Eataly: Taste of Italy

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‘Italy is Eataly’. That’s the slogan on the restaurant’s façade, accompanied by a colorful map of Italy. Eataly is a combination restaurant/market chain that first opened its doors in 2007 in the city of Turin. After setting up a few more locations around Italy, the chain expanded to include outlets in New York, Istanbul and, of course, Dubai. Located on the lower ground level of the Dubai Mall, Eataly aims to create a complete Italian experience for diners.

The marketplace is at the front, with a gathering of confectionery counters selling everything from cakes to gelato to Italian chocolates. Past that is the grocery area, with packed food and cooking utensils, all imported from Italy. The tightly packed cluster of aisles leads to a large dining hall surrounded by glass-walled kitchens. These separate cooking stations for pasta, bread and pizza, among others, give you the opportunity to watch everything being made fresh.

The month of June is a celebration of chocolate, with the Festival Del Cioccolato. During the first two weeks of the month, there’s even a special menu that includes both sweet and savory dishes that are cooked using chocolate. Sadly, it seems only the sweet items on the menu are meatless, so no chocolate celebration for me.

Fortunately, their regular menu has more than enough options to craft a satisfying and wholesome vegetarian meal. Vegans may have a bit more of a struggle though, as Eataly loves its cheese, especially mozzarella. There is a section on the menu specifically devoted to mozzarella dishes, and there’s even a cheese station where you can watch it being made live!

Thus it seems fitting to start off the meal with Bocconcini Di Mozzarella Fritti, fried balls of mozzarella served with tomato sauce. The fritters are arranged around the mouth of a paper cone as if they’ve spilled out of it, giving the presentation a slightly playful feel.  The breaded coating on the exterior is crisp and light, and they have an amazingly creamy taste that can only come from fresh cheese. The tomato sauce served alongside is tangy but not overly acidic, and has a prominent garlic flavor that complements the mild cheese quite well.

Parmigiana Di Melanzane is the next course, made with fried eggplant, mozzarella cheese, tomato sauce, and fresh basil. The various components are layered on top of each other and baked, resulting in an eggplant lasagna. This dish uses a similar garlic tomato sauce as the appetizer, which gives it a very intense flavor after baking. The eggplant does seem to get a little lost in the dish, though. For the most part, all I can taste is cheese and tomato, and the eggplant almost becomes an afterthought, rather than the star of the dish.

This is followed up by Spaghetti Al Pesto, with potato and green beans. The pesto has a sharp, zesty flavor thanks to the combination of basil and garlic, and doesn’t feel very heavy despite its rich, almost creamy texture. The small cubes of potato and pieces of bean are well mixed, and add some body to the sauce. They don’t add any flavor of their own, though, being taken over completely by the bold taste of the pesto.

Eataly’s desserts have always been the highlight of the meal for me, with a lovely selection of cakes and pastries. I decide on the Ciocco Abicocca, a slice of pistachio sponge cake topped with chocolate mousse with a filling of apricot jelly, and pistachio slivers sprinkled on top. It does not disappoint. The mousse is smooth and fluffy, and the very distinct flavor of pistachio goes surprisingly well with chocolate. The flavor is balanced with the apricot jelly’s tartness, preventing it from becoming a chocolate overdose.

While the meal is certainly satisfying, the service is far less so. As an example, a couple seated next to me placed their order after mine and got their complimentary bread right away; I had to wait close to ten minutes and almost thought my server had forgotten about it. It also took a while for someone to show up and take my order in the first place. Unfortunately, it’s an issue that’s been there since my first visit over a year ago, and one that has yet to be resolved.

At Eataly, you can enjoy some delicious Italian food in a bustling atmosphere surrounded by open kitchens and a fully stocked marketplace. But the often negligent service definitely takes away from what should be an amazing Italian experience.

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