• The search for quality gluten-free dishes in the capital just got easier. Fine-dining Italian restaurant Villa Toscana has created a gluten-free menu with 15 options. Called Senza Glutine (Italian for "without gluten"), the menu features starters, pastas, mains and desserts. The four pasta and rice dishes include a seafood and lemon risotto; fusilli with porcini mushrooms and Castelmagno cheese; potato gnocchi with basil pesto, calamari and green beans; and spaghetti with capers, olives, garlic and Vesuvian tomatoes. Chef de cuisine Stefano Viola says: "We created the menu so our gluten-conscious guests can also indulge in Italian favourites. To have some guests feeling left out due to a dietary requirement goes against what our restaurant experience is all about." To try the new menu, call 02 694 4553 or visit www.stregisabudhabi.com.
• Olive Garden has just launched a new menu with a range of Italian dishes focusing on chicken. The new menu features four main chicken dishes and one new appetiser (chicken meatballs). New options for mains include smoked mozzarella chicken pasta; crab topped chicken; chicken abruzzi; and garlic rosemary chicken. The new additions will be available until the end of the year at both Al Wahda Mall (Abu Dhabi) and Sheikh Zayed Road (Dubai) locations. www.facebook.com/OliveGardenME
• Try the new Saturday roast at Marco Pierre White Steakhouse and Grill in the Farimont Bab Al Bahr, Abu Dhabi. Each Saturday from noon to 3pm, the 4-course menu includes soup, a carvery station with roast turkey, leg of lamb, prime rib roast and bangers and mash as well as a cheese buffet and a choice of dessert. If you don't think four courses is enough, you can always choose the all-you-can-eat option. Four courses with one trip to the carvery and one trip to the cheese station is Dh170 per person. The all-you-can-eat option is Dh245. Kids under age 12 are half price. For reservations, call 02 654 3238. www.fairmont.com/babalbahr
