Gunther’s (French), next door to Garibaldi (Italian), was such a good experience, and since Gunther’s and Garibaldi are under the same management, I decided to try Garibaldi. I love going for set lunch at expensive restaurants because lunches are maybe 1/3 the price of their dinners. So Garibaldi has a 3-course set lunch for $38.

I judge a restaurant by the free bread it gives. Firstly, it must be warm, which Garibaldi manages. Pumpkin bread with raisins and nuts. not bad, very fragrant and sweet. Pumpkin is in season so it is cheaper. But not everyone eats nuts.

For appetizers, there was a choice of Vegetable frittata (kinda of like the japanese egg, tamago, with veg in them) OR Salad OR a soup. I like the frittata but it didn’t impress and it didn’t leave an impression. Feels like something anyone can cook.

For the mains, there were choices of three pastas and two meats. 1. tagliatelle with mushroom sauce, 2. spaghettini with prawns, 3. fusilli with minced beef (pictured above), 4. Red Snapper and 5. Braised Beef brisket with mashed potato (pictured above).

My friend didn’t like his fusilli so I swapped with him my beef brisket. Braised beef is one of my favorite food in the world. If a restaurant has it, I will order it. The fact that I can relinquish my braised beef for his pasta shows, not how much I treasure our friendship, but how good the braised beef was. The beef was tender, yes, the mashed potato was smooth, yes, but there was no ooomph quality to the food. Kinda like Jeanette Aw, beautiful without star quality, without X-factor. Good ingredients, cooked nicely, but it just wasn’t top-notched. Very ordinary.

My friend didn’t like his fusilli because it was too stiff and hard. I think it was ok, chewy in a good way. But all I tasted was salt. I don’t mean this in a bad way. I mean it was the right amount of salt, but that’s all the dish tasted like. Imagine pasta, minced beef, tomato sauce and salt. That’s it.

The dessert was a choice between the gelato and the dessert of the day. And the dessert of the day was chocolate tart….but you see in the photo, it isn’t chocolate tart. It’s fruit tart, gooseberry with blueberry. Why? Because they ran out of chocolate tarts, and the waiter changed our order without asking us! The right thing to do was to come back to us, apologize that they ran out of chocolate tarts, and asked me if we wanted the fruit tart or the gelato. But NO, the presumptuous waiter just went ahead and ordered for us!

The food was average, I can accept that, but such horrible and encroaching service cannot be tolerated in a classy restaurant. In fact, throughout the meal, I thought the waiter was overly friendly to the point that he was taking liberties of us. He was so condescending and inattentive. We had to ask for water refills in a restaurant with 3 or more waiters and 10 patrons. Hey! I know I am ah beng ok?? No class one, but don’t look down on me ok!

In the beginning of this entry, I said wow $38 very worth it. But after taxes, that is after paying service charge for the waiter’s salary, the meal came up to $45 per person. It was not worth the money, with such average food, and presumptuous service. The meal at most should cost $25. This restaurant is not recommended. With this price, it is so much better to go next door to Gunther’s.

36 Purvis St #01-02 Singapore 188613

T: +65 6837 1468

Daily: 12-3pm; 6.30-11pm.

Rating: 2.971/5 stars