Authentic Italian at Luigia. No, really...
WHILE THE DÉCOR nor highly noticeable music may be quite what springs to mind when picturing a bona fide rustic Italian restaurant, the food most certainly makes up for it. At least its phenomenal pizza does. Luigia Ristorante at the lively Rixos Premium, JBR, is an establishment we have ran our eye over a few times, usually en route to Lock, Stock and Barrel (because we’re nothing if not classy), wondering how they manage to fill most of the tables no matter what the night of the week. Such popularity should have piqued our curiosity to try it out sooner, though the aforementioned tunes piped into where you eat did tend to put us off. We’re just not huge fans of those that enjoy putting the ‘din’ in ‘dining’. It can really hamper conversation. Actually, sitting down in Luigia, it was quickly apparent the music made no difference. For what emerged from the kitchen was sufficient to put any quibbles to rest.
Heading down on a Wednesday evening, we specifically went to sample Luigia’s Pop and Pizza Night. At any time between 6pm and 11pm on the penultimate day before the weekend, you can sit down to a pizza of your choice accompanied by three glasses of red fizz for Dhs150. Given the restaurant is the recipient of the Gambero Rosso award for best pizza in Dubai, we feel that’s pretty good value. Being lucky enough to sample of few of the Italian staple varieties, plus a starter or two (the best of which was the light and tender calamari), we can say they are fully deserving of their trophy.
The key to pizza for us, and we suppose many, is the base. Present a solid foundation and the toppings can only enhance the already satisfying dough construction. Utilising very much the Goldilocks approach: it can’t be too dense, too soft, too chewy or too insipid. We don’t like a tonne of flour sprinkled over it, and cannot be a base that could pass for foccaccia. In other words it needs to be just right and at Luigia it is.
Toppings we would happily try again included the plain Margherita, which may sound boring, but you can tell a lot about a pizza kitchen from its most elementary recipe. For the more exotic among you, you may like to try out the Parmesan crisp topped with aubergine; tomato and mussels with squid and clams in a bowl in the centre for you to add at your own pace, or the smoked salmon and cream cheese, which turned out to be our winner. Washed down with the three beverages, the evening was a triumph. The atmosphere and meal deal make it an ideal Wednesday stopover. Go tonight!
Where: Luigia, Rixos JBR
Best dish: Salmon pizza
Price: Dhs150