The visit to Garibaldi was planned weeks ago with Wl and Bh, way before the bad news of banks axing people, economic outlook getting worse as the days go by...but anyway, as promised we'd head to somewhere "fine" and "atas" when she came back from the Big Apple.
Purvis Street's lined with food gems aplenty, Garibaldi's one of the finer gems that spot the street of Yet Con, First Thai and Chin Chin.
Ranked 7th on Miele's Food Guide, that made us somewhat more excited than we already were.
I made reservations over the phone, the receiver had problems with my name for starters. When we reached at 12 promptly, we were told to take a seat whilst they checked my reservation and if the kitchen is ready.
The outside of Garibaldi, non-assuming along the row of fine dining places like Gunther's next door and Yhing Thai Palace.
The chic warmly lit surroundings, if only we were given a window seat! The place is rather small, fits about 15 diners comfortably.
Ahh, Garibaldi got it right with a wooden plank for bags! I like this. Saves the trouble of another chair or even a bag hanger.
As it was still early, we had the whole restaurant to ourselves, the whole attention of 3 Nepalese waiters who watched over us, pretty much like hawks until another diner came in and yes, a Japanese family with a bawling kid in tow. Why do I always have the luck of children who ruin the ambience of such places?
The usual rattling of soup of the day started the whole Garibaldi dining experience.
Leather bound menus.
I'm not sure if I'm being sensitive here, but the moment we settled the set lunch orders and went without "still or sparkling water", the attention given was somewhat different. The Japanese family had the servers fussing over them, wine they had in mid-day.
The warm water served, I don't remember it being refilled.
The table setting, cutlery were replaced after every course served.
Anyhow, fresh oven baked herb bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The waiter would head round with glass bottles of the oil and vinegar. I opted for both on the piece of art of a sauce-bread tray. Three servings of warm bread later, I declare the bread an awesome find. The crusty crunchy surface unveils a moist chewy baked surprise. The herb's aren't overpowering, absolutely delicious. Who says baking bread is a no brainer?
One particular plump waiter attempted to remove my plate after my first serving, when I told him I wanted a second serve, he gruffly signaled for my second serve. It's only Mid-day and they've just opened for business, does the waiter have to be such a sour face?
Starters!
My starter of Chilled Roast Veal in Tuna Sauce with Carrot Salad. It's quite a gastronomical surprise, a flavourful carnival of sight and taste! The portion for a starter is big, 5 thin slices of chilled roast veal so tender, it melts in your mouth. The tuna sauce tasted quite like pate (meat spread), I found it so delicious, I couldn't help wiping the plate clean. The carrot salad's the usual leafy combination with cherry tomatoes so sweet, I was left impressed. Bh and Wl were too, Bh couldn't help but steal another slice of roast veal.
They both had soup of the day, tomato soup with crab meat. It looks more like pumpkin than tomato, given the orangey hues. The soup's not thick, more watery. The crab meat bits are as scooped up. I found it tasty but unremarkable.
Wl's mains, Cod Fish Tortelli with Spicy Tomato Sauce. The portion's rather small imo, the tortelli's handmade, and surely tasted very different from the mass produced ones. I couldn't taste the cod fish in the tortelli though, probably was heavily mashed.
Bh's choice of Grilled Sea Bream with Cream of Spinach, she loved it tremendously. I found the sea bream fresh with a chewy bite. Coupled with the spinach cream, yummy yum yum.
My choice of Deep Fried Pork Scaloppine "Milanese Style" with Roasted Potatoes. Of the three, mine's the biggest portion. Two thin slices of pork fried so crisp, but not overfried. No trace of oil dripping, roasted baby potatoes and salad that came with it was delicious! More of the sweet cherry tomatoes again! :) I seem to have an overload of all things nice in fine places, at La Strada, was the mushrooms.
The pork cutlet reminded me of Pork Katsu, not as good as Tonkichi but way better than most Japanese eateries I've tried.
It's funny how we visit an Italian place and two of us are eating non-Italian mains. The other mains up for selection are Homemade Fettuccine with Braised Lamb Sauce and Organic Short Tube Pasta with Cheese Sauce.
The waiter came to "swipe off" the bread crumbs with such aplomp, I was amused at the lengths he took to swipe them off, looking as if they were swiped towards me, but I couldn't find any on me. :p
Dessert of the day; gelato. No choice of other desserts though. I opted for 2 scoops of Rum & Raisin. Theirs was rum and raisin and chocolate. The chocolate gelato's one of a kind! Molten chocolate it is, the chocolate's got a bitter aftertaste and not milky at all! Ok, I stole a bite of the forbidden flavour, since chocolate gives me nothing but fierce looking pimples. Wl declared it "the best gelato" she's ever eaten.
The rum and raisin paled in comparison. I couldn't quite taste the rum nor were the raisins prominent enough to be noticed, ice shavings could be found in it as well. Comparatively, it came across as overly sweet.
All in, the food's quality I must say, with some misses and hits. Portions are good enough, but then again depending on what you choose.
Service isn't fabulous though there was a particular waiter who was candid when it came to helping us with our narcissistic snapshots. He claimed "they can appear in the paper tomorrow", after our umpteenth try at capturing the nicest shot. I'm honestly not high on their service, still notches away from La Strada's. Les Amis seems to focus more on service? At least across three Garibaldi Group eateries; Menotti, Riciotti and Garibaldi, the service level leaves me nothing to shout about.
An hour over was what it took, I'll be back at Garibaldi for the ala carte perhaps.
$38++/set lunch
www.garibaldi.com.sg
Garibaldi Italian Restaurant & Bar
36 Purvis Street #01-02
Email or phone reservations
Purvis Street's lined with food gems aplenty, Garibaldi's one of the finer gems that spot the street of Yet Con, First Thai and Chin Chin.
Ranked 7th on Miele's Food Guide, that made us somewhat more excited than we already were.
I made reservations over the phone, the receiver had problems with my name for starters. When we reached at 12 promptly, we were told to take a seat whilst they checked my reservation and if the kitchen is ready.
The outside of Garibaldi, non-assuming along the row of fine dining places like Gunther's next door and Yhing Thai Palace.
The chic warmly lit surroundings, if only we were given a window seat! The place is rather small, fits about 15 diners comfortably.
Ahh, Garibaldi got it right with a wooden plank for bags! I like this. Saves the trouble of another chair or even a bag hanger.
As it was still early, we had the whole restaurant to ourselves, the whole attention of 3 Nepalese waiters who watched over us, pretty much like hawks until another diner came in and yes, a Japanese family with a bawling kid in tow. Why do I always have the luck of children who ruin the ambience of such places?
The usual rattling of soup of the day started the whole Garibaldi dining experience.
Leather bound menus.
I'm not sure if I'm being sensitive here, but the moment we settled the set lunch orders and went without "still or sparkling water", the attention given was somewhat different. The Japanese family had the servers fussing over them, wine they had in mid-day.
The warm water served, I don't remember it being refilled.
The table setting, cutlery were replaced after every course served.
Anyhow, fresh oven baked herb bread with olive oil and balsamic vinegar. The waiter would head round with glass bottles of the oil and vinegar. I opted for both on the piece of art of a sauce-bread tray. Three servings of warm bread later, I declare the bread an awesome find. The crusty crunchy surface unveils a moist chewy baked surprise. The herb's aren't overpowering, absolutely delicious. Who says baking bread is a no brainer?
One particular plump waiter attempted to remove my plate after my first serving, when I told him I wanted a second serve, he gruffly signaled for my second serve. It's only Mid-day and they've just opened for business, does the waiter have to be such a sour face?
Starters!
My starter of Chilled Roast Veal in Tuna Sauce with Carrot Salad. It's quite a gastronomical surprise, a flavourful carnival of sight and taste! The portion for a starter is big, 5 thin slices of chilled roast veal so tender, it melts in your mouth. The tuna sauce tasted quite like pate (meat spread), I found it so delicious, I couldn't help wiping the plate clean. The carrot salad's the usual leafy combination with cherry tomatoes so sweet, I was left impressed. Bh and Wl were too, Bh couldn't help but steal another slice of roast veal.
They both had soup of the day, tomato soup with crab meat. It looks more like pumpkin than tomato, given the orangey hues. The soup's not thick, more watery. The crab meat bits are as scooped up. I found it tasty but unremarkable.
Wl's mains, Cod Fish Tortelli with Spicy Tomato Sauce. The portion's rather small imo, the tortelli's handmade, and surely tasted very different from the mass produced ones. I couldn't taste the cod fish in the tortelli though, probably was heavily mashed.
Bh's choice of Grilled Sea Bream with Cream of Spinach, she loved it tremendously. I found the sea bream fresh with a chewy bite. Coupled with the spinach cream, yummy yum yum.
My choice of Deep Fried Pork Scaloppine "Milanese Style" with Roasted Potatoes. Of the three, mine's the biggest portion. Two thin slices of pork fried so crisp, but not overfried. No trace of oil dripping, roasted baby potatoes and salad that came with it was delicious! More of the sweet cherry tomatoes again! :) I seem to have an overload of all things nice in fine places, at La Strada, was the mushrooms.
The pork cutlet reminded me of Pork Katsu, not as good as Tonkichi but way better than most Japanese eateries I've tried.
It's funny how we visit an Italian place and two of us are eating non-Italian mains. The other mains up for selection are Homemade Fettuccine with Braised Lamb Sauce and Organic Short Tube Pasta with Cheese Sauce.
The waiter came to "swipe off" the bread crumbs with such aplomp, I was amused at the lengths he took to swipe them off, looking as if they were swiped towards me, but I couldn't find any on me. :p
Dessert of the day; gelato. No choice of other desserts though. I opted for 2 scoops of Rum & Raisin. Theirs was rum and raisin and chocolate. The chocolate gelato's one of a kind! Molten chocolate it is, the chocolate's got a bitter aftertaste and not milky at all! Ok, I stole a bite of the forbidden flavour, since chocolate gives me nothing but fierce looking pimples. Wl declared it "the best gelato" she's ever eaten.
The rum and raisin paled in comparison. I couldn't quite taste the rum nor were the raisins prominent enough to be noticed, ice shavings could be found in it as well. Comparatively, it came across as overly sweet.
All in, the food's quality I must say, with some misses and hits. Portions are good enough, but then again depending on what you choose.
Service isn't fabulous though there was a particular waiter who was candid when it came to helping us with our narcissistic snapshots. He claimed "they can appear in the paper tomorrow", after our umpteenth try at capturing the nicest shot. I'm honestly not high on their service, still notches away from La Strada's. Les Amis seems to focus more on service? At least across three Garibaldi Group eateries; Menotti, Riciotti and Garibaldi, the service level leaves me nothing to shout about.
An hour over was what it took, I'll be back at Garibaldi for the ala carte perhaps.
$38++/set lunch
www.garibaldi.com.sg
Garibaldi Italian Restaurant & Bar
36 Purvis Street #01-02
Email or phone reservations
$38 for set lunch is quite worth it considering its Garibaldi. nice pics.
ReplyDeleteratatouille
yes it's pretty worthwhile for Garibaldi but most of the fine dining places do offer very affordable set lunches. :)
ReplyDeletethanks for the compliment, I've not quite mastered the art of taking food in a artistic manner with a very normal digicam. :P
the water was refilled babe. haha i remember!
ReplyDelete