review: garibaldi - lunch set

Address: Lot 10 & G22, Bangsar Village, Jalan Telawi 1

Phone: +602 2282 2456/7

Lunch on a workday really only has 4 conditions to satisfy:

(1) Be relatively tasty

(2) Value for money

(3) Speed in serving

(4) Availability of parking

With that in mind, we thought we would go to Garibaldi in Bangsar Village, seeing that they had an Executive Lunch set menu at RM45 per person. Parking was also available with valet service at the neighbouring Bangsar VIllage 2.

We had called ahead to make reservations for our (relatively) large party of 8, and were told that we would have to delay our booking till 1. Fair enough - no one wants to go to a restaurant that looks like a ghost town. However, when we arrived I did see many empty tables, which did not get filled throughout the course of our lunch - a bit of misrepresentation there, no?

Disclaimer: The Executive Lunch menu had a base price of RM45, but one could up the ante by paying a little bit more for more expensive dishes.

My first course was a squid salad. I expected grill squid, but what arrived was closer to squid that had been braised for an extended period of time, coupled with boiled potatoes, tomatoes and some salad leaves. A bit bland for my taste - it could have been perked up with a bit of acid.

Second course was a seafood pasta, which I would put on par with a lot of the other marinara pastas out there in the market. There was plenty of clams though, which I appreciated - some places tend to be a bit stingy with their shellfish.

I'm a sucker for cheese and when I saw I could have a cheese platter for dessert if I added an extra RM25 to my set I was all for it! The serving size was quite generous, but I would have appreciated knowing which cheeses were going to be on my plate. Streaks of balsamic reduction, honey and fruit compote served to cut the richness of the cheese (especially the blue) very well, and there was a large portion of bread crisps to go with this.

However, this was pronounced to be the most worthwhile addition to the existing menu. My friends had paid extra for their lobster bisque which had measly portions of lobster meat in a thin-looking broth. Also, I was a bit cheesed-off (pun intended) when the waiter ignored my request for regular water and proceeded to serve the entire table with bottled water, which was only ordered by one person. Moreover, they continued to open bottles throughout the meal without checking with us, which only serve to add up on the beverage tab. Plus, lunch only ended at 3:30 due to slow service.

I have been to Garibaldi a few times - but I still have not yet had a 100% satisfactory visit so far. I would like to know what the feedback is on their Singapore venue - I feel that consistency in service is important when one plans to open satellite restaurants such as this.

Address: Lot 10 & G22, Bangsar Village, Jalan Telawi 1

Phone: +602 2282 2456/7