Al Forno - Dalma Mall, Mussafah

Located: Dalma Mall, ground floor - Not far from HSBC and Shake Shack

Tel: +971 2 612 0747

Opening hours: We went there as it was open before Shake Shack, they start serving at 11:30am.

The management really needs to take note, and serve some proper balsamic vinegar and not bitter-tasting ones! 

The pizza was OK I guess...

The pasta was tasty at the first-bite, then we realised how salty it was :-(

My calzone, somehow it just fell flat in its flavour profile :-(
Overall, Al Forno was disappointing - Prices were reasonable at about 60 AED per head, but I would stick to Shake Shack next time!

Euro 2012 and Bice Italian - Hilton, Abu Dhabi

Location: Hilton at the Corniche, not far from Intercontinental and on the road opposite Marina Mall
Tel: +971 2 681 1900

Euro 2012 football fever has hit the Hilton on the Corniche :-)

Our birthday dinner at Hilton's Bice ... Possibly the best Italian in Abu Dhabi. A really good steak to start, 240 AED - Served with foie gras and truffle oil-infused mashed potatoes.

And to finish our meal, we had the delightful Chocolate Souffle, served with a generous scoop of vanilla ice-cream. Perfect!

Frankie's - Fairmont Bab Al Bahr, Abu Dhabi



Located: Fairmont Hotel - Bab Al Bahr, Bain Al Jessrain (Between the bridges), Abu Dhabi

Tel: +971 2 654 3333

Neighbouring hotels: Traders and Shangri-La

Opening hours: Daily noon-3pm , 7pm-1am

One evening last week, I had dinner with a visiting colleague at Frankie's. It was a toss-up between MPW and Frankie's, but because it was 9pm when we sat down to eat - we chose the lighter option!

Food is good, but I have had better Italians ... Service is good though, so overall its acceptable!

 

Bread basket - Posh dips include olive tapanade and sundried tomato

 

My spaghetti frutti di mare - Not enough pasta, too much sauce!


Time Out Eating Guide, Abu Dhabi - 2010
There are two names above the door at this impressive Italian, but we’re only really interested in one. Frankie Dettori may know a good pasta when he tastes one, but we’d trust him better if this were a stables. Marco Pierre White, on the other hand, is a name we can rely on – the Fairmont obviously does; he runs the restaurant next door, too. Opened by Prince Andrew in late October, 2009, there was barely time for us to try Frankie’s before going to press, but it already seemed to know what it was doing.

Fiat 500 CC promotion ... I like!

Fairmont by night

Create your own Pasta - The One, Khalidiyah

This furniture shop, with a nice cafe upstairs, at The One in Khalidiyah is an eatery which we frequent at least once every 2 months. Ooops, just realised I hadn't previously reviewed the food here :-)

Located: Intersection of Zayed the 1st and 32nd. Adjacent to Bo Concept and same row as the BMW showroom.
Tel: +971 2 681 6500

Where can one get the best mushroom soup ... possibly anywhere in the world? :-) Try the one at ... The One! Its a nice service innovation, that they would split it up into 2 nice portions for you, if you wanted to share the 26 AED serving.


They have an interesting "Create your own pasta" dish - For 36 or 38 AED, you can pick your own pasta, and ingredients ... Here are our creations this weekend :-)


Just to add - Service is good, its very child friendly, there's even a lift to take you from the ground-floor furniture showroom to the restaurant ... but the carrot cake is simply mediocre. Enjoy :-)

Carluccio's at Dubai Mall - View of Burj Khalifa

Not many restaurants can boast a view such as this .. The Burj Khalifa (previously known as Burj Dubai - Tallest building in the world by a mile!) as well as the Bellagio-like Dubai Fountain!

Back to dinner ... Thanks for joining me at Carluccio's, IC :-)
Located: Star Atrium, by the Dubai fountain - Dubai Mall
Tel: +971 4 434 1320

Garlic bread, 22 AED ... Fruitti di Mare, 68 AED ... Branzino (Sea bass), 88 AED , and for drinks we had the Smooth berry, 22 AED and San Pellegrino - 500ml, 16 AED. The fish was good, but my pasta was (surprisingly!) over-cooked. Tasty though!

Restaurant was crowded ... but views were spectacular, and food pretty good too. Just wish it was more al dante!

Delicious - Bangsar Village 2

Add: GF-1, Ground Floor, Bangsar Village II, Bangsar, KL
Tel: Phone: +603 2287 1553
Opening Hours: 11am till late.
Branches: This was the 2nd outlet, the first being the one at One Utama (Founded 2004), Sunway Pyramid, Mid Valley Megamall, Marc Residence, Dua Residence and most recently in Straits Quay (Sri Tanjung Pinang) and Singapore's Scotts Square too.

Perfection, simple pasta with some fresh black pepper. Cooked to perfection, with the most subtle of flavours :-)


Haha, M was about to dig in when I got my Nikkor 40mm Micro f/2.8 DX "in there" to take a shot!


Simple decor, but not the most friendly of service, and this is not the first time I have experienced this at the BV2 Delicious outlet :-( I found our waiter to be indifferent and nonchalant, but the food was still good.

Ham and cheese sandwich, average .... Pastas here are much better! I think I had the lemongrass slushie or crushed ice drink, which was not terribly exciting.

Certo - Good italian at Souk Qaryat Al Beri, Abu Dhabi

Even though its been the longest time since I last did a food review, it doesn't mean that I haven't been eating-out :-) Been meeting new friends, been busy with work ... and best of all, family!

Here's our first visit to Certo, which turned out to be a really fun evening with OK and DL :-)

Located: Souk Qaryat Al Beri, at the "3 bridges" area of Abu Dhabi. Its located in between Fairmont/Traders and Shangri-La.
Tel: +971 2 558 1161

Best thing about Italian restaurants (besides pasta!) ... definitely the bread. Nice!


Lots of seafood on the night ... Seafood platter, with half-baked lobster, and a delicious sea-bass too.


Lobster pasta anyone? Yummmms!


Veal Ossobucco ... Tender, delicious and lovely mediterranean style veges and potatoes alongside.


Would we return? Yes, good food, good service and nice ambience though I do question how it won a "Time Out Abu Dhabi" romantic-category award. Its more a family restaurant for me!

ps - Yes, its on the Entertainer (Buy one, get one free - I have started a new tag/label now for restaurants which have this offer in UAE). We had 6 Peronis between us, along with a plate of fries for V, and we only paid 125 AED (Roughly RM$100) per person.

Prego - Favourite Italian in Abu Dhabi

Heh heh ... Thanks to J for my Birthday Margerita :-)


Add: Prego, Beach Rotana, Abu Dhabi
Located: Beside Abu Dhabi Mall, Tourist Club Area (TCA)
Tel: +971 2 697 9000
Previous visit: Reviewed here

Pasta .... cooked al dante to perfection.


And my choice ... Risotto frutti di Mare :-)


Light and refreshing ... Peroni on the left. On the right, what looks like a kopi, ooops cappucino, is really a nice Tiramisu!

Prego's - Beach Rotana, best Italian in Abu Dhabi

Add: Prego, Beach Rotana, Abu Dhabi

Located: Beside Abu Dhabi Mall, Tourist Club Area (TCA)

Tel: +971 2 697 9000

We really like Prego's ... Service is good, its child friendly, and they serve really good food. Nice (BIG!) loaf of bread to start, served with olive tapanade, freshly sliced cheese, and a garlic oil dip too.

Biggest surprise? Turn to the back of the menu, there is an entire page of hams (Yes, pork!) served by the 100gms, as well as 4 or 5 pizzas with pork content. We had one :-) and it was really good! Calabrese pizza, 75 AED. This had real pork cured ham, and lots of delicious juicy peppers.

Garganelli with atlantic salmon, 70 AED.

Taglionlini Nero, or squid ink pasta with a pesto sauce and delicious prawns, 78 AED.

We had a one litre bottle of San Pellegrino sparkling water (31 AED) with our food, and together with the service charge and tourism fee, the bill came up to 295 AED for the three of us.

Fine dining at Sage, The Gardens Residences KL

Add: The Gardens Residences. 6th Floor, The Gardens.
Mid Valley City, Lingkaran Syed Putra, KL.
Tel: +603 2268 1188
Located: The Gardens Residences, connected to Mid Valley Megamall in KL.
Take the lift from the Isetan side of The Gardens to the 6th floor.

As far as I know, back in October 2008, whilst Cilantro (Micasa Hotel, KL) was closed for renovations, Sage opened at the Gardens. This was of course Cilantro's sister restaurant. It seems, thanks to Lyrical Lemongrass, Cilantro has now reopened in what is now known as MiCasa All Suite Hotel.

Bread and truffle butter was always a hallmark of the mighty Cilantro ... But the flavours seemed to be lacking at Sage. Not the best of starts! But mind you ... expectations were high. Very high!

Amused by the amuse bouche :-) Yes, restaurants that serve an Amuse Bouche can generally be categorised into Fine Dining in my books. This write-up introduces another new category in my blog, "fine" :-)

Foie Gras, Cappelini and Fedellini pasta and the freshest prawns were always going to be our choice for starters ... certainly didn't dissapoint.

Originally founded by Cilantro's maestro, Chef Takashi Kimura, the japanese-western fusion cuisine is now under the helms of Chef Daniel.

RM$140 buys you a three course dinner, or that was the price about a year ago (Yes, this blog is much delayed, thanks to trips abroad to UK, and HK, and settling back here in the UAE!) ... And add about RM$100 more for the Chef's Table experience alongside the open-plan kitchen.

Our selection of mains was good ... but again, not spectacular. Or was that due to over-expectation on my part? In summary, I would recommend ANY of the foie-gras dishes, as well as pasta and prawn-inspired creations.

The desserts were good ... but hardly remarkable. I would stick to the desserts which are served alongside Earl Grey ice-cream, to me that was the hallmark of Cilantro!

Haha... this blog is so old that I can't remember why they served us ... macaroons! Perhaps we had tea or coffee after :-) I do remember that we were celebrating V's farewell to Singapore when we went for this night out!