, who was born and raised in Australia but gained a love for cooking from his Italian father, appreciates pasta so much that he isn’t content just to make it at his Italian restaurant, Cenzo.

He’s opened a casual restaurant at Telok Ayer Street called Chicco Pasta Bar, offering not just hearty plates of carbohydrates but also focaccia and sharing platters of Italian street food like roasted cauliflower with garlic chilli sauce, meatballs, salmon tartare, and cold cuts and cheese. Meats from the grill are available at dinner time.

Chicco is “a very, very no-stress restaurant you don’t have to get dressed up for”, in contrast to the slightly more formal vibe at Cenzo, which fans of Nocente’s previous restaurant Salted & Hung will connect more easily with his style of cooking. He still spends most of his time behind the pass at Cenzo, but pops into Chicco quite regularly.

Here, “It’s quality food done properly, in a nice setting. You can sit down, have a drink, chill out and relax. If you’re in a rush, you can just have a quick bowl of pasta. I still feel Singapore has a lot of restaurants but they are always pushing more high-end, like, you've got to dress up and spend a fortune. This is more a place to have a peaceful date night or something easy to eat – nothing too over-the-top. It’s still the ethos of Cenzo of quality over quantity, but just a little bit more price-friendly; a little bit more relaxed.”

He added, “For me, it’s very Italian – very relaxed, no stress. I was just over in Italy and at all the little places we went into, there was no, ‘Oh, you can’t sit like that, you can’t be like this.’”

The vibe at Chicco was so relaxed that Nocente was happy to sit down with us to play a game of match-the-pasta-to-its-personality-type (despite having to rush back to the Cenzo kitchen). Are you a fusilli, or more of a rigatoni? And does it really matter, when they’re all so delicious? 

This is the pasta that Drew identifies with – if he were a pasta, he’d be fusilli. “Twisted! Like, the fun guy, the one who will always do something stupid to make everyone laugh kind of fun, not the psycho kind. Harley Quinn kind of style. I’m a little bit crazy but a little bit normal at the same time.”

CONCHIGLIE

“Clingy. The kind of person who always needs to give someone a hug. They always come up to you with a hug and make you feel nice and warm inside. Because that’s what conchigle does to the sauce – every time you scoop, you get sauce with the pasta.”

SPAGHETTI

"Spaghetti, to me – boring. Straight, follow-the-line, predictable, done. For sure reliable, just not the most exciting person in the crowd. Accountants!”

RIGATONI

"Super confident, alpha type, dominant. I think it’s got to be your classic serious guy. Rigatoni is focused. They know their purpose; they know what they’re supposed to do. You can trust that guy. For sure he’s going to get the job done."

MAFALDINE

"Quirky. Not boring, like spaghetti. He takes his job seriously, but he’s a little bit fun. He likes to get dressed up – because of the frills! He puts his suit on, goes out and has a good time."

Chicco Pasta Bar is at 208 Telok Ayer Street, Singapore 068642.