Galbiati - Part I - The Dinner

Pardon me for the lack of updates - I just realized that 1 week has flown past without me realizing it :/After sampling Galbiati's Tea, I was quite enthusiastic about coming back for dinner. For a small restaurant located in a fairly ulu place, its food is of a really high standard, and much better in terms of taste as well as value for money than some other more popular Italian restaurants I've tried. I would rate it on par Valentino's, which is my all time favourite Italian restaurant, and even better in terms of value for money. I've finally found a cheaper substitute for Valentino's :DSince we were feeling rather decadant, we decided to sample a whole assortment of what Galbiati had to offer. Starting off with the Lobster Bisque ($8++) which is a robust tasting soup - there's also alcohol inside and thus there's a slight bitter taste characteristic of lobster bisque. We also had a Mushroom Pizza to start, since the Smoked Salmon Pizza which I like was out. The pizza costs about $6++ (it's cheaper if you take away) and it's full of mushrooms embedded in semi-melted cheese. The crust is thin and crispy, and the tomato base isn't too salty that it overpowers the mushroom taste. My favourite dish of the night was the Goat's Cheese Salad ($15++). I thought at first that $15 was pretty steep especially for a salad, but then it did not dissapoint. You get 3 fair sized pieces of thick goats cheese baked and melted to perfection over crusty bread. The salad itself is full of fresh greens, peacans and laced with a generous portion of sun-dried tomatoes (which are pretty expensive in the supermarkets here). The semi-sweet meaty texture of the sun-dried tomatoes give the salad body and character, and are completely unlike the tart fresh tomatoes. To top it off, the salad is drizzled with honey, making it a delectable balance between the salty cheese and sun-dried tomatoes.

I thought that it was well worth every cent of the $15 plusplusplus. If you're having goat's cheese for the first time, do note that it has a characteristic smell that may not agree with everyone.
This is the Vongole Pasta ($18++) with White Wine sauce. Actually, this wasn't on the menu but it's the only pasta that my mum likes cos it isn't tomato or cream based. Galbiati has a daily special dish, which happened to be NZ Mussels ($21++) the day I visited. The mussels were succulent, juicy and tender and simmered in a thick slightly salty tomato based sauce. The mussels were so tender that they slipped easily out of the shell - no struggling to get bits of mussel out of the shells at all. This was my main course - Salmon Ravioli with Dill Cream Sauce ($18++) which was also the daily special. I was agonizing over either Black Squid Ink Pasta ($18++) but then decided that since the Squid Ink Pasta was on their regular menu, the salmon ravioli might not be available the next time. I was pleasantly suprised to find that there was also salmon pieces on top of the salmon ravioli. The dill sauce was clean tasting and went well with the salmon.

Galbiati is indeed a hidden gem - I suppose that the prices are kept lower than the average Italian restaurant because of the location, and the chef is as good if not better than other restaurants in town.

Best of all, they do serve water (maybe they didn't cos it was tea time? I'm not too sure...)

Galbiati
400 Upper Bukit Timah Rd, The Rail Mall
Tel: 6462 0926

As you can see, there's lots of cold appetisers (parma ham, instanlata caprese, marinated artichokes, sundried tomatoes, salads and even lamb shank for takeaway)

Takeaway prices are significantly cheaper than dine in :)