Saturday Brunching At Its Laid-Back Best: Taparelle, Manarat Al Saadiyat

If you haven’t yet, now is the time for you to discover Taparelle.  Housed in the space attached to Manarat al Saadiyat, Taparelle is already cementing itself as Abu Dhabi’s best Mediterranean restaurant, serving a mix of Italian, Spanish and French plates, designed to be shared … or not.  Sit in the garden under the trees and really embrace la dolce vita.

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Taparelle is predictable in its unpredictability.  Instead of offering the usual Saturday brunch at lunchtime, they’re giving us another option: brunch runs from 3-6PM, perfect for anyone who may have had sport or work in the morning and who wants an almost-night-out.  

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The vibe is casual: leave your heels and button downs at home: arrive ready to sample some beautiful food, cocktails and mocktails and Champagne in the most laid-back of venues. 

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Start with sharing platters: the excellent bread with a lovely tapenade, the absolutely divine warm prawns (the best in Abu Dhabi, and I’m aware of how big a call that is!), crispy calamari with aioli and a platter of seabass carpaccio. 

Choose a classic pizza - we tossed up between the quattro formaggi and the diavola but watching pizzaiolo Davide preparing these in the custom made pizza kiosk steered us devil-side. The dough is extremely good, the pizzas simple and not overloaded with toppings … it has a very authentic feel: you could be in an Italian village. 

We shared a generous bowl of nicely cooked rigatoni alla gricia and then moved onto mains … quite full!

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Mains include the absolutely superb baby chicken (one of our favourites from the a la carte menu) and a very  beautifully prepared seabass, which falls apart under the crispy skin - divine.

These come with a plate of very Spanish corn with a good anchovy butter and a touch of lime and perfect broccolini, quite crunchy with garlic chips. 

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We finished with feuilletine, layers of crisp honeyed pastry, sandwiched together with a creme Tropezienne - not a large dessert but a great way to round off a sophisticated yet simple meal. 

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The drinks list is fairly extensive, with 6 mocktails and 6 cocktails taking pride of place. Cocktails are impressive with some really interesting flavour profiles and we started with the rum-based nive, with pineapple and black cardamom cordial - it looks a lot like the aubin mocktail, topped with a fluffy coconut cream with a generous sprinkling of lime. The gin-based bonita is popular as is costa - which has, lurking in amongst the vodka and aperol base, an intriguing taste of rice vinegar. 

Make a valiant effort to try all the mocks: we love the aubin, also the luna which is an apple & elderflower tea with a limoncello sorbet - it’s fresh and smooth. 

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Birra Moretti comes on tap, wines include a French chardonnay, a Primitivo for red wine lovers, Miraval rose, Villa Sandi prosecco and Champagne is Perrier-Jouet. 

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The DJ spins some ambient tracks, adding to this very low-key brunch. It’s the perfect brunch if you want to enjoy amazing food, great drinks, a garden vibe (you could even sit up at the outdoor bar for your brunch!) and obliging service. It will become the brunch of choice for many!

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Timing: Saturday 3-6PM

Pricing: Soft AED300, House AED350, Champagne AED400

Booking: 02 657 5832

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