Taste of Italy

Vapiano in Dubai Mall may be a German restaurant chain serving Italian fare but as far as the food is concerned, they’re spot-on!

My first time at a Vapiano restaurant was with friends a year back at the Dubai Media City outlet. It was a fairly pleasurable experience — portions were small and appetising — but what we always remembered later was the dessert called Death by Chocolate. In all fairness, the dessert did live up to its name — in that it truly killed the otherwise enjoyable meal with its semi-frozen rock-hard presentation (we may have even snapped a spoon trying to sample it). Still, it wasn’t reason enough not to give the eatery another shot.

So when another friend suggested the popular pasta pizza café for a meet, I was game. And that’s how we found ourselves hunting for a suitable seat at Vapiano’s Dubai Mall branch during a busy lunch hour last week. There isn’t really a ‘table for two’ here, so we settle comfortably at one for six instead, admiring the lovely, earthy feel of the place. With its wooden floorboards, view of the waterfront, small potted plants on every table and even a slender tree reaching for the ceiling from the heart of one such table, you just might forget you’re in a restaurant tucked away in a corner of the world’s largest mall.

Vapiano has an interesting service interface, and though the concept is no longer new — the first restaurant opened in 2002 in Hamburg and has grown to include more than 70 worldwide locations — first-time visitors may still find themselves a little lost, when they’re handed a chip card upon entry and waiters fail to materialise with menu and smile firmly in place, despite being seated awhile.

Basically, the chip card is used to keep track of your orders — you approach the station of your choice (salad/ pasta/ pizza), scan your chip card when selecting your order and simply present it to the cashier for payment at the end of your meal. Not exactly self-service, but simple and efficient, no less.

Perhaps it was due to rush hour and the servers having their hands full — whipping up dishes at the live stations while taking orders — but cold indifference bordering on rudeness, especially on the part of those in the hospitality industry, is always disappointing. You don’t have to compete with the sunshine outside but don’t look like you couldn’t care less whether we chose your house special or choked on it instead.

Not wanting to stuff myself and spend the remaining office hours in some sort of gastronomic stupor, we decided to order light. The zuppa of the day (tomato and lentil soup) was ordered — and declared delicious — by my friend, while I settled for the carpaccio e bresaola (thinly sliced beef bresaola covered with fresh rucola leaves, fresh mushroom, shaved Parmesan cheese and cipriani sauce).

All hopes for an active workday went out the window when my order arrived though, aesthetically arranged on a plate as large as an average-sized clock. Thankfully, my fears were unfounded. The beef bresaola was so thinly sliced, it hardly weighed in, and the rucola leaves tasted as fresh as though they’d just been picked. We opted to share a traditional Margherita pizza (topped with tomato sauce, mozzarella cheese and fresh basil) for mains. Hand-tossed, fire-roasted and sprinkled with pepper flakes, the pizza was the perfect thin crust treat.

The meal was flavourful and simple but it certainly undid any apprehensions that lingered on from a certainly previously-tried deathly dessert. And if that’s any indication of what else Vapiano has in store, we’re sure we’ll be back again.

karen@khaleejtimes.com

In seven words: Who says we’re dining in a mall?

What we liked: The large blackboard above the stations, covered in great quotes and drawings done in chalk

What we didn’t like: The indifferent service

Restaurant best for: 
A light meal during 
work hours

Cost for two: Dh100-Dh150

Did you know: Vapiano is a German restaurant chain offering Italian food

Contact: Vapiano, Lower Ground level, Dubai Mall, 04- 434045

• Food and Dining