A rather special event took place at Armani hotel’s Armani/Ristorante on Wednesday, November 23. Four chefs from Armani/Ristorante in Tokyo, New York, Milan and Dubai came together to present a degustation menu for the third part of a four-part series — ‘A World Journey: Four Chefs from Four Corners.’
Chefs Filippo Gozzoli from Milan, Francesco Mazzi from Tokyo and Michele Brogioni from New York, joined Chef Alessandro Salvatico in his Dubai kitchen to serve up what was an exquisite seven-course menu.
Each of the four parts in the series is based on a season, and this being autumn, the menu was very heavy in earthy and gold themes.
Truffle was used generously, as were chestnuts, squash and mushrooms. The tastes and sensations left you imagining that when you stepped outside afterward you would be stepping into a brilliant orange and yellow coloured forest on a crisp autumn evening, as opposed to stepping out of the world’s tallest building on to Emirates Boulevard.
The antipasto came in two servings, the first offering from Milan was raw tuna, Gorgonzola cheese, Japanese mustard, coriander and radish. The second, and my favourite dish of the evening, was smoked Wagyu carpaccio with pine nuts and black truffle.
The first of the main courses (New York) was Jerusalem artichoke and sheep ricotta ravioli in Parmesan broth. The second of the mains was a Dubai creation — ash flavoured veal tenderloin with glazed girolles mushrooms and truffles.
The desserts when they came were delectable. There was a bite-sized offering from each of the chefs. The stuffed Breton biscuit with ricotta compote and truffle cream (Milan) had my taste buds whirling in confused delight. Keeping with the theme of autumn, it was interesting and somehow quite disturbing to taste the truffle in the dessert, but it worked.
The elegant and intimate layout of the restaurant meant that the evening could be best enjoyed with at most three companions. My advice, take someone you can talk to about the food and who shares the same passion. And make sure you leave the mobile phones at home, you won’t want to be distracted.
• Thursday, November 24 is the final part in the series, for reservations call 04 888 3666.
The National was a guest of the restaurant
fcampbell@thenational.ae
