Situated within a charming two-storey black and white heritage bungalow is a Contemporary Italian Restaurant, Gary’s. Founder and Chef Gary Wu has over 30 years of experience, including that at Buona Terra Italian Restaurant as its Senior Sous Chef and a consultant chef of Silver Hill Duck.
After being served with some warm focaccia bread and kombu butter, we had our first dish – Red Prawn Tartare ($26) – a light a refreshing starter made with Botan Ebi and Gambero Rosso prawns mixed with watercress bits and lemon dressing for the zesty flavour. The uni and caviar tops it off with a touch of luxe and brininess.
Instead of some random vegetables, Iconic Gary’s Garden Salad ($26) is a plated urban garden inspired by Singapore’s city skyline and uses fresh seasonal vegetables. In ours, we had asparagus, heirloom carrots and tomatoes planted in the grounds of mashed potato dusted with charcoal powder, breadcrumbs, truffle snow and truffle shavings.
One of my favourite dishes is the Scottish Bamboo Clam. Squid ink pasta imported from Italy is tossed in a garlicky sauce. The scottish bamboo clam is prepared with lemon dressing, coriander and bottarga powder and flambeed with white wine.
Another pasta option is the Signature Seafood Pasta ($28). We were told that the Tagliolini is homemade and the seafood stock is made of lobster and prawns slow cooked over 2 hours and flambeed with brandy. Mussels, clams, lobster and baby cuttlefish are also sautéed them flambeed to bring out their natural sweetness. We thought that this dish could have been a little more seasoned.
For the mains, we tried the Iberico Pork Jowl ($38) that has been marinated for 24 hours with a blend of herbs and garlic. It is also served with carrot puree and pistachio nut.
The show stealer has to be the dessert platter. We had the Tiramisu ($16), Chocolate Lava Cake ($16) and Gary’s Apple Tart ($16). The dessert platter can be customised based on your choice of dessert and for special occasions, a sparkler candle that will be sure to attract the attention of those nearby. We thought the Chocolate Lava Cake that we had was good and were told that Gary’s used 70% decadent dark chocolate that reveals an oozy, molten core when dug into.
Their 3-course set lunch starts from $38. For something more fancy, diners can also opt for the 7-course Italian Omakase from $198++ per pax. Psst, be sure to ask for the glass garden seating area… those are the best seats in the place!
Budget per person: $38 to $198 per person
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