Garibaldi, Purvis Street

Garibaldi (36 Purvis Street, 6837-1468) is across the street from Chuan. They had a fixed menu tonight, so everything was pre-selected aside from a choice of seabass or veal. By and large, the dishes were pretty good, be it the "raw spanner crab with green able and tomato sherbet" (that was different!), the "pan-roasted king prawn wrapped in Parma ham with Tahiti vanilla infusion" (crunchy enough to eat the head), or the "sea-scallop and black truffle ravioli with leeks and saffron sauce" (one whole scallop inside a ravioli). The foie gras went well with the super-tender veal too.

Unfortunately, the meal fell short toward the end with the "golden molten lava chocolate cake with nutmeg ice cream and cherry sauce." Unlike Morton's, this chocolate cake lacked the rich sweet taste that I was hoping for, thus seeming rather bland. (Sorry for the crappy photos here - it was really dark in there.)

So just as with many other chichi places: the service is attentive, the ambiance is beautiful, and in many ways it is worth the high prices as the food generally is fresh and delicate (and you've gotta respect the kitchen for being so creative and original). But at the end of the day, this kind of stuff is not something that I will get cravings for.