Bontá Italian Restaurant & Bar, UE Square

This place felt like Garibaldi. Even the style of the decor relayed the same clean looks and the dining experience bore a close semblance. Speaking of which, I will digress and mention that the new French place by the Garibaldi group at Purvis Street, Gunther's, seems to have opened. The digression ends here.

 

The food at Bontá (#01-61, UE Square) was expectedly tame in the sense that nothing is really very different from the usual. The menu items looked the same after a while (angelhair pasta with lobster anyone?) but I'm don't know if consistency of templated menu is a good thing. It tends to get boring. But this is an early claim to things, since this is the first time I've visited. If the restaurant perseveres, changes are bound to roll in. I think. The most impressive dinner item was actually the bread. Impressive as it kinda wowed me. And no, dinner was not that bad. It was okay actually. One has to factor the law of diminishing returns in the due course of progress. The bread was so good, I asked for seconds which almost did me in after the starters of the Ocean Trout Crab Meat Rolls. But it was very good bread. Worthy of space in my stomach. The bread arrived hot in a cup much like a cupcake with a ceramic base. Beneath the crust was buried bits of walnuts and in the middle, feta cheese. It was seriously good stuff. With or without the olive oil and tapenade.

the bread

The starter of Ocean Trout Crab Meat Rolls wasn't really mention worthy. The trout rolls with the smooth and creamy crab meat felt contemporary Japanese. Beside a tiny handful of avocados, cherry tomatoes and an unidentifiable blood orange sauce there wasn't much to this dish. Didn't think much of it in the department of flavour.

the starter

the pasta

The homemade goose liver ravioli was heart stopping. It was full of cheese. Parmesan cheese sauce and scarmoza cheese melted over the top. The other heart clogging ingredient was of course the goose liver that spilt oil as I cut into the ravioli. As a whole, pretty enjoyable. I'm quite glad it didn't come in larger portions. 

For first visits, Bontá didn't feel impressive. It's not mediocre. Also not satisfying. The feeling I'm getting was neither here nor there.