“They are still coming after 20 years. Some of those kids are now getting married. Some are overseas, but whenever they come back, they have to come to our restaurant.”
What’s the secret formula to having survived and thrived for 20 years in Singapore’s notoriously cutthroat restaurant industry?
It’s just “hard work”, the chefs shrugged. And, maybe, a little bit extra?
THE BEGINNING: GALBIATI
Acqua e Farina wasn’t always a full-fledged restaurant.
In 2004, Galbiati decided to open an Italian takeaway concept at outdoor complex The Rail Mall, and christened it with his own family name.
Born in Milan and trained in strict Italian kitchens, his butcher father encouraged him to open his own restaurant there, but the young Galbiati was more interested in travelling the world, so he took to the seas, working as a chef on cruise ships and yachts. While sailing around Asia, he met his Singaporean wife and they settled down here to raise their son.
While working at Da Paolo restaurant, he met Manetto, also a chef there, who would become his future business partner.
His dream, though, was to open something of his own in a shophouse. “When I came to Singapore, I saw the beautiful shophouses, and I was always thinking of them,” he said.
When the time came to start his first solo venture, he chose The Rail Mall “because it was a little bit out of the way, so rental wasn’t that expensive.” Although it was a takeaway shop, “I always kept some little tables for people to dine in. Then, I noticed that people preferred that. So, I added an extra table; I removed one takeaway fridge; I added three more tables – until I realised that I had transformed my takeaway shop into a restaurant.”
