It’s the quiet ones that you have to watch out for. You only have to look at Francis Ford Coppola’s epic gangster movie The Godfather to see that. On the one hand, you have the explosive Sonny Corleone – tempestuous, impulsive and brash.
He’s the firebrand of the family and not predisposed to close-mouthed contemplation. He eventually gets whacked in a hail of machine-gun fire while his calm, considered and cold-blooded little brother Michael rises through the ranks from family joke to family head, and becomes the Godfather.
Now, there’s nothing cruel and calculating about Marzano – the new Italian restaurant at the Al Manzil Hotel. But while some places we could mention are opening in a blaze of publicity, hyperbole and celebrity-infested cocktail parties, this place is quietly getting on with the business of feeding people – and what a job it’s doing.
After negotiating the Burj Dubai building site, we found Marzano humming contentedly in the bowels of one of the city’s newest (and emptiest) souks.
With its bright big windows, we feared the yawning shop assistants in this deserted retail nook might dissuade us from lingering here. But the food had us hooked from start to finish.
The rotolini di gamberi e pancetta featured prawns as fat as Al Capone’s fingers swaddled in richly flavoursome peppered veal bacon with crisp, fresh greens and a dash of balsamic syrup. They were good enough to rehabilitate a cell full of hardened Mafiosi. Meanwhile, my accomplice was doggedly decimating the moist shavings of bresaola and cantaloupe melon. Then we both laid into the Caprese bruschetta with soft mozzarella, flushed tomatoes and verdant basil on crunchy grilled foccaccia bread.
If we were quietly impressed at this stage, when the main courses arrived we were soon grunting our appreciation in the nanoseconds between mouthfuls. My friend excitedly twizzled her linguine – catching all manner of prawns, mussels, clams and calamari as she did so – and repeatedly tucked everything away with lashings of slightly spicy tomato sauce.
I abandoned any pretence at table manners, and attacked my plate until the grilled rack of lamb revealed a distinct lack of lamb. The gloriously rare and tender meat went the same way as the traffic light of red, green and yellow grilled peppers, creamy potato terrine and perkily fresh asparagus in rosemary jus.
Yes, we were as full as a Sicilian jail by the time the desserts arrived, but with food this good, how could we miss out? The tiramisu was cool, creamy and spiked with subtle espresso hints, while my classic chocolate cake featured two cubes of moist, dense sponge chaperoned by a pair of burly strawberry ice cream scoops. Indeed, Marzano may be going about its business in a quiet, dignified and sober (it’s unlicensed) fashion, but that isn’t going to stop us from loudly proclaiming its genius from the rooftops. It’d be a crime not to.
Souk Al Manzil, Al Manzil Hotel, Old Town (050 770 4563). Open daily 12pm-12am. All major credit cards accepted. Unlicensed.
The bill(for two)
Mineral water Dhs12
Bresaola and melon Dhs44
Rotolini di gamberi Dhs44
Caprese bruschetta Dhs46
Linguine al frutti de mar Dhs52
Agnello alla griglia (lamb rack) Dhs80
Torta ciccolato con gelato Dhs28
Tiramisu classico Dhs28
Total(including service) Dhs334
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