Famed New York pizza Roberta's makes its debut in Singapore

[SINGAPORE] Pizza lovers in Singapore will get another taste of the Big Apple with the debut of Brooklyn cult favourite Roberta's Pizza at Marina Bay Sands (MBS).

Set to open to the public on Feb 26, the Singapore outpost is its first outside of the US, where it has restaurants in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Nashville.

"When Roberta's looked to expand in Asia, we felt Singapore was perfect with its vibrant F&B scene," says Brandon Hoy, co-owner and co-founder of Roberta's Pizza. "We looked at various locations and MBS struck a chord with us. We felt it was an iconic location and a great starting point for us."

The plan is to open in other cities in Asia, but for now, the focus is to get the Singapore outlet up and running. "We are not a franchise outlet," adds Hoy. "Everyone from New York, Los Angeles and Singapore has a stake, which means there is constant communication across all our teams."

The 44-seat restaurant will take up space next to the stalwart db Bistro & Oyster Bar by Daniel Boulud, which has been there since MBS' opening. It's also beside Mott32, which took over from the now-defunct Pizzeria Mozza.

Roberta's is the second Brooklyn-based pizzeria to open in Singapore after Lucali BYBG in 2020 - a collaboration between a locally-based partner and the American flagship. Both regularly feature on "Best Pizza" lists in the US and both claim to have served celebrities such as Beyonce and Jay-Z.

A NEWSLETTER FOR YOU

Friday, 2 pm

Lifestyle

Our picks of the latest dining, travel and leisure options to treat yourself.

Sign Up

Sign Up

Roberta's gained a cult reputation when it opened in 2007 in "a cinder block in a Brooklyn warehouse without heat or gas in a wild neighbourhood, which was what we could afford and where we could do almost whatever we wanted", says Hoy. That included an on-site radio station and even an urban garden.

Its hipster vibe was a hit and even more so its Neapolitan-inspired pizzas, which are so popular that they are sold in frozen versions across the US. Recipes have been published to try and emulate its famous thin crust dough with chewy puffed edges.

According to Chris Ancona, head pizzaiolo and director of pizza operations, Roberta's pizza is leavened not with yeast, but the same mother starter that has been used since 2007. That starter has also been brought to Singapore for use in its pizzas, which will be baked in the same Italian wood-burning oven used in all its restaurants.

"We're Neapolitan-inspired, because we're technically not Associazione Verace Pizza Napoletana (AVPN)," says Ancona. "Real Neapolitan can be a bit soft compared to what Americans are used to, so we developed a recipe that was a little crispier and used some great local American ingredients, because buffalo milk isn't really widely available."

The full pizza and salad menu of the original Roberta's restaurant will be served, and will include its top-selling Bee Sting pizza, which adds honey to its topping of mozzarella and soppressata. "We're also known for our house bread that is baked to order and served with butter and cheese that are both house made."

The Singapore outlet will also reflect Roberta's arty, hipster vibe. "The spaces that we create are meant to encourage conversation and creativity, and so we work with artists to display their work which we feel will connect and draw different groups within the community to us," says Hoy.

Some of the vibrant artworks are by New York-based painter Jason Woodside, whose works are also in all the US restaurants. They've also been working with Singaporean artist Andre Tan, "whose bold, eye-catching aesthetic is very much aligned with what we're about."