Gemma, Modern Italian Steakhouse at National Gallery

Celebrating the best of Italian summertime steakhouses, GEMMA is the latest concept of Italian Chef-Owner Beppe De Vito of The ilLido Group. Tucked atop National Gallery Singapore, the 68-seater restaurant is full of old-world charm but not stiffy at all and the prices are a lot more reasonable than some of these other steakhouses around. Lunch sets are only $45/pax and even their dinner sharing menu for 2 would only set you back by $208/pair.

I meant to check out Gemma earlier but plans were disrupted several times due to COVID. A random browsing of the Restaurant Week offerings (yes it is still around!) finally provided an opportunity to visit Gemma. The Restaurant Week dinner menu actually looks a lot like their regular lunch set offering ($45/pax, Tue - Sat) with a few upgrades.

We started with a semolina bread with Alpine butter sprinkled with Tarragon. This was followed by an amuse bouche of beef tartare on potato cracker with Mascarpone cheese.

The appetizer was a blue swimmer crab with avocado, ox-tomato gelée, citron remoulade and compressed Sedano. We really enjoyed the refreshing citrus and herb finish with the fresh crab and how the tomato added a little spiciness to the dish.

The pasta course was a Viola artichoke Agnolotti with peas, morsels of freshwater crayfish, and smoked paprika. This was a light pasta dish with a distinct artichoke purée filling in the shells. A touch of chili oil further lifted the dish.

The raison d’être of Gemma are its steaks and prime meats (think along the likes of Tuscan-style bistecca Fiorentina). Options are plentiful on the a la carte menu and they are all prepared using a double-resting cooking technique using the Josper oven for a lovely char but moist and pink inside. For our main course, we had the Jack’s Creek F1 Wagyu sirloin accompanied with a Bagna Cauda sauce, sweet potato pave and white asparagus with a yuzu béarnaise sauce. As promised, it was a juicy piece despite the sirloin cut (my preferred is ribeye). The portion is smaller than my tiny fist and Jr complained that it was like a half portion. Give us more!

Dessert looked like another half-sized dish but it was delicious though. A layered crunch of dark espresso chocolate, hazelnut praline with Hibiki Harmony soaked raisins provided the sweet ending.

Probably due to the small portions, we’ve been enticed the come back for more, especially for the Bottomless Cocktail Sunday Brunch ($128/pax)! A selection of 10 modern Italian dishes with prime steaks and pastas involved, alongside endless martinis, negronis and whisky sours sound like a great way to spend a Sunday.

Gemma

1 St Andrews Road, #05-03 National Gallery, Singapore 178957

Tel: +65 8787 0977

Tue - Sun: 12pm–2.30pm, 6.30pm–10.30pm