SINGAPORE – If your idea of a weekend well spent includes a leisurely dinner and lots of greenery, you might want to check out Il Giardino.
This “garden” – the restaurant’s name in Italian – has sprung up on the second floor of The Garage at the Botanic Gardens, taking over the space that used to house modern European restaurant Au Balcon and Botanico before it.
Like its two predecessors, this new outfit is run by hospitality company 1-Group.
The fairy lights and “you leaf me breathless” neon sign are still there, but the old menu has undergone its own form of abscission. In its place blooms a new list of Italian delights, described in the marketing collateral as “garden-driven”.
The food does not strike me as any more botanical than what you might find in the vegetally barren urban centre of Singapore’s downtown core – an edible flower here, a decorative sprinkle of salad leaves there. But your lush, Unesco-approved surroundings more than make up for the lack of green on the table.
In any case, if the garden is what you seek, start with the Panzanella Singapura ($16++), a refreshing salad of green mango, croutons, cashew nuts and “ugly” heirloom tomatoes that would otherwise have been discarded, bound together by a smoked tamarind vinaigrette. Or try the Artigiana Burratina ($19++), perked up with sour plum tomatoes that add a summery tang.
Slow-cooked Venetian octopus from Il Giardino.
PHOTO: IL GIARDINO
Then it is time to embrace other sources of nature’s bounty, like the sea, which yields a slow-cooked Venetian octopus ($22++ for small, $32++ for large), dredged from its pot and plated table-side for extra theatrics. Sliced into tender rounds, it is paired with a wedge of lemon, top-shelf extra virgin olive oil, housemade gremolata and ginger flower salsa verde.
The osso bucco ($28++ for small, $38++ for large) is equally moreish. A six-hour slow braise in Barolo wine turns the veal shank pliant. Laid on an even softer bed of mashed potatoes, this is a dish that goes down like silk.
My favourite, however, is the spaghetti alle vongole ($19++ for small, $28++ for large), kissed with a dash of heat that elevates it from a proficient bowl of pasta to something unexpectedly addictive.
It is a pity the restaurant is not open for brunch. Place a cocktail in hand and a lilting bird outside the window, and you have the picture-perfect start to a lazy Saturday.
Where: Il Giardino, Level 2 The Garage, 50 Cluny Park Road, Singapore Botanic Gardens
MRT: Botanic Gardens
Open: 6 to 10pm, Wednesdays to Fridays; 5 to 10pm, Saturdays and Sundays
Info: @ilgiardino.sg on Instagram
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