Spaccanapoli, Crowne Plaza, Abu Dhabi, UAE
I asked Piero, the restaurant manager, “What does Spaccanapoli mean?” He brought me to the corner and showed me a photo of Naples, Italy. He explained that Spaccanapoli means the “Break in Naples” which was a narrow street which split the town right in half towards the financial center. To this day they have many popular shops set up on this street, making the best dishes Italy has to offer. I wish I could visit one day to Naples, but for now I will have Spaccanapoli in Abu Dhabi.
Spaccanapoli Restaurant has gone through renovation and most recently will be offering new dishes to their menu. I was lucky enough to be invited to the restaurant to experience the best of Spaccanapoli. It was a beautiful Italian themed brick restaurant with an open kitchen and a fire burning oven, perfect setting for date night!
Valentines Day at Spaccanapoli – luscious 5 course set menu featuring Yellow fin tuna Carpaccio, an exotic asparagus soup, beetroot risotto with toasted almonds, grilled swordfish steak and a decadent 60% dark chocolate dessert with cupid’s infusion. Date: 14th February Time: 18:00 – 23:00 Price: AED 135* per person (food only) & AED 195* (including grape pairing and glass of bubbles on arrival) Reservations are required – please call 02 616 6166
Appetizers
We started off the meal with a refreshing glass of apero spritz, this is a popular Italian cocktail that is great for creating an appetite! Its made with soda, a slice of orange and prosecco. I love prosecco! <3
Our waitress recommended the Spaccanapoli anti-pasti platter for us. The platter has 5 different items: Burrata Pugilese (Burrata cheese), Fritto di misto di pesce (deep fried seafood), mellanzane alla parmigiana (egglant parm), carpaccio de manzo (beef carpaccio), bruschetta.
The Egglant Parm has got to be our favorite. It is so mouth-watering and a must-have to come back for!
Mains
For the mains we ordered the Risotto alla pescatora – seafood risotta (shrimp, squid mussels, cream dory, tomatoes and chili) and Tagliata di tonno alla grilia con verdue grigliate – seared tuna steak with roasted vegetables. Both of them were cooked perfectly! The risotto is something I always love to order at an Italian Restaurant since I can never make it nearly as good. It was a great choice, they did not hold back on the seafood portions! My husband enjoyed his tuna steak, I had a few pieces and was also very impressed. It was cooked to pink which is perfect for tuna, it was at a great price too (95dhs).
We couldn’t leave without having a glimpse at their famous metre long pizza. For any metre long pizza, you could make 4 different pizza choices. Quattro Fiogioni and Quattro Stagioni were a few of our picks. I watched the chefs make the pizza from their open viewing window! It was so amazing to see the chefs stretch the dough to a metre (or more) long! With customized meter long pizza take-out boxes, we were able to take home our pizza to enjoy with our friends. Yes they do TAKE-OUT! Be sure it fits in your car though!
Inside this box is your really delizioso wood fired metre long pizza all the way from spaccanapoli… hope you’re hungry!
Dessert
Lastly we finished off our amazing meal with a Creme Brulee and Tiramisu Ice Cream. My husband loved the ice cream, but we heard even better things about the Tiramisu Cake! Until next time. 😀
