Simply Abu Dhabi VI

After starting with vibrant salads, fresh Tuscan olives and focaccia bread – APi CAE has its own artisan bakery on site - we had a really hard time narrowing down which main dishes to go for. The restaurant specialises in the finest traditional Italian cuisine, like healthy homemade Italian bread, risottos and pasta dishes. But after seeing the pizzas, I decided I would have to go for one of these. The Quattro Formaggi, Margharita, and Pepperoni all looked great, but eventually, I opted for one with a topping of buffalo mozzarella with cherry tomatoes and rocket. Ingredients of this quality speak for themselves: all the adornment my dish needed was a splash of oil, and from the first taste I was caught between a desire to savour every mouthful, and another one to eat it all as quickly as possible! Jordana went for another Italian classic: a hearty, full-flavoured lasagne. After trying a little of each others’ meals, we wondered if we had made the right choice - before concluding that it was impossible to decide and that we would have to come back. We both ended the meal with a deliciously rich and creamy Tiramasu. This kind of eating experience just hasn’t been possible in Abu Dhabi before: so I can see exactly what the Sous-Chef Storti means when he says he wants to take Italian food ‘to a whole new level’. He doesn’t seem to have overlooked any detail in his search for perfection. He’s worked extensively across Italy and has put together an entirely Italian team of kitchen staff. He wants the restaurant not just to be about eating great food, but also to educate people about Italian cuisine and to champion quality ingredients. “Our Italian kitchen staff will bring not only a wealth of experience to Abu Dhabi but the true spirit and essence of Italian cuisine, which is about simplicity and quality.’ Stortio has said. A zest for life Perhaps the best thing about Italian food is that it is bound up with a culture that has a wholehearted love of life: it has been encouraging conversation and friendship for centuries. We could see that APi CAE is already succeeding in bringing this infectious vivacity to AbuDhabi: the 5000 square foot restaurant is open all day, serving breakfast, coffee, lunch and dinner. It has the capacity to serve 150 people per evening, and on our visit the atmosphere was genuinely buzzing: it was a clearly a great place for couples, families and friends to relax, share jokes and simply unwind. It seemed that the restaurant’s co-founder and chief operating officer Gergana Konova had achieved her aim. She said just before its opening that bringing the restaurant to life has been a labour of love: HH Sheikh Nahyan bin Mubarak Al Nahyan, UAE Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research 4 5 S I M P LY A B U DH A B I

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