Brunchiamo! at Spaccanapoli, Crowne Plaza, Abu Dhabi
My friend and I were invited to enjoy an Italian brunch at Spaccanapoli. I came with an empty stomach that day but that still did not prepare me enough for all the dishes coming our way. Newly launched 2 months ago, their Brunchiamo! on the weekend features a set menu with unlimited orders and drinks for AED 200 net for soft & AED 300 net for alcoholic drinks.
Zuppa & Antipasti
They featured a fresh Tuscany style hearty tomato soup and antipasti selection platter. Most visits of mine at Spaccanapoli start with a decked out antipasti platter. With a selection of meat, fish and cheese there is always something for everyone. The burrata cheese is always the feature on the platter, always in such a large portion I don’t know if I will ever be able to finish 1 full portion. Both my friend and I really enjoyed their sautéed mushrooms, it was full of flavor.
Enjoy Brunchiamo! with live Italian music by the talented Antonio D’Acierno. He plays at Spaccanapoli every weekend during Brunch and nightly from Tuesday – Sunday.
Pasta
Of course its not Brunchiamo! without their infamous pastas. We decided to try all 3 on the menu. (1) Passatelli bolognesi classici is the home-style traditional Parmesan infused pasta with their classic Bolognese sauce. (2) Spaghetti ai frutti di mare is with shrimps, mussels and squid. (3) Tagilatelle fatte in casa con pesto alla Genovese is their vegetarian dish with pesto sauce. They serve these in a regular portion size according to as if you ordered from their a la carte. I find it is too large of a portion for their brunch style. Fortunately, my friend and I had shared these 3 plates together. I enjoyed the Bolognese pasta the most, it’s a classic! The seafood pasta had a lot of shrimp in it and was beautifully presented. I liked the look of the pesto pasta since it was in such a nice shade of green but it was impossible to finish from all the food. We found Italian food to be very heavy on the carbs, the cream and of course, the cheese.
Mains
My friend and I were so full, but we haven’t even hit the main course yet! The main course included a selection of their grills – meat grills such as lamb, beef and chicken as well as a selection of their seafood grills. Both were presented colorfully on a large shareable platter on the table. The lamb and beef were cooked to medium. We would have appreciated if they had asked how well we wanted our meat to be cooked. I always like my beef medium-rare ?. The seafood grill, there was a good variety such as salmon, squid, shrimp.
Desserts
And finally, we had reached dessert time. The brunchiamo! menu consisted of a selection of desserts so we did not have any option to order any a la carte ones. 8 mini desserts came on a plate to our table. The presentation of the desserts could definitely use a bit more work. As well, the server was not knowledgeable in telling us what type of desserts they were. As we were eating we had to guess what we were being served. I feel that that could be a problem if we had any food allergies. From our tasting, we were served with profiteroles, cherry tarts, and (mandarin?) cakes. I would recommend opening up the dessert menu to allow for 1 a la carte dessert per person. Their usual desserts at crowne plaza are amazing! I really love the creme brulee they have their on their a la carte menu.
