Gattopardo Italian Grill and Pizza Bar never disappoints even when Chef Lino Sauro is not around

W seemed to be starved for anything Western after his business trip from Nanjing. Being nice makan partners we suggested Italian to appease his desire for pasta. J wanted beef. Well ..... Gattopardo Italian Grill and Pizza Bar was a good choice. It has tomato based soup that HY's craving for, pasta that W desired and beef dish that J was yearning for (although in the end she didn't get her beef. Next time lor!). The last time that we visited Gattopardo was when the restaurant was just opened. This time, and like the last, we enjoyed the food and service. Even though Chef Lino Sauro was away, back in Sicily, we still have a satisfying seafood and Gattopardo's pizza dinner. 

The Gattopardo Bread bowl is really worth a mention. There were several slices of the crackers. Some spicy and some just pure savory but all downright crispy. Apart from the delightful crackers, there were focaccia bread that went well with just good old Sicilian virgin olive oil. The Bread bowl was so good that we had about 4 rounds of top-ups. The focaccia was soft and a good accompaniment for soup.

The service staff introduce us to the fresh seafood that was available and how they can be cooked in multiple ways for us. Some of these seafood can be quite exotic and costly.

We settled with a choice of fresh Scorpion Fish that was flown in from Australia. I was told by the chef that the Scorpion fish is a coral fish that is quite rare. This fish is normally used for stewing and chef recommended to use it for sea food soup. 

Chef used the Scorpion fish to create this Scorpion Fish Seafood Soup for us. (This soup is not found in Gattopardo's menu.) Even though the fish can look quite gross, it's meat was chunky and sweet. The light tomato based soup accentuated the sweetness of the scorpion fish. The soup was slightly spicy which helped gave the soup an added complexity. Some fresh mussels were added and together with the scorpion fish gave the tomato soup a sweet taste from the sea.

We selected the menacing blue lobster that was still alive before it's cooked into our Blue Lobster Linguine. Blue lobsters are supposed to be rare. Although, it's labeled 'Blue Lobster' this lobster looked more black than blue. 

The menacing Blue Lobster turned into a saliva-inducing bright red color when it was cooked into this Blue Lobster Linguine. (This dish is not found in Gattopardo's menu.)  I really hate it when expensive lobsters got cooked badly. However, Gattopardo got the lobster cooked to perfection. The lobster was cracked up so that the chunks of meat were convenient bite sizes. The sauce was perfectly concocted such that it wasn't too heavy to clout the natural sweetness and freshness of the lobster. Most importantly, the chunks of lobster weren't tough at all.

Le Pizze Gattopardo - White Garlic Foccacia with Smoked Mozzarella, Italian Sausage, Onion and Potatoes. This pizza came out of specially built Neopolitan wood fired ovens and served over round wooden boards.

All the pizzas that I've eaten before are open faced but this one has the pizza bread sandwiching the ingredients. I liked this Le Pizze Gattopardo as the mozzarella wasn't too salty. It was soft chewy and it gels the savoriness from the Italian sausages and the sweet piquancy from the onions. The potato slices gave this pizza it's heartiness. Some one told me that Gattopardo's pizza was sub-standard and I think that's totally untrue. This pizza is one of the best!

Frutti e Sorbetti - Fresh Seasonal Fruits and Homemade Sorbets. This was HY's choice of dessert. It's three scoops of lemon sorbet with a myriads of fruits. There's strawberries, rock melon, pineapple kiwi and soursop. I was impressed with the presentation. It makes this dessert looked very happy. 

I Cannoli Siciliani - Crispy Espresso-Infused Wafers Filled with Ricotta Cream and Amedei Mousse. This was my choice of dessert, the traditional Sicilian cannoli. I preferred the Amedei Mousse cannoli and the espresso infused cannoli shells were darlings. They were fragrant. Pistachio Ice Cream were included as sides and Italian pistachio is my favorite ice cream flavor. This is one dessert that entice both the senses of taste and smell.

Il Tiramisu - Signature Mascarpone and Espresso Tiramisu Cake with Sicilian Bitter Cocoa. W and J selected the safe choice, Tiramisu. The tiramisu was served in a rectangular casserole and the portion is quite generous.

Service in Gattopardo was immaculate. Our drinks were top up regularly despite the full restaurant. We only need to ask for one extra serving of the bread bowl and the service staff automatically fill them up when they noticed that the bread disappeared. On top of that, little Vic was given a complimentary scoop of sorbet right after we finished our dinner. We wish they gave use us each an extra sorbet too.
Gattopardo continues to successively impress us with their food and hospitality. It's definitely one Italian restaurant I'll recommend anyone.

11 Canning Walk
Hotel Fort Canning
Singapore
Tel: +65 6338 5498
Gattopardo Website