It’s Friday night and Pepe Cucina has a lively buzz going on. Families on holiday, date-night couples, friends meeting up at the end of a long working week, the vibe is exactly how an Italian restaurant should feel: friendly, welcoming and like you’ve been there before.
But just because a restaurant is not stuffy, that doesn’t mean it’s not sophisticated. Pepe Cucina, in JBR, Dubai, is one of those chameleonic places that’s somehow exactly what you want it to be each time you visit.
First impressions
The space is large, meaning no cramped tables and plenty of scope for birthday gatherings and their popular Saturday brunch. Booths, one of which we settled into, line the left side, while banquette tables cut through the middle of the room to create pockets in which to socialise. Through the floor-to-ceiling windows, the vast, revamped terrace awaits diners during the cooler months, with views across Bluewaters Island and Ain Dubai.
The menu
The menu is a solid one-pager. No leafing through leather-bound volumes here. We begin with truffle arancini with truffle mayo and chives (Dh35) from the passa il piatto section, which translates as “pass the plate” and is designed for sharing. The arancini balls are excellent: deep-fried and dense, crunchy on the outside and soft and slightly chewy inside, with a delicate truffle sauce for dipping.
My dining companion and I decide to share every dish. Luckily, we’re largely on the same page taste-wise. She knows that I get weird about seafood served with its head still on, and I know that she loves Gorgonzola.
For our salad, she is very happy with the yellow and red endive with Gorgonzola, pecan nuts and figs (Dh59). The flavours work so easily together that it’s a dish that begs to be eaten with a little of every ingredient on each forkful.
One of the things I love about Italian food is that it’s not linear. Dishes arrive at the table with the intention of being left there. There are no “Are you done with that?” questions and plates whisked away before you can decide whether to nab that last arancini. Instead, everything stays to be grazed, mixed and matched and returned to throughout the meal.
For our pizza, we go with a margherita (Dh60), a classic among a curated selection of favourites. The base is delightfully thin, the crust slightly burnished and the bubbled cheese turning a caramel colour. Four slices go into our mouths, two into the box to take home.
From the pasta and rice selection, we opt for the traditional fusilloni alla Genovese in a pecorino sauce (Dh94). Having never met a ragu I didn’t love, this hearty, rib-sticking pasta smothered in a rich and generous sauce doesn't disappoint. It’s a dish I have sworn to return for later this year as a winter warmer, with big spoonfuls piled on to our plates alongside the salad, pizza and remaining arancini.
To offset the delicious carb-heavy density of everything so far, we choose the rock salt-baked sea bass fillet with roasted potatoes (Dh146) from la griglia (the grill). Its delicate flavour and modest portion make it an ideal counterpoint to what has come before. Salt-baking leaves the fillet tender but still meaty, stopping just short of flaking apart on the fork.
Gelato, chocolate, cannoli – the dessert list reads like a greatest hits of traditional Italian sweets. Our debate comes down to the fried doughnut with custard cream (Dh59) or the chocolate mousse with hazelnut and balsamic cherry (Dh57). We err on the side of the traditional mousse, which yields thick spoonfuls of gooey, chocolatey deliciousness that stick to the roof of the mouth, leaving a lingering taste of Italy.
Standout dish
The sea bass fillet was a standout insomuch as it worked as well on its own as it did within the ensemble of dishes we accumulated. I imagine it paired perfectly with lighter sides such as sauteed greens, lemon and garlic or a tomato and red onion salad, just as it did with the ragu-smothered fusilloni and Gorgonzola-sprinkled endive leaves on our plates.
Save or splurge
You could leave well fed and satisfied from Pepe Cucina having spent around Dh150, assuming a focaccia starter (Dh20), a rigatoni with spicy Gorgonzola sauce and beef ‘nduja (Dh88) and a tomato carpaccio salad (Dh46). There are dishes to suit all budgets, appetites, tastes and preferences for certain regions of Italy. Those looking to splurge should start with the fritto misto (Dh171), al tartufo pizza with truffle sauce, mozzarella and fresh black truffle (Dh143), lobster linguine (Dh355) and grilled lamb chops (Dh215).
Contact details
Pepe Cucina is at Address Beach Resort in JBR, Dubai. It's open Monday to Thursday from 4pm to 12am, and from Friday to Sunday from 1pm to 12am. Reservations can be made by calling 04 879 8866.
This review was conducted at the invitation of the restaurant
