There is one particular restaurant that always attracted me whenever I went to Gandaria City, Basilico. As an avid fan of Italian cuisines, it’s totally a shame that I just got to try this restaurant a couple days ago. I read quite a lot of great reviews about this place, yet I never had any real chance to experience the greatness myself.

It’s hard to miss, as the restaurant is located just in front of the lobby. There are some types of dining areas that we can choose, for smokers or non-smokers, everywhere is nice. They have the dim-lit area inside, which I think is perfect for a romantic time, or more casual feeling around the reception area. For smokers, smoke your lungs out in the area outside, enjoying the food with beautiful views of buildings nearby.


 

The color brown and black really give a pleasant feel to it. There is also a splash of green color in one of the dining areas, which is pretty refreshing, maybe especially if we go there during daytime. With sunlight and all, it looks like a promising place to enjoy a sip of wine and just chill out, even for a short lunch break time.

So we started browsing through their menu book -which is fugly, in my opinion- and boy, I was impressed by the variety of food they offer. Okay, I should write about the menu book first, before I start with what’s inside. It’s just a writing pad with a bunch of papers, yes, the menu is presented on printed A4 papers. Seriously, for a restaurant like Basilico, I expect more than that, hello? I know, I know. “Don’t judge a book by its cover”, but still. Move on to the inside, there are like, pages, no kidding. But I love how they categorize everything, from Soup, Salad, Pasta, Pizza, and so on. At least the pages are informative, with the pictures of each food and some details, which are very useful for someone who doesn’t understand Italian.

Welcome Bread

When we were waiting for our food, a waitress brought us a plate of cute round-shaped snacks which are actually welcome bread. I don’t know the name of this bread type, but I googled it and almost sure that it was panfocaccia, a type of Italian bread. It tastes good, with consistency and tastes close to Indonesian kue bantal (pillow cake) and I love the tomato sauce dip they serve with the bread. Light and welcoming, that’s what I felt when eating those cute snack balls.

As I made the request to the waitress to serve our food in sequence, our first order that came up was the soup. They had the Asparagus soup for the special menu that day, but we decided to try the Minestrone. I am not a huge tomato’s fan, but this tomato-based soup really made me fall in love as soon as I had a spoonful of it. The vegetables were neatly chopped and cooked, and the soup clearly was nicer than how it looks. Besides that, the portion was actually quite big. I expected that it would come out in the regular soup bowl -a small one-, but it wasn’t. The waitress who took our order also impressed us by putting the soup into 2 bowls instead of one, after she asked whether we would share the soup or not. Good initiative, happy customers.

Minestrone – IDR 35.000+++

Still impressed with the soup, there came our next order, Bresaole Rucola E Grana. Because they didn’t have the stock for rucola, so we changed it to lettuce instead. Bresaole (or Bresaola if you prefer that), is salted beef that has been aged two or three months until it becomes hard and turns a dark red, almost purple colour. I love salted beef, or any other meat which are air-dried or salted. The beef looked so tantalizing with such a fiery color combined with the fresh-looking lettuce and lemon slice. Served with special lemon dressing, this tasted really good although I still can’t really eat some types of meat because sometimes they are just too smelly.

 Bresaole Rucola E Grana – IDR 69.000+++


Another food came out and it was our highlight of the day, Ghiottona pizza. It wasn’t just a regular pizza, but a unique one, like two-layers pizza with mozarella cheese, smoked chicken and spinach inside. Love, love, love it. It looked interesting, yes, but didn’t look too appealing at first. Took a bite and I got smile on my face. If you prefer something tastier, or saltier, probably you’ll need more additional cheese or sauce, though. But I have to say, this tasted heavenly original and I’ll definitely come back for this -hopefully by that time, they already have the rucola in stock!


Ghiottona – IDR 69.000+++


See the paradise of spinach and melting mozarella cheese? Delizioso!

By that time, I was already almost full with all those food, but we still got one more to try, the Tagliolini Neri Salmone. I just had to try this upon seeing the picture in the menu book. Like I posted about the same menu in Pepenero, I was hoping that I find a better one. Turned out they served this just exactly the same, black-colored tagliatelle with hints of salmon cuts and white sauce. The presentation was nice, but the taste wasn’t. Some people consider that nobody can go wrong with this simple pasta recipe, but it is not that simple. The pasta was cooked too long, which left the textures too soft. Sauce was a bit watery, the whole plate was so bland, eventhough I added some grated parmesan cheese in there.

 Tagliolini Neri Salmone – IDR 59.000+++


We decided to try a dessert so we ordered Caramel Crunch Semifreddo. It was a good decision because it was so good! If I am not wrong, the most bottom layer was cake, and the others were ice creams. But beware of massive sweetness.


Caramel Crunch Semifreddo – IDR 45.000+++

Conclusion:
Food: Excellent quality, well-presented, wide variety.
Price: Less than IDR 100.000/person, great price for a place like this.
Ambiance: Cozy, casual or romantic, perfect for any occasion. 
Service: Excellent service, friendly and informative staffs.

Basilico Italian Restaurant
Gandaria City
Ground Floor Unit MG01
Jl. KH. M. Syafii Hadzani No.8
Kebayoran Lama
(021) 2905-3333