CHIC NONNA DUBAI

FOOD INTERVIEW

THE ELEGANCE OF SIMPLICITY

CHEF VITO MOLLICA AND HIS NEW TEMPLE OF TASTE, CHIC NONNA DUBAI text Virginia Mammoli

The international experience of Mine & Yours Group, leaders in made in Italy hospitality, the authentic, unbeatable cuisine of a chef like Vito Mollica, ambassador for Italian tradition around the world, and the cosmopolitan essence of Dubai. These are the ingredients that make the new Chic Nonna Dubai restaurant one of a kind. Opened shortly after its Florentine sibling, in a short time it has made a name for itself in a city dedicated to excellence and with an extraordinary upscale dining scene. We are in the heart of DIFC. On gourmet restaurant with Chef’s Table and open kitchen, while views of Burj Kalifa from the large windows and spacious terrace, is the restaurant space dedicated to lovers of seafood crudités – fresh tuna tartare, sushi, oysters, European blue lobster and Italian Calvisius. Also Lounge, designed to resemble an elegant Italian drawing room, where guests can carry on their evening in an updated art deco ambience that comes alive with music until late. The menu is designed to strike a harmonious balance between Italian culinary tradition and innovation, including the sweet notes of the dessert menu, where torta della

nonna, caramelised pine nuts, and delicious lemon compote topped with homemade vanilla ice cream and candied lemons are always featured. We were told about this innovative project by Vito Mollica, Group Culinary Director and Executive Chef, who passed on his philosophy to Head Chef Ilaria Zamperlin and the entire team, along with the secrets of his most successful dishes, based on reTHE MENU spect and preserving the natural IS DESIGNED TO STRIKE A HARMONIOUS BALANCE dients, always measured, never

BETWEEN ITALIAN CULINARY TRADITION AND INNOVATION, vulgar or redundant, but which leave their mark in the memory of those who taste them. His is a perfect mix of professionalism

WITH DISHES BASED and thoughtfulness which goes

ON RESPECT AND beyond the kitchen, creating the

PRESERVING THE familiar environment to which

NATURAL FLAVOURS the name of the restaurant re-

OF QUALITY FRESH fers, which for guests becomes INGREDIENTS a home to return to, certain to come that makes a difference.

How did the Chic Nonna project originate?

Chic Nonna originated from the desire to create a re where guests can experience real Italian hospitality. The authenticity of the cuisine is one of the cornerstones of the menu, as indicated by the use of term ‘nonna’ or grandmother as part of its name.

COVER STORY

FOOD INTERVIEW

What kind of experience have you designed for your Dubai guests?

In Dubai, as in the rest of the world, everything that is Italian, from fashion to design to cuisine, is synonymous with excellence. We have therefore tried to offer seasonal raw materials, and with impeccable service able to recount our dishes and our origins in a one of a kind, elegant place with a truly iconic design.

What makes this restaurant unique?

Without doubt, the idea of designing a place where people come not only to dine but where they can also be entertained. In fact, both in Florence and in Dubai, in addition to the restaurant, there is the upscale lounge with sophisticated design, lighting and music, where you food and service typical of our restaurants.

Something that was a nice surprise in Dubai?

An encounter that amazed me was with the owner of a farm. A grower of vegetables, especially of those native to the Maghreb, who has chosen to locate his farm in the middle of the desert. And they are truly excellent products.

Let’s browse through the restaurant’s menu – the cult dishes, the one for lovers of tradition and the one for the more adventurous.

We have included many Italian traditional classics on the Chic Nonna menu, such as crêpes or raviolini del plin al tavogliolo (stuffed pasta shapes served in a napkin), but also many of my signature dishes such as cavatelli and oil with prawn tartare. We also brought Recco fo-

- which is enjoying great success. And then there are

Chic Nonna is also present in ‘your’ Florence. How environment like that of Dubai?

The two places give me a different energy. In Florence, I feel the responsibility of being in the heart of a historic city rich in art, inside a place where illustrious personalities lived over the centuries. Being able to be custodians of this building, enhancing it through a multiplicity of experiences, ‘IN DUBAI EVERYTHING is the real purpose and objecTHAT IS ITALIAN IS SYNONYMOUS WITH EXCELLENCE. WE HAVE THEREFORE tive of the project. Dubai, on the other hand, is a city that never stops, a city of the present and the future. Here the atmosphere is very engaging

TRIED TO RECOUNT and there is great competition OUR DISHES

AND OUR ORIGINS services and entertainment.

IN A ONE OF A KIND, There is continuous striving ELEGANT PLACE WITH to meet the expectations of a

A TRULY ICONIC very demanding clientele that DESIGN’ chooses as different restaurant every evening, and so has to be amazed each and every time.

What do you love best about Dubai?

Most of all the architecture, the buildings, the design. I often stop to look at these imposing buildings from outside and in. Every time I’m enchanted and think of the brilliance of the architects who designed them.

What are the next steps in the Chic Nonna project?

At the moment we are consolidating these two projects in Florence and Dubai, but the goal is to develop new openings in other destinations around the world in the not too distant future.