Brought the family to dinner after our weekly swim at the club. We wandered into Capitol Piazza and Princess wanted Italian. Equilibrium Bacaro & Ristorante caught my eyes. What is a bacaro?

Bàcaro is a typical tavern, featured by simple furniture, where mainly glasses of wine (ombre) are served along with small appetisers (cicheti), showed in the display window over the counter, not unlike the Spanish tapas bar.

We ordered three cicheti, a pizza, a pasta and a secondo – the typical Italian family meal.

1/6 Beef Carpaccio

The first cicheto, beef carpaccio with herb oil and citrus dressing, shaved parmesan, rucola, capers served on a bed of aioli(!). What’s the aioli doing there?

2/6 Patate fritte al tartufo

Our second cichetto, thick cut potato fries topped with hand shaved grano padano, parsley and garlic, served with mango chutney and aioli. The fries were soggy, horror!

Princess didn’t like parsley, and the service staff did not ask when they took order. So I asked them lay off parsley for the rest of the meal if that’s OK.

3/6 Grilled scallops on half shelf

Yummy, a half-shell scallop with the orange-coloured organs still intact, baked in olive oil and minced garlic, topped with parsley. And again parsley.

4/6 Sull’imbrunire

It was called the “At Dusk” pizza, the hand made 12″ thin crust pizza with homemade tomato sauce and mozzarella, copper ham, farm mushrooms, truffle paste and rucola leaves, and topped with a soft set egg. The toppings were generous and not dried out from the baking. The final touch of the soft set egg was genius but it was not possible to share that one egg with eight slices. In the end it was more a gimmick than part of the pizza. Nevertheless, the pizza was delicious! One of the best pizzas that I have had in Singapore. The crust was crispy, I ate even the edges.

5/6 Risotto al funghi

Classic truffle and mushroom risotto, with truffle cream sauce with sautéed mushrooms, bits of buffalo and shaved parmesan, topped with freshly cracked black pepper. I cannot find any fault with the risotto, it was the doneness that Asians would love – slight softer than al dente. The truffle was not shy to proclaim its presence and the mushrooms were not cooked to death. A little flaw – they should have asked if we would like pepper, as Princess didn’t. And parsley.

6/6 Agnello scottadito

Secondo, or the “Second” or Main Course for the Italians, was beautifully done herb rubbed lamb rack. Herb rubbed NZ lamb racks, accompanied by a black pepper sauce served on a kebab of grilled vegetables, and sides of maize cake and simple dressed greens. The lamb was grilled to perfection, and NZ lamb never disappoints with its tenderness and lack of the gamey lamb taste that most refrain from lamb because of.

If there’s a weakness to this dish, it was the black pepper sauce, which tasted like those from your hawker centre Western food store. A beautiful dish destroyed by a bad sauce, it has been the recurring issue with this restaurant – lack of attention to the details.

The Restaurant

Standing within the voluminous dining zone at Capitol Piazza, Equilibrium occupied an open-fronted space with the long marble-faced bar counter spanning the front, and the main dining area adjacent. A mezzanine level offers a flexible space with a large communal table and is good for private parties.

While mostly good, there was the lack of attention to details that need to be addressed. But the service staff needed to be better briefed. Firstly, they showed impatience when we asked questions about the menu. It was a busy time no doubt, but still. And then, there’s the parsley overdrive that they did not address after I told them to go easy.

The bacaro part of the place was not prominent – that would be a great draw if it was so because they do have an impressive list of wines and an even more impressive list of cocktails. Not to mention the pizza. I had one, and it was perfecto! The best bar food possible.

But in the cutthroat F&B business they cannot afford to make mistakes. While they were busy, they did not have a queue like the rest of the restaurants in the busy piazza of the Capitol.

Equilibrium Modern Italian Bacaro & Ristorante
15 Stamford Road, #01-86, Capitol Piazza, Singapore 178906
Tel : 63844069

https://www.facebook.com/equilibriumsg/

Date Visited : Aug 2017

Closed in April 2019

The pizzas are still available at Supply & Demand that belonged to the same group of restaurants.