Lunch @ Garibaldi

Lunch with fatpig. I'm actually quite enamored with Garibaldi. The restaurant seems to have a certain measure of charm and class which doesn't get through to me elsewhere. The service is attentive and the ambience of the place while not astoundingly mind blowing, can be pleasantly peaceful for a romantic dinner or warm for a gathering of friends...depending on when you turn up. Of course, this could all just be just an idiosyncrasy of mine.

Garibaldi does a 3 course lunch plus coffee at $29++ from 12pm to 2.30pm which I think is pretty good deal when the other similar spots in the vicinity are having theirs for ten or twenty dollars more. The lunch menu is changed every Thursday and options are available for starters and mains.

Today, mine was a Vitello Tonnato (thinly sliced and cooked veal in tuna sauce and capers), followed by a penne al salmone spinaci e crema di zafferano (penne with salmon and spinach in saffron cream) and a dessert of hazelnut chocolate and pistachio gelato.

Vitello Tonnato

"Magnum"

"Blue Steel"

penne al salmone spinaci e crema di zafferano

hazelnut chocolate and pistachio gelato

The Vitello Tonnato is something that really gets your saliva flowing, I mean, it's the tuna sauce. That sauce is actually applied in moderation and you get to taste the veal. In comparison, the one which I had a Papi was totally smothered you cannot really taste anything else apart from the tuna.

The penne cames with hot saffron cream sauce which was quite good. Some of those sauce actually bursted out as I bit into the pasta

Chin Chin Eating House, 19 Purvis Street

Located at the Beach Road end of Purvis Street (across the road from Yet Con), this old styled coffee shop along a shop house does Hainanese cuisine as well as chicken rice (both roasted chicken and steamed variety). I'm not sure if they're famed for their chicken rice here or not since there is a bunch of stores selling them at around the area and in the next lane, Liang Seah Street. This area between Bugis and Beach Road seems to be a little hub of chicken rice stalls. Competition it seems, is around and Chin Chin looks to be doing better than a next door, also purported Hainanese coffeshop that too sells chicken rice. Unlike the regular coffee shop, this is truly a chicken rice based place

We landed ourselves a serving of chicken rice for two along with stir fried sliced fish in black bean sauce and Hainanese pork chop. Does anyone know what makes Hainanese pork chop distinctively Hainanese?

sliced fish in black bean sauce

Hainanese pork chop

I guess the chicken rice here is pretty regular. It doesn't particularly shine in any aspect. The actual rice isn't fluffy and too feels a tad dry. I wouldn't call it bad, just unremarkable. Still it seems to be a popular choice. The sliced fish in black bean sauce disappointed in the department of its sauce. There wasn't much of the black bean flavor in the sauce, however the portions of the fish for a small size serving were generous it was fairly fresh.

The pork chops here shine noticeably in comparison with the other dishes. These breaded and fried pieces of pork were not overly thin in slices. Well, maybe it's not as good if you're comparing freshly made ones, but it's not much worse off. The total cost of for the dinner plus two lime juices come to $22.

Queen's Tando0r, Robertson Quay

I'm not sure if I got the name of the place correct here, so if anyone knows better, please let me know. This is apparently a new Indian joint down in the courtyard of Robertson Walk. The menu of the place separates itself into Indian and Fusion and the latter comprises of food that looked Chinese, Indonesian and Japanese. I didn't note anything particularly Japanese about the menu, and the rest of the fusion portion looked pretty much like Peranakan food. Opting for the Indian menu was a no brainer and despite it being quite run of the mill in terms of options, it turned out pretty good. One thing I've gotta complain though is that the papadums turn out soft. They've been hanging around for pretty long with no one to eat them. The mint yoghurt dip also comes with much to much of coriander and you probably know already what I think about them.

This place does very nice fish and lamb (in flavorful creamy curry sauces that probably rings cholesterol bells) . There was also an exceptional palek paneer which is lighter than usual on the tongue and has a more buttery taste. With personal preferences in mind, that scores extra marks. The cheese naan are also very good is served freshly made.

fish makhanwala

Mutton handi (claypot masala mutton)

palek paneer

cheese naan

I have some reservations about the mutton handi being cooked in clay pots as opposed to being just served in a clay pot. It was still on the whole, enjoyable. The fish makhanwala are chunks of firm white fish(I don't know what kind) in a creamy and spicy sauce. Very satisfyingly warm when served. Dinner for two was a little below $60, which I think is a little pricey.

Magma, Bukit Pasoh

My initial skepticism of this place is totally dispelled from this dinner. Magma is located at 2 Bukit Pasoh.

Atypical of German places (I guess), the menu at Magma is laden with a lot of options for meats, sausages, wine and beer. This shop house restaurant housesa partial open concept kitchen without any glass walls so some the smoke tends to creep into the rest of the place. It fortunately didn't look like the place has any problem ventilation. Being partial open concept, it was also noted thatnot all of the food being prepared in the main kitchen and we knew because we were seated right beside it.

Sausage platter

A regular plate of mixed sausages which was on the whole pretty good in the manner of sausages. I wasn't really able to identify specifics, but they were generally juicy and some were spicy as well. Liked the coarse ones.

German pizza (Flammkuchen) with smoked pork loin, garlic sauerkraut

What I like about the German pizzas at Magma is that, instead of coming with tomato based sauce, it is topped with cream cheese instead (woohoo!). They also come with a very noticeable garlic flavor (woohoo again!) and bits of fragrant smoked pork loin that is lightly charred. The pizza actually looks like a sort of giant naan and the crust isn't so thin as Italian types. With the addition of sauerkraut, the pizza leans towards a savory and sourish flavor. It gets thumbs up from me because there's cream cheese.

A mixed platter of supposedly pork specialties (Gemischte Schlachtplatte) , but I detected chicken and beef

This is pretty much a meat lover's dream. Big platter filled with thick slices meats, various sausages, a small pork knuckle and dumplings (German dumplings which look like meatloaves, not the wantons things). One of the sausages from this mixed platter is boiled, giving it a softer and squishier texture in the bite. The heap of meat sits on potato salad, sauerkraut, mashed green peas (which are not bad actually) and cabbages braised in red wine. And it's serving was meant for 3.

And hands with forks and knives get busy in the process...

Magma has a selection of interesting desserts. Maybe it's because I haven't eaten at too many German places. We did manage a toasted cheese dessert in cranberry sauce, chocolate mousses and a Gebackene Apfelscheiben mit Zimthonig (a tongue twister for baked apple slices in puff pastry with honey and powdered cinnamon).

Gebackene Apfelscheiben mit Zimthonig

a quaint cheese dessert with gooseberries and doesn't really taste of cheese at all

An interesting and not so regular chocolate mousse

The chocolate mousse was different because the white portion is actually made with jalapeno chilli giving it a prickly spiciness. It's akin to eating wasabi ice cream. I'm not generally a mousse person so I haven't really paid too much attention to the dessert. It does come with a rather nice almond flavored marzipan sauce. It's nice because I liked it and I generally, dislike marzipan.

From first impressions, Magma seems to be pretty good. The food portions are pretty generous but things lean towards being salty. On the top of that, you do get very polite and prompt service from the staff that actually know about what they're serving you. I think I'll come back another time.

Garibaldi, Purvis Street

Last time I was here, I mentioned desserts was a good start. So now I'm finally here for dinner. I think I was almost expecting to be wow-ed (as in totally blown away) by the food here after all everyone had said about the place to me, but caught myself at the end asking how good can it get? Well, I think it's pretty good. Andd this place is definitely worth visiting both for the food and for dates you want to take out to a nice place.

Garibaldi Italian Restaurant and Bar is located at 36 Purvis St. Purvis Street runs perpendicular along North Bridge Road just across from the current National Library near City Hall. The entrance of the restaurant is fronted by wooden framed glass sliding doors and an innocuous looking gentleman at the front whom is, the parking valet. The entrance leads directly into a little bar which also serves as a waiting area for patrons that are yet to be seated. Reservations is probably a must. Bar opens up on the left to the main dining area, and to the front, a private dining room.

This dinner is not exactly the norm in options for the regular diner. Meaning, the items weren't taken off the menu. So it all started with this really nice toasted cheese foccacia with olive oil and followed by the best egg I've ever had. Seriously. And the most expensive too. I kid you not.


I do not know what is the name of this starter. Soft boiled eggs with white truffle shavings. I think there might have been some cream cheese inside too. "Best" is a term I reserve for something without the shadow of a doubt and that takes a lot of conviction to use. Lol. The is the best bloody egg I've ever had. Seriously, it must be fungi magic involved here. And I'm at a loss as to how to describe the taste. You'll have to eat this to know how it tastes like and I am told that after eating this, I will remember it until truffle season next year to come back for them again.

If I didn't remember wrongly, the general sequence for a traditional Italian dinner starts with pasta before the meats. Tonight they arrived together. A spaghetti pomodoro and a pan fried quail with mushrooms and foie gras.


The spaghetti is actually very well done. A standard which many places cannot achieve in attaining a suitable amount of al dente firmness. That says something as I don't usually like them in tomato based sauces. The quail on the other hand was a bit of a disappointment. Disappointment here means it tastes like chicken chop. Lol. I'm positive that it's cooked better and having foie gras and a balsamic vinegar sauce ups the scores. Still it reminds me of a well done chicken chop. The foie gras was a tad over cooked, but I'm not complaining since the other things on the plate were just chicken and button mushrooms. I love that egg.

More....salad dinner @ home

This is slightly different from the previous. The only greens are the butterhead and zucchini. There is an addition of grated mozarella cheese the ring like things are some salmon fish cakes. There's no more ham or pineapple in this too.

Pineapple rice with chicken leg

There is a Delights Corner just beside the entrance to Carrefour at Suntec. At the section selling barbecued items, you can get this pretty good pineapple rice with a barbecued chicken thigh. Well, the rice is actually a little bland, but they do not make large portions and fresh batches of them are fried as needed. In the queue, chances of getting freshly fried rice is pretty good. Apart from being a tad greasy, this is generally quite tasty. There is also a choice for the type of chicken thighs between black pepper and honey. It's packed into a microwaveable paper box with a small side of ah zhar (sourish spicy picked vegetables) for $3.50.

Salad dinner @ home

Here're some looks at home made salad I had for dinner. Quite easily done. The main ingredients are regular, red and butterhead lettuce, tomatoes (sliced), pineapple (fresh ones, chopped), ham (sliced) and chicken (from Cold Storage, deboned and shredded). The only condiments in the mix are lemon juice and some Japanese sesame salad oil. Which is good enough for flavoring.