Galbiati - Part II - The Takeaway

This is part II from the Dinner, cos we were too stuffed to eat anymore, and takeaway prices are cheaper than dine in (and there's no service charge too!).This is Galbiati's 'Baked Salmon' which is also known as salmon en croute (as I found on the internet). It's salmon and spinached wrapped in a pastry, and it's really tasty. The salmon is really solid and thick. It's a huge piece - I suppose it justifies it's $13.90 price tag (it's sold per 100g, i think it's around $8 for every 100g).


The spinach is soft and moist, and has the most flavour (compared to the salmon and the pastry).

The pastry is the buttery thick kind (which I like), not the flaky kind. It's brushed with lots of egg white and has a flaky golden brown top layer.Though my takeaway presentation looks less than spectacular, I assure you that it's absolutely delicious - I decided to eat 1/3rd, and later ate another 1/3rd, and after seeing such a sorry small piece left in the huge takeaway container, I decided to eat up the last 1/3rd.

Galbiati

400 Upper Bukit Timah Rd,

The Rail Mall

Tel: 6462 0926

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 :)

Galbiati - Rail Mall

Rail mall has quite a few new good restaurants - and Galbiati is one of them. Actually, I visited Galbiati before I went to Sweet Salty Sour Restaurant (it was closed cos it was 4pm on a weekday). The pizzas are located at the counter facing the door, and they looked so delicious - and reminded me exactly of Da Palo Gastronomia (but with seating and dine-in).

The pizzas are the thin crusted kind, and I tried the Smoked Salmon and zucchini pizza. The pizza had a tangy and not too salty tomato base, and the salty smoked salmon tasted great. The zucchini slices offset the salty flavour of the salmon and the melted cheese was super duper yummy. Best of all, it's pretty affordable at about $6 per slice (If I remember correctly that is...). You can take it away too - which will be even better since you won't have to pay service charge.


A piece will be enough for a small eater I suppose, but for the general public, the portion is enough so that you'll have space to spend on dessert. Which is a good thing since the desserts here are quite interesting.

Galbiati has so many desserts that I spent a fair amount of time agonizing over which one to eat.

Of course, when I try a new italian restaurant, I will definitely try the tiramisu. The tiramisu is quite a small portion (but i really can't remeber how much it costs) but the marscapone cheese taste is distinct and there is a splash of alcohol - though it's not as generous as Fren(s)h's one.

I liked the Lavander Cheesecake (I love all thes herby-aromatheraphy tasting stuff). It's the heavy kind and the lavander taste (and smell) is distinct. Furthermore, paired with the decadant vanilla cream sauce, the cake was heavenly. I was quite stuffed by the time I finished my heavy cheesecake and my pizza.

They don't serve water - which is quite sad for a dessert place. HOWEVER, they made an exception and gave us a glass of warm water when we requested for it since the desserts were very sweet. If they serve water, I would really recommend going to this restaurnat - the service is above average, and the staff are knowledgable.



Galbiati Gourmet Deli

Rail Mall

400 Upper Bukit Timah Road

Tel: 6462-0926

Sweet | Salty | Spicy - Food Market & Thai Cusine

There's this new thai restaurant (it's only 2 months old) at Rail Mall, which till now, I have avoided cos it was such a crappy and run down place last time. But then it has alot of new and interesting restaurants now!
I've wanted to try this place since about a week ago, but it was closed cos it was a weekday and it was at 3pm. It looks very clean and nicely done up, and I really like thai food! Yay to finding more thai food near my house.

For the soup, we had clear chicken and prawn broth with young coconut and shitake mushrooms (eeps I can't remember the price it's about 10??). There was egg tofu inside too. However, I found the soup way too salty. Haiz should have tried the tom yum soup...
The next dish that came was the Tasting platter ($24, for 2 -3 persons), which is a selection of the starters. There was crispy soft shell crab with light curry sauce, which was very delicious cos they were juicy and meaty, unlike those cheapo kind that are dry hard and mostly batter. The light curry sauce went very well with the crispy crabs and it wasn't overly spicy. In the middle, there's the traditional prawn and vegetable rice rolls. The rice rolls were thick and chewy, and it was drenched in a sweet tamarind dressing. I liked the prawn and pomelo on betel leaves with palm sugar dressing and shredded coconut. There was just the right amount of dressing to coat, but not overpowering the sour pomelo segments and prawns. The shredded coconut also gave the dish an intersting texture. It's eaten wrapped up in the thick, waxy betel nut leaf. There was also rice cakes with warm chicken and prawn chilli dip. The rice cakes were a bit too crispy, and a bit dry, but the chilli dip was perfect - coconutty and with juicy morsels of prawn and chicken. This goes quite well with plain rice too.
I also enjoyed the tumeric chicken ($15), which was char grilled chicken marinaded with lemongrass, coriander root and coconut cream. We liked the sauce so much that we requested for another serving and they gladly gave it to us. The chicken was juicy and not dry, and well exceeded our expectations. The sauce was slightly tangy, a little salty and sweet.
I also ordered pad thai ($12), which I always get whenever I go to a new thai restaurant. It's my favourite thai dish ever! I didn't quite like the way the pad thai was done, because there wasn't enough fish sauce - so the noodles ended up tasting way too sugary sweet. Maybe the taste was attenuated for the mostly non-local clintele. The noodles were done just right - slightly gooey and translucent, with bits of scrambled egg, dried prawns and tofu, and it was a pity that there wasn't enough fish sauce.
We also tried the Baby Snapper green curry($14), which was a refreshing change from the usual chicken green curry. The curry sauce was thick and had lots of fragrant coconut cream. It is cooked with holy basil and apple eggplants (small, round little eggplants). The snapper was fresh and flaky, and went well with the thick spicy curry.

The dessert ended my dinner on a sweet note - We had Pavalova with brown sugar cream and mango ($9), as recommended by the manager. The pavalova was crispy and brittle on the outside, and it melts once in your mouth. The mango was sweet and juicy, and coupled with the brown sugar cream and toasted, shredded coconut and a piece of pavalova, was a winning combination.

Although the restaurant is a mere 2 months old, business was brisk on the Sunday night that I visited. The ambience is relaxed and there's very nice decor. The service is very good, with staff who are knowledgable about the menu, as well as attentive and filling up the water glasses once you're done. Despite the 2 misses (pad thai and soup), I would return to try other dishes that the restaurant has to offer.

Sweet Salty Spicy

392/392 Upper Bukit Timah Road

The Rail Mall Singapore 678046

Tel 68772544

Sweet Salty Spicy serves lunch till 4pm on weekends (I think, but do call to confirm)