Bacco

We had intended to dine at Da Paolo Il Giardino last night. But we had not made reservations, and after a couple of publicity mentions in the press lately, they were completely full and had no available table for us. So, we ended up having dinner at their next door neighbour, Bacco Italian Restaurant, which was, in contrast, very quiet with only about 5 tables occupied.

Very nice ambience – quiet and elegant. Food was very average.

Fegato – Duck Liver (S$22) (US$13). The outside was beautifully crispy, but the insides were a touch too underdone from what one would normally expect – a little too bloody for comfort. It came with a nice roasted fresh fig though.

Seafood Tagliatelle (S$20) (US$12). A very red dish! We’re talking bright red! They must have used extra red tomatoes. Only one small shrimp, half a scallop I think, a couple of small clam-like mollusks and the rest all squid.

Risotto Funghi a.k.a. “baby food” (S$20) (US$12). This looked really yellow and cheesy, but I was told it tasted very bland. It looked mushy on the outside but the center of all the rice were still hard and not cooked through. It was almost all rice with nary a mushroom.

Rack of Lamb (S$30) (US$18). Ok only.

Ossobuco (S$26) (US$15). Very, very fatty. After removing the obvious chunks of fat, only left with maybe ½ to 2/3 of the veal shank. Tasted very gamey.

Service left much to be desired. Most of the staff were fairly professional, however, one member was rather condescending and “uppity” with all the customers (not that there were many of these in the restaurant). I think we now know why.

Prices were high for the dining experience we got – the pricing still pretty much pre-Sars, pre-economic downturn prices. And I had thought that the days of restaurants “coercing” customers to pay S$8.00 for a bottle of mineral water, as the only water being offered, were long gone. Wrong! I had actually forgotten that such a practice existed!

There are many wonderful Italian restaurants in Singapore – a case in point would be the next door neighbor of this restaurant. Enuff said.

Bacco
501 Bukit Timah Road
#01-01 Cluny Court
Singapore 259760
Tel: 6465 5108

Food: 2½ / 5
Service: 1½ / 5
Ambience: 4 / 5
Price: $$$$$

S$15 & below : $
S$16-30 : $$
S$31-50 : $$$
S$51-75 : $$$$
> S$75 : $$$$$

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