Italian Friday Brunch at Matto, Dubai.

The brunchers of the world are divided into two main categories – the buffet lovers and the a la carters. The buffet lovers love roaming the perimeter to find food, fight queues and stack plates. The a la carters remain on ground zero, let food come to them and prefer dishes plated for them. If you are from the latter group, read on.

The Friday brunches at Matto Dubai comes with minimal frills. Service is friendly & personal, almost to a custom level. Ambience is one that stuns in the moonlight and calms in the daylight. The textured wall out front carries a loud statement, that doubles as a bold background for a profile-pic-worthy shot. The venue is a perfect blend of industrial and polished chic that somehow goes wonderfully well together with hanging lights, open kitchen and leather chairs. We had ended up there by coincidence on Valentine’s day, so there were some floating roses on balloons and burning red candles too for good measure.

The brunch as I said, is a la carte. Starters come in sharing platters, ideally to be enjoyed between 2-4 people. These were to be served unlimited, rather convenient considering some of the delicious items included. Say for instance, the bresaola salad found its way to our table at least 3 times. The tomato bruschetta was welcomed back twice and the cheese platters needed constant refilling. 

My problem with the starter platter however, was the limited show of meat options. Barring the bresaola and the quinoa shrimp, there really wasn’t too many options for the carnivore.  The lentil salad was delicious and the grilled vegetables healthy, but I would have loved to munch on just a couple more non-vegetarian options – maybe another cold cut, or chicken – just to add some variety during the long conversations. I guess the piping hot mini pizzas did a lot to console, thanks to the perfectly charred crusts and the rich, flavorful margherita sauce. The Diavola and Tartufo had our hearts and I dare say, will have yours too if you give it the chance.

Moving forward, you can choose one dish per person from the main course menu. Limited but thoughtful options included porcini risotto, penne and spaghetti if you want to keep it basic, or the beef tagliata and grilled salmon for the fancy. I was aching for my brunch quota of meats, so proceeded with the beef tagliata, while Mr FoodKissed opted for the salmon.  

Tagliata was basically a sirloin steak, cooked beautifully and cut diagonally into thin slices and arranged on a bed of greens. With a gentle drizzle of aged balsamic, disliking this dish was an impossible proposition. The meat was tender with a fresh crackle of pepper and sea salt. The grilled salmon was straightforward and pretty much how you’d expect a grilled salmon to be, complete with grilled potatoes and asparagus, and a bowl of chimichurri sauce on the side.

Final course was desserts of course, on a platter sharing style, with the promise of unlimited servings. Tiramisu, Crème Brûlée and Panna Cotta- the 3 standard musketeers of Italian dessert world. Our personal prize would go to the Tiramisu with its remarkable lusciousness. The Crème Brûlée would have greatly benefitted from an addition of character, whether vanilla or something more stand-out. But for those liking things simple, there was the pleasing, non-controversial panna cotta. 

The Matto Brunch is priced:
AED 180 – non alcoholic
AED 280 – wine package (red, white, rose, beer moreti)
AED 350 – all inclusive (cocktails, prosecco, house spirits)

FoodKissed was invited to try the Matto Friday Brunch. All opinions shared above was on the basis of that experience, and is personal and not under any obligation. If you have tried the same, I would love to know if your experience was similar or different. Feel free to share them in the comments, or happy to connect through my social pages! 🙂