The Villa Toscana is the St Regis Abu Dhabi’s Italian restaurant, located on the first level of the lobby. Access into the restaurant is through the grand staircase. With chandeliers, dark walnut wood furnishings, and high ceilings, Villa Toscana gives you the feeling of being in an Old Italian villa, with an open kitchen letting you watch the chefs doing their magic in the kitchen.
From an extensive collection of drinks, We started dinner with a recommendation of the barmaid Jenny, the aptly named ‘Godfather.’ The smoothness of Johnnie Walker Black was perfectly complimented with the Amaretto, just so to satisfy the Scotch lover in me.
It was a full house, and our reservations meant we have the center seats at the restaurant. Within minutes our waiter Enrico brought us some fresh-off-the-oven, Pane Carasau, a traditional Sardinian flatbread accompanied with some pesto, hummus, and sun-dried tomato paste. Also to dig in were some delicious fried risotto balls and bruschetta with mozzarella foam along with some fruit mocktail in a shot glass as well as some freshly baked flatbread along with a dipping of olive oil.
Enrico said that the chef always likes to have food on the table, and we couldn’t agree more. The menu at Villa Toscana represents a traditional culinary path through Italy, incorporating the region’s finest ingredients. (Would recommend adding some menu favorites here)
For starters, we chose the classic Italian Insalata Caprese – the fresh mozzarella and tomatoes were refreshing after the day-long city tour.
We simply had to try some wood-fired Pizza and chose the Pizza del Contadino: A vegetarian, traditional thin-crust Tuscan Pizza featuring eggplant, zucchini, peppers, carrots, radishes, asparagus topped with Mozzarella cheese. Baked to perfection, our Pizza bread was crisp, and the soft eggplant just made it more delectable.
Chef Stefano went out of his way to whip up a vegetarian Gnocchi special for us. The Gnocchi, in essence, was the restaurant’s homemade Penne Rigate dish with Gnocchi instead of the Penne and served with some traditional, hearty Italian Putanesca sauce, made with tomatoes olives, and capers. We loved the subtlety and freshness of flavors.
To wrap up, our dessert choice was the Torta al Cioccolato con Cuore Fondente, made with molten chocolate cake, hazelnuts, chocolate crumble, and milk gelato. The absolutely decadent cake was creamy yet balanced in sweetness with the milk gelato.
Meal (For Two)
– The Godfather: Dhs50
· Caprese Salad: Dhs65
· Pizza del Contadino: Dhs75
· Gnocchi: Dhs95
. Torta al Cioccolato con Cuore Fondente: Dhs50
· Total (excluding service) Dhs335
Location –
Villa Toscana
St. Regis Abu Dhabi,
Nation Towers,
Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates,
Phone: 00971 2 6944553
Email: [email protected]
