A Little Piece of Italy in Singapore

A little piece of Italy resides in Southeast Asia in the heart of Singapore on Purvis Street behind Raffles Hotel. The restaurant, Garibaldi, carries a name which screams Italian authenticity and it doesn't fail to live up to its country's fine cuisine reputation.

Directed there on a recommendation from a friend, my girlfriend and I found ourselves dining there not once but twice out of the three nights that we were staying in Singapore. There were no regrets about not trying somewhere else and in fact, we were disappointed when we did go elsewhere for our third night that we hadn't gone back to Garibaldi. The service was exquisite; on the first night, they delivered exemplary service which had us trying to remember when we had been waited on so exceptionally well and the second night was even better as they noted a passing comment about it being my partner's birthday and made it a night to remember for her.

Being great lovers of Italian food and having just gone through the entire Sopranos boxset, we were determined to try as much as we could and ordered the Antipasto Misto to share to start. What was delivered was a selection of generous tasting portions of six other starters which includes the san marzano tomato basil & parmasan cheese Brushetta; the Rucola which is a delicious rocket salad filled with goat's cheese and Italian cherry tomatoes with lemon dressing; delicious parma ham accompanied by the romagna fried dough makes up the Prosciutto; the Parmigiana which is neapolitan style baked eggplants with mozzarella cheese, basil and tomato sauce; a mix of Italian cherries and beef tomatoes, basil and buffalo milk creates the Bufala and finally the Carpaccio which is a portion of lasagna with quality wagyu beef as the filling. All in all, the Antipasto Misto creates a mouthwatering appetizer without any regrets which is excellent value for money and the perfect meal to share with your partner.

There was so much choice for the main course but we felt justified with our selection; the Tagliatelle. Homemade tagliatelle filled with challans duck ragout that is accompanied by mushrooms and port wine which, when all put together, leaves you wishing the plate was a never ending dish of pasta cuisine. The duck was of the finest quality and was cooked to perfection.

 

For desert, the Italian authenticity continued with the arrival of the Bourban Vanilla Pannacotta coated with strawberries. This desert carries a reputation for being hard to make but it was incredibly easy to eat and helped to ease the pain of not being able to continue eating more of the Tagliatelle.

Garibaldi was one of the highlights of our recent visit to Singapore and left us worried about how would we cope without the availability of such exquisite food. There is no substitute for a fine dining experience and this is all delivered in spades by the little Italian restaurant tucked away from the hustle of Singapore on Purvis Street.