CONSUME

Super street food in Barsha Heights at Wise Kwai

S‘implicity is king’ should be a slogan given to all great Italian food. We’re pleased to report that Quattro Passi’s Dubai outlet, the latest to be added to a list that includes London and a flagship on the Amalfi Coast, takes great pains to deliver what it dubs “simple Italian dishes, cooked the way they should be”.

The antipasto of burrata, rucola and pomodoro di Sorrento (Dhs120) was definitely simple – cheese, rocket and tomatoes – but the sheer freshness of the ingredients was enough to make this a star dish. In fact, Quattro Passi prides itself on importing its ingredients handpicked from founder Antonio Mellino’s personal farm in Italy, ensuring those authentic flavours that awarded his original restaurant two Michelin stars. A trio of breaded sweet prawns followed suit with a juicy escarole salad, and whose fancy name – Gamberi in crosta di Panko scarola all’antica (Dhs110) – betrayed the elegant simplicity of the dish.

No trip to an Italian restaurant is complete without a least one order of pasta and a shared bowl of spaghetti vongole calamari (Dhs115) swiftly proved that the chef doesn’t mess around. Cooked al dente, with a perfect ratio of shucked clams, squid, sundried tomatoes and breaded anchovies that didn’t detract from the taste of the homemade pasta, we’d be hard pressed to recommend a better reason as to why you should eat here.

For secondi, we opted for both the pesce (fish) and carne (meat) options – both of which endeavoured to ‘ hero’ their protein of choice. Cooked to perfection, the seared sea bass (Dhs185), which fell off the fork and into our mouths, and the pink and succulent roasted lamb chops (Dhs185) were surrounded on the plate by an explosion of flavours including purées of cauliflower, zucchini and pistachio. The sweet potato chips accompanying the lamb were a welcome, modern touch to an otherwise classic dish.

For dessert, a millefoglie adorned with wild berries and fresh passionfruit (Dhs65) was made all the more sweeter thanks to a generous dollop of mango cream and a clever basil sorbet. And a dish simply dubbed la nocciola (Dhs65) presented three indulgent ways – via mousse, sponge and ice cream – to enjoy hazelnut that go beyond a spoon of Nutella.

As simple as Italian cooking may be, it’s tough to get it spot on, but Quattro Passi manages it. If you’re craving authentic Italian flavours with an emphasis on classic home cooking, then a meal here needs to be on your list.

Viceroy, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, daily 12.30pm to 3pm, 7pm to 11.30pm. Tel: (04) 455 9988. Taxi: Viceroy. viceroyhotelsandresorts.com