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Dubai seems to have the wealth, savvy and talent for attracting the best that the rest of the world has to offer. This is perhaps no more discernible than at the Atlantis on the famous man-made island, The Palm. Atlantis is already internationally renowned for its collection of striking restaurants and the Michelin-starred celebrity chefs who have brought both their skills and names to them. Together, these restaurants offer some of the finest cuisine to be found in the world, let alone Dubai, and are hardly more than a walk from each other.
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| While there is something for every mood, from the contemporary Japanese marvels at Nobu to the unmatched seafood of Ossiano, it is Ronda Locatelli which somehow breaks with the hushed reverence of typical fine dining in Dubai and celebrates great food and good company in the most earnest and inviting way. |
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Ronda Locatelli
Atlantis The Palm
The Palm Jumeirah
Dubai Marina, Dubai
Tel : 04 426 2626
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Named for Chef Giorgio Locatelli and the impressive wood-burning oven that forms the restaurant centre-piece, it a place which aims to treat enthusiastic diners to a touch of old style country cooking magic. A style of cooking which might be familiar to Chef Locatelli, who grew up in Northern Italy enveloped in the sweet life of a family-run Michelin-rated restaurant, but in this age of self-aware sophistication and exclusive guest lists, it is rarity of the most welcome kind.
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| Even though the cuisine celebrates the country kitchens of regional Italy, this is not your standard Mom and Pop restaurant. This is food created with a real passion for the best ingredients used specifically, cleverly to work as a whole. Whether it's a simple infusion of a herb or a marvelously ornate dessert, there is not a flourish which goes to waste, nor one that detracts from the any portion of the meal. |
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| At the centre, literally, of Ronda Locatelli's fine cuisine is the wood-burning oven. From the cave of fiery magic comes the fresh bread and pizzas which are a something of treasure for those who like their pies crisped to perfection, the smoky base rich with the history of rustic living at its least complicated and most pleasurable. Like the food which evokes images of chianti enjoyed aside the orange grove of rural Italy, the ambiance is relaxed and conducive to the sharing of food. |
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| Few country's cuisines are marked out by the human elements like that of Italy and Ronda Locatelli manages to communicate this with seeming ease. |
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| The qualities of warmth and good living emanate from every corner of Ronda Locatelli. From the oven to the unassuming yet distinct veneration for the food, right to the assured and charming wait staff, this a restaurant which speaks of an ancient love of food, wine and friends. |
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| Of course, this kind of passion and vitality are qualities which may exist in many kitchens in the city, though are often occluded by the need to accommodate the impediments of intrusive style and design. Although Ronda Locatelli is nothing less than the finest dining and furnished to appease the most attuned aesthete, it is restaurant which invites you to relax, to shed the concerns of the outside world and take unfettered delight in food that is prepared with knowledge and passion. |
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| Whether you're in the mood for a fillet of poached beef which hardly requires a knife-edge to cut it, or feel the need to test the pizza making talent of a master of the craft, then Ronda Locatelli is the place to do it. You might even spy Chef Giorgio through a puff of flour as he tosses the pizza dough up in the air. |
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