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Restaurant Review: Trattoria by Cinque

Dubai - Relish the Italian delicacies at the award-winning restaurant

On the lookout for a nice spot for Italian fine dining? If yes, then head to Dubai’s award-winning Italian restaurant Trattoria by Cinque. Owned by renowned Italian Chef Giuseppe, Cinque is located in the beautiful Five Jumeirah JVC hotel. The menu, inspired by family-style Italian cooking, boasts a range of Italian favourites. Besides their selection of grapes from across the world, complimentary breads and grossini came first, building the appetite with salted butter and lots of fresh olive oil and balsamic vinegar. For starters, we tried the Polpette, an Italian version of traditional meatballs. They change from town to town, as far as ingredients, size and recipe are concerned. In Cinque, these juicy beef meatballs were cooked in traditional Neapolitan ragout and tomato sauce. This, paired with their crispy calamari, made for the perfect finger food.  This was followed by cold starters like Carpaccio Di Manzo, which was beef carpaccio served with rocket, parmesan, hazelnuts and figs, burrata with truffle stuffing, basil, rocket. Next was the traditional Bruschetta filled with tomatoes, basil and olive oil. Their signature starter was Tartare Di Tonno — the yellow fin tuna tartare filled with avocado, mango and citrus gel. Each dish was delectable, fresh, enjoyable and juicy.

Coming to the mains, we were recommended to start with Gnocchi Frutti Di Mare Nel Panuozzo, which was a vibrantly seasoned dish with an explosion of prawns, mussels, calamari, in Italian bread loaf. It was so delicious that we wiped our plates clean. While it’s tempting to fill up the Italian mains with an array of pasta or ravioli dishes, the star of the show was the Pescato Del Giorni — the freshest fish available to order with a sea salt crust. The smokey fish is served with a touch of tableside theatre, with the staff unwrapping the steaming fillet from its salty coating and serving it straight onto our plates. It was perfectly cooked and melted immediately in our mouths. Their traditional Sicilian Cannoli topped with ricotta, chocolate, candied orange and pistachio restrained tiramisu are the desserts you should save room for!

zubina@khaleejtimes.com