Cuisine: Italian
Address: 36 Purvis St, #01-02, Singapore 188613
Nearest MRT: Bugis / City Hall Station

Garibaldi is known for its multi-course brunches and tasting menus paired with handmade pasta. It is a high-end Italian restaurant in Bugis area. The fashionable and sophisticated atmosphere as well as the stylish bar make this a popular venue to gather and socialise. With the experienced chef coming from Brescia, Italy, it’s no wonder the award-winning restaurant consistently attracted the crowds. The tantalising menu consists of authentic Italian dishes created from fresh, quality ingredients imported directly from Italy, and it includes specialties like crispy baked Italian sea bass ($48), breaded veal chop ($58) and linguine with crab meat and vodka sauce ($35).

We were here for SG restaurant week and had the set lunch menu. Nice ambience, crowded even on a weekday afternoon. Staff was nice and friendly, took care of our table and topped up the water. Choice of appetizer: salmon trout or wild mushroom soup Mains: Mediterranean royal sea bream or Braised beef cheek with fettuccine Dessert: cheese platter or blueberry yoghurt cake. There were not many options for the Restaurant Week menu, with only two choices for each course.

For starters, there was a slice of freshly baked focaccia bread which tasted so good because it was still warm. There was also breadsticks served while waiting for the food. The server poured some olive oil into the dipping dish.

The Trota Salmonata was fresh and tasty. It came with cucumber salad and sour cream, which is put on the side so you can decided how much cream to go with the salmon trout. As for the Zuppa (soup), it had wild mushrooms with burrata dumplings and a dash of truffle scent. Maybe the addition of dumplings made the soup too thick, but the mushroom soup was quite average.

For main course, I had the Orata which is made of Mediterranean Royal Sea Bream, clams and basil broth. It was my first time trying this Italian dish. The broth was delicious and the basil taste was not too overpowering. The seafood was fresh, with a big piece of the sea bream and about a dozen clams in the soup. As for the Fettucine that my wife ordered, she said it was not up to her standards. Perhaps for her, it is not used to having beef cooked in tomato sauce. The homemade fettucine was nice and there were large chunks of braised beef cheek, with some parmesan sprinkled on the top.

Lastly, it was desserts, I had the Dolci which is a slice of Blueberry yoghurt cake with coconut meringue. It was interesting because the cake was very soft and there is lots of blueberry flavoured stuff in the condiments, from jam to yoghurt etc. The other one that we tried was the Formaggi cheese platter, it came with dry fruit and toast. I liked the freshness of the almonds, and the cute little slices of bread. As for the cheese, they did not explain it to us, but we are guessing it is one gruyere, one goat’s cheese and one blue cheese. The last one was too strong-smelling for us to appreciate it.

Verdict: I loved the seafood dishes as it was quite fresh. Good choice of salmon and sea bream. As for the beef fettuccine, it wasn’t as nice as expected. Perhaps the braised beef did not have much taste. Heard that the grilled scallops here are nice too. Lastly, the dessert was alright, the cheese platter was quite standard while the dolci was a bit unique with its blue and violet colours. They could keep it simple by having a classic tiramisu instead. What stands out is that they have an award-winning wine menu (per glass starting from $23) and also a private dining room.

Price: $58++ for a three-course lunch menu during the Singapore Restaurant Week. If it was ordered ala carte, it would have been around $50 per main course.