BTO: Adding value in tough times

Business Times - 13 Apr 2009

Adding value in tough times

NEW MENU

Garibaldi
36 Purvis Street, #01-02. Tel: 6837-1468

EXTENSIVE = expensive. At a time when buying fewer ingredients could translate to vital cost savings, that's the stance that some high-end Western restaurants are taking when it comes to creating their menus.

 

One establishment, however, is looking at things differently. Thanks to a still-steady stream of corporate bookings, Garibaldi Italian Restaurant & Bar has grown its range of dishes so that the restaurant has more to offer (to the big groups in particular), and provides diners with added value in tough times, says its chef-owner, Roberto Galetti. There are about 20 freshly minted items introduced since February, including a new risotto section as well as antipasti and pasta dishes. All prices have also been revised downwards to suit smaller purses.

 

If you're wondering whether standards at the restaurant - which was recently nominated Restaurant of the Year at the World Gourmet Summit's Awards of Excellence - have slipped since it broadened its focus, the fact that it is buzzing with life on a weekday should convince you otherwise. And, according to Galetti, a couple of the new dishes have even shot to the top of the popularity list.

 

A prettily presented appetiser of capesante in degustazione ($26), or scallops done four ways, had us doubting this claim at first. Comprising a Hokkaido scallop tartare along with three thin US scallops - one breaded and fried with a tomato-based dressing, another steamed in its shell and the last seared on a bed of lentils - it was an unremarkable dish that relied on the other ingredients rather than the scallops for flavour. Those who enjoy a good, flavourful scallop will be disappointed with this.

 

But things picked up with the trenette vongole e bottarga ($28), a clean-tasting dish of pasta with Sardinian clams and grey mullet roe in a light white wine sauce. The perfectly done linguine-like noodles had lots of bite and the sweet, plump little clams and salty roe made each mouthful deliciously punchy.

 

Risotto fans will be pleased with the new, 11-dish-strong rice selection that includes unusual versions such as a risotto with dry martini and lemon, and another with red chicory and amarone wine. We tried two others and they were both very finely done, the fat grains of rice cooked until chewy with almost-hard centres, as they should be. The risotto alla carbonara ($28) is Galetti's twist on traditional carbonara pasta and it's a lovely, creamy creation, the sauce rich with parmesan and egg yolk topped with a crispy, wafer-thin piece of parma ham. Meanwhile, the risotto al ragu' d'Agnello ($28) is great comfort food. Shredded lamb, braised so that it's ultra tender and not gamey at all, is served on a bed of thyme and parmesan-laced rice that kind of warmly hugs the palate with every mouthful.

 

There are a couple of new additions for dessert too, one of which is the semifreddo alla nocciola ($14). This iced Piedmont-style parfait (its texture is somewhere between a mousse and gelato) sandwiches a slab of chocolate cream between hazelnut-flavoured layers. It's rich but somehow manages to avoid landing heavily in the stomach.

 

Overall, there's nothing not to like about Garibaldi's strategy - that is, to provide more delicious choices on an already-good menu, and combine that with lowered prices.

 

The most possible problem? Indecision, perhaps.

 

Rating: 7/10
By Audrey Phoon