Gunther's @ Purvis Street

 

Gunther's like Garibaldi, La Strada, Iggy's, Les Amis, Au Jardin and Au Petit belonged to this imaginery list that I crafted out eons ago..even before I started food blogging that I would visit someday. It took all of 3 years for Gunther's to materialise...and by the time it reaches Au Jardinr or Les Amis, it could be another 2 years...

Off to Gunther's for the gf's birthday! I figured it thrilled us all knowing that it was finally Gunther's since our foray into Garibaldi 2 years back. Just to digress, lazing the afternoon away with gfs are a totally different experience than family or colleagues. Perhaps the neverending senseless topics we banter about that makes the different.



Gunther's starts off the experience like Mortons, with a seafood platter...complete with a live lobster that was flailing its claws so energetically..I swear it would have landed up on someone's lunch plate pronto for all its zest. What I did not appreciate was the fishy smell that the friends of the sea emitted...made the restaurant smell quite like a fish market.



The lonesome table that was unoccupied for the rest of the meal thought the restaurant was packed.



Complimentary baguette and salted butter.



Loved how hot off the oven it was served, crusty sides and soft bread. Loved that refills were made so promptly...almost without a flicker of an eyelid.



Cold Angel hair pasta, tomato, mozzarella, Spanish ham

Gunther's specialty lies in angel hair pasta, judging from all the reviews. Served chilled, I was bubbling with excitement when I twirled my fork around the first greasy oodles. The light tinge of truffle oil made this absolutely divine. OK, I ran out of words to describe a good pasta but Gunther's nailed it left-right-center.



Slurpworthy tasty twirls of delight..Topples Iggy's once famous Scampi pasta for awesome. Albeit it was a tasting portion, I was raring for more and was an angel's hair's length from ordering it ala carte. I wonder if the French have greater flair at pasta, after this and L'Angelus'.



Pan fried Langoustine, Herbs, Garlic





Well the story goes...it looks sassy on the menu and the waiter described it as a baby lobster and then it comes looking like a hybrid of a prawn and lobster and tastes like shrimp. To correct all follies, it is in actual fact an orange baby lobster and grows up to 25 cm in length.



Roasted pork ribs, natural juice

Unimpressed by this somehow though the pork ribs were crusy and meaty where they should be. Tasted and looked like a deconstructed nasi briyani.



Gunther's Creation - Barramundi

Fresh fish with a lovely root vegetable emulsion and cheese fondue but that was it, no surprises pulled.



Mango Sorbet

Amazing stuff! Loved the goblet it was served in, icy cold...and the densest of mango sorbet. Palette cleanser, dessert...whatever you call it, I adored it all.



Birthday tiramisu

The lovely staff took effort to notice it was the gf's birthday and made a celebratory gesture with a tiramisu! Thought it was decent with the coffee soaked sponge, not too soggy thankfully!



Petit Fours

For the first time, my set lunch ended off with petit fours. Perhaps it was the tiramisu but the meal ended off really sweet with 3 portions of dessert...mega hooray for a the dessert-fan!

Financier - Light moist teacake..yum!
Chocolate square - Bittersweet, the chocoholics loved it.
French biscuit - Crunch-crunch-crunch.



Canele Bordelaise - If there's an out of the world, this has to be it. Previously encountered ones were a tad hard an this fulfilled the ultimate crunchy shell meets bouncy kueh within. Yet, each bordelaise had a different bite to it..the second was less crunchy than the first..but otherwise still very palatable.



The petit fours seemed like a mini dessert high tea of its own...with tea even..!



Or coffee?

Loved the service, through and through. Unpretentious, attentive and very welcoming. That, sets Gunther's apart from the rest. A great pity the mains were not as stellar as the bread or dessert or petit fours...ala carte beckons!

Gunther's
Purvis Street