New Bahru expansion spotlights handmade pasta pop-up from Fico

New Bahru’s next phase put handmade pasta at the center of the conversation. The River Valley lifestyle complex, built on the former Nan Chiau High School site, opened its School Block in 2024 and is now rolling out the Factory Block with 15 more restaurants and retail tenants over the coming months.

The clearest food hook is Fico, the Michelin Bib Gourmand-awarded seaside Italian restaurant from chef Mirko Febbrile. New Bahru has turned it into a limited three-month pop-up in the Dining Hall starting April 28, with the menu built around handmade pastas and a tight line-up that includes pesto linguine and beef ragù. In a district where new openings can blur together, that kind of focus stands out fast.

Fico matters because it is not just another Italian label dropped into a mall-style dining mix. Febbrile is Puglia-born, and Michelin has highlighted how his work at Fico and Somma has championed sustainable Italian cooking in Singapore. That gives the pop-up real weight in a city where pasta has become one of the most crowded and scrutinized categories in dining. Fico’s Bib Gourmand status in the 2025 MICHELIN Guide Singapore also gives the activation immediate credibility with diners who already know the name.

New Bahru itself is trying to be more than a food stop. The Lo & Behold Group describes it as a creative lifestyle destination home to more than 60 independent, made-in-Singapore and select international brands. CNA had earlier described the project as a mixed-use enclave bringing F&B, retail, wellness and education under one roof, and the wider site also includes a school-hall event venue and arts programming. The Factory Block refresh extends that idea with a broader mix of casual and more ambitious dining concepts, plus brands such as Sushiro, Stacked Store, Veja and Beams.

That is why the Fico pop-up lands as more than a nice pasta detour. It gives New Bahru a sharper culinary identity at the exact moment the complex is expanding, and it gives Singapore diners a limited-run chance to eat Mirko Febbrile’s handmade pasta in a setting built for everyday traffic, not just destination dinners. For a project trying to define its next chapter, that is a useful kind of momentum.