Restaurant Review: Roberto's Dubai

What is it? Andiamo brunch at Roberto’s is a new weekend brunch extravaganza that serves up relaxed elegance and festive dining.

“The cosy balcony over looking Dubai’s skyline sets the scene for a relaxed afternoon of dining”

Why we love it: We are so lucky to be living in a city that offers some of the grandest weekend brunch experiences around. I’ve been to a few and unless the brunch offers something unique and authentic, it’s kind of hard to stand out from a pretty packed crowd. Thankfully, Roberto’s Andiamo Brunch not only serves up delicious and authentic Italian cuisine, it also has, in my humble opinion, the friendliest and most welcoming staff in the entire Dubai brunch scene. Hands down. Before I talk about the experience, I have to say that I’m not the biggest fan of Italian food. But this brunch me realise what I’ve been missing. As we arrived, we were greeted and taken to our table at The Cortina. Robeto’s intimate private terrace. The cosy balcony overlooking Dubai’s skyline, plus the chilled out lounge music, really sets the scene for a fun and relaxed afternoon of dining. At Dhs450 per person, Adiamo offers a free-flowing variety of beverages. We chose to start with a glass of bubblies.

We were then shown by our friendly server what we were about indulge in. The choices on the brunch menu were a bit overwhelming to an Italian food amateur like me, but luckily our sever was very helpful throughout the selection process. With her help and expertise, I chose the pan seared cod fish for my main. And now that the hard part was over, we leaned back, relaxed, and enjoyed our drinks as we awaited our first course. To start, we were served a mix of fresh oysters, clams, mussels, lobster, prawn and crabs that came with the dish, the Seafood and Cocktail Lounge. I really enjoyed the prawns and mussels. And although I’m not a fan of oysters, I manned up and managed to down a couple with the help of our server who cheered me on. Talk about special treatment! A few minutes after we cleared our first round, the Antipasti was served. It was immense and consisted of fried mozzarella in carrozza with chili sauce, smoked salmon in tomato bread bruschetta cheese and toasted onion, and my personal favourite, the golden fried calamari, prawns and zucchini to name but a few. I’m not a big eater so I was honestly 80 per cent filled to capacity by the time I finished this course. We took a short 10-minute break and took some snaps and selfies with the beautiful backdrop of the Dubai skyline. As the afternoon went on, more and more guests arrived and the venue got a lot busier and livelier. Up next was Secondi. Pasta and Risotti was served, a dish which consisted of homemade ravioli stuffed with lobster and zucchini, paccheri pasta with fresh tomato, eggplant and ricotta cheese and a delicious wild forest mushroom risotto. The dishes looked beautiful and tasted amazing too. Shortly after, I was served my chosen pan seared cod fish with tomato, pistachio and spring onions in Mediterranean sauce, which completed the main course. The portions were just right and the taste was exceptional. We were delighted to be visited by the lounge manager Mr Mario Lahoud, who advised me to leave space for dessert. Insisting it would be the highlight of the afternoon. And he wasn’t kidding! It truly was. I’m the kind of person who would go for dessert right at the beginning of a meal, so I was really looking forward to this course. The Dolci aka ‘The highlight’ aka ‘My personal dieting kryptonite’, was a selection of authentic homemade Italian desserts, gelato and petit four. And a particular shout-out must got to the strawberry and vanilla gelato. All in all it was an amazing brunch and hats off to the staff, chef… and me, I guess, for managing to polish it all off!

What to wear: Casual to smart casual. Bring a jacket as it gets chilly later in the afternoon.

Who to take: Go on a date, or take you best buddies for a weekend rendezvous.

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