Excessive-end Rome pizzas have an additional slice of pizzazz at Bulgari Resort Dubai

“In pizza we belief,” reads the pink neon signal contained in the celebrated restaurant Seu Pizza Illuminati in Rome, Italy.

That perception within the pie’s international enchantment and enduring high quality to shock and tantalise additionally permeates the model’s worldwide outpost at Bulgari Resort Dubai.

As a part of the collaboration with the fashionable Jumeirah Bay Island lodge, Seu Pizza Illuminati gives choose high-end pizzas from its Rome menu on the resort’s marina-side restaurant Il Cafe.

The partnership is a hit, with the model clinching the primary spot on the Dubai checklist of 50TopPizza’s awards final 12 months. It’s an internet information run by inspectors in Italy.

The native distinction joins various prestigious worldwide awards Seu Pizza Illuminati has amassed through the years, together with a uncommon 3 Slices from influential Italian eating information Guida Pizzerie d’Italia Gambero Rosso in 2020, in addition to a quantity eight rating within the World 50 High Pizza checklist in 2019.

Behind the success is chef and co-founder Pier Daniele Seu.

Dubbed “the don of Rome’s pizza scene”, the Italian has a cult following from diners to fellow pizzaiolos (pizza makers to the uninitiated) for his painstaking and progressive method to Neapolitan pizzas. Such strategies, together with a temperature-controlled 30-hour leavening interval for the dough, require Seu to journey to Dubai repeatedly for quality-control checks and to refresh the menu with seasonal produce.

“I’m not making an attempt to interrupt away from custom,” Seu tells The Nationwide. “Whereas a number of issues have been stated about pizza, there may be nonetheless some scope so as to add one thing new to the dialog.

“I wish to increase folks’s perceptions of pizza and I can do this by always providing new seasonal pizzas and, maybe, even creating these I really feel folks would get pleasure from earlier than they realize it.”

New pizzas on the menu

Beginning Friday, Il Cafe’s menu will provide six new pizzas that double as consolation meals in cooler temperatures, along with the lavish touches befitting the exclusivity of the Bulgari Resort Dubai.

“Being attentive to the standard of substances is in our philosophy,” Seu says. “Whereas within the UAE it’s a little totally different as a result of the seasons do not change as drastically as in Europe, we do attempt to showcase within the pizzas the seasonality we’re in.”

Half of the brand new dishes are vegetarian, and the menu additionally illustrates a few of Seu’s daring ingredient combos that each thrilled and shocked pizza lovers in Rome.

The Rosso Di Mazara (Dh270), for instance, has stracciatella cheese, crimson prawns tartare and pistachio squid ink. The presentation is elegant and vibrant with all six slices of the medium-sized dish that includes a prawn on high of glistening creamy cheese.

Every chew is impactful with the plain dough sturdy sufficient to hold all of the substances. It tastes contemporary, zesty and might operate as a beautiful to-share starter.

“In Rome, we actually made an impression with our seafood pizzas as that isn’t very conventional. Some folks had been suspicious of what we had been doing, however we confirmed we will break that barrier if we concentrate on the standard and the flavour,” Seu says.

“With seafood pizzas, you add the toppings instantly after the dough comes out of the oven to make sure it comes as contemporary as it may be to the diners. Due to this fact, it requires longer preparation, however the outcomes are value it.”

The Parmigiana pizza (Dh150) — with its namesake sharp and nutty-flavoured cheese, plus smoked provola cheese, tomato sauce and basil — isn’t solely a vegetarian delight but in addition partly liable for bringing Seu Pizza Illuminati to Dubai within the first place.

“An individual from Bulgari who takes care of the inns is vegetarian and he would come to eat at our restaurant due to our alternatives,” he says. “It was from there {that a} dialog started to come back to Dubai.

“We all the time had this imaginative and prescient of giving pizza a global dimension that may overcome custom and tradition. We wished no restrictions in how we make pizza, which in Italy you do have.”

The Italiana (Dh170) bulges with high quality produce. The sharpness of the veal ham is offset by the milky textures of fior di latte — a delicate and flippantly flavoured cheese akin to mozzarella. The dollops of tomato confit are wealthy however not powering, whereas the basil provides an earthy aroma.

“Like each language, making pizza follows a sure set of codes. For instance, you will have tomatoes, mozzarella and a wood oven. However inside that framework, you could be artistic and take a look at new issues,” Seu says.

“I would like pizza to talk to a contemporary language whereas respecting its custom.”

Again for extra

That experimentation means the extension of a menu favorite, and the final pizza The Nationwide sampled on our go to.

Since its arrival as a part of Il Cafe’s menu updates earlier within the 12 months, the Seuwarma (Dh150) has been successful. Whereas the concept of rooster shawarma-flavoured pizza isn’t precisely new, Seu elevates it with refined touches and contemporary produce.

As soon as once more, the crisp and delicate dough is baked to perfection. The marinated rooster, fior di latte and lemon zest make for a potent mixture of flavour and texture, whereas the lettuce and streaks of garlic sauce make the pie pop visually and on the style buds.

“Plenty of diplomats from the Gulf come to have this,” Seu says. “They are saying it reminds them of house and, for a chef, that could be a stunning emotion to offer with meals.”

Up to date: November 10, 2022, 2:46 PM