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Emailpublished on Feb 12 2009 - 13:14
Formerly home to Italian eatery Turquoise Room, Verve has moved into the ground floor of the two-storey colonial building in Gillman Village, taking advantage of the lush surroundings while keeping it simple with Italian bistro fare.
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The entire restaurant was purchased lock, stock and barrel (yes, even the chef and bottles of wine were retained), then renamed and renovated. The new tenants have fashioned a spot that’s rustic and unpretentious, with French windows framing a spacious dining room with whitewashed interior, frosted cylindrical hanging lamps and upholstered grey banquettes with lime-green throws. At sunset, however, the best seats are at the outdoor timber dining deck fronting the jungle, in the company of a symphony of crickets.
The antipasti really impress, not least the calamari fritti – incredibly crispy rings of squid in thick batter, deep-fried to a golden hue. The beef carpaccio is also worth a mention: slivers of beef tenderloin drizzled in extra virgin olive oil, then served with cracked black pepper, a twist of lemon and heaps of pungent arugula and shaved Parmesan cheese.
The pastas here are crowd-pleasers, too; nothing profound or experimental, just beautifully balanced dishes like the linguine cooked al dente, then tossed with garlic, olive oil, cherry tomatoes and hunks of plump slipper lobster in a white wine-reduced broth. At $26, it is not overly expensive and gives the main courses a run for their money. The crowning glory, however, are the handmade thin-crust pizzas. Both our barzoni (bacon and mushroom with garlic mascarpone and shredded basil) and santino (pepperoni and Spanish chorizo with baby spinach and jalapeño) were outstanding, with none of the miserly toppings found at some local pizzerias.
By now, you might have sensed Verve’s motto of ‘simple things done right’. The food here is indeed simple and honest, but not everything is done right all the time. The service staff could do with a crash course on etiquette. At our second dinner, one waiter tried in vain to get our attention, eventually yelping ‘Do you want your pasta?’ instead of starting with an ‘Excuse me.’ And a simple dish of insalata caprese, which typically shines when prepared with first-rate vine-ripened tomatoes and large leaves of green basil, tastes flat when served with local ingredients.
Mains, too, were less impressive than pastas and pizzas. The grilled dory fish, topped with caramelised capsicum and garlic, would likely find a bigger audience if dipped in beer batter and deep-fried to a golden crisp. Meanwhile, the pork rack with Parma ham had a full-flavoured asparagus sauce, but the meat itself was rather pedestrian. Similarly, desserts are satisfying rather than exciting. In keeping with the simple theme, opt for waffles with ice cream.
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Eve CVerve details
Address
Gillman Village
7 Lock Road
7 Lock Road
Transport
Nearby Stations: Take a taxi
Telephone 6473 3655
Main courses from $24.00 to $36.00
Open Mon-Thu noon-11pm; Fri & Sat noon-midnight; Sun noon-10pm
If this map or venue details are incorrect then please Contact Us
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I've been to Verve in Gillman a couple of times now with friends and we've always had a good time. We've become real fans of a couple of the items in the menu like the calamari & pizzas (thin-crust, the way we like it). We've always found the service friendly - not all the staff have the same level of initiative but in general, good. I've seen this same 'cola review' in a couple of the other food sites and I was a little surprised as it's so different from the many good times we've experienced. It is unusual that I would comment on somebody else's review but on this occassion it appears to be particularly vindictive? As a regular, I would urge you to make your own decision. Based on our experience, the above review seems a little odd. Bon Appetite!
Posted on Thu 13 Aug 2009 19:40:22
There had been a dispute over the bill when i dined at verve on 1aug. To cut the long story short, we had 2 bottles of wine but, When we want to settle the bill, they charged us for 3 bottles of moscato. We explained that only 2 bottles came. but the rude girl insisted she opened 3 bottles in front of us and ascertain that there are 3 empty bottles in the kitchen! fine. show us the empty bottles then. A good 10-15mins later she came back saying she can't find but nonetheless they decided not to charge us for the third bottle. However, she went on to say that they will check the cctv after they close and find out. well, this certainly sounds VERY wrong! what do you mean?? so, do you want to take down my ic/ hp to call me back or call police??? we never had a 3rd bottle. since you can't find the empty bottle, apologise and admit your mistake! well, she didn't. fine. let us watch the cctv too, she never opened a third bottle in front of us, the cctv will shows that. oh well, their boss is not around so nobody can watched! wow. that's a good excuse! We asked to speak to her manager. XYZ said she'll give us an answer after they view the cctv and proceed to explain that the poor girl is probably scared thus speaking in a tactless way. She went on to apologise several times on her behalf. sigh.. i think my friends and i are too nice people. We didn't made a big scene there. XYZ offered to keep us informed. ok. one week had passed and still no news. I see, this is how they treat their customers. They wrongly accused their customers, insulted them and refused to apologise after finding out that its a false accusations. Even if they call now, we are NEVER going back there again.
Posted on Sat 08 Aug 2009 02:28:22