Last weekend, we stayed at Radisson Blu Ajman, and had dinner at Filini. The fully licenced Italian restaurant has stunning, welcoming interiors complete with a real-life Vespa at the front, a rose-gold coffee urn and other interesting artifacts from an Italy we envision when flipping through travel magazines.

The menu is authentically Italian, complete with exotic-sounding dishes that have you practicing your rolled-tongued vowels. We started off with the Salmone Marinato (house-cured salmon fillet served with pickled beet, refreshing orange and bitter grapefruit) and the Tonno Vitellato (the highly sought-after Japanese Saku tuna served with veal juice and herbed mayo). What blew me away was the plating; absolute works of art!

When dining at Filini, you have to try their authentic hand-made pastas. I am a huge gnocchi fan. As a true-blue lover of carbs, what can be better than a serving of potato-stuffed hand-made pasta in a rich cheesy white sauce? But the Gnocchi Patate at Filini is extra special. Not only does this giant platter look absolutely stunning, but all the squirts of sauces represent not one but a total of 43 different flavors in one dish!

You can taste the freshness of the green herbs in the verde sauce; the sun-ripened baby tomatoes in the squirts of red, and the creamy goodness of Italian cheese in the white. To top it off, we asked for extra shavings of mature cheese! What an absolute treat.

When dining Italian, how can we miss out on a risotto? We had the Pomodoro e Povolone risotto; a creamy risotto accentuated with the creamy mature goodness of Italian Povolone cheese, fresh basil and roasted tomato.

• 

• 

• 

We ended the night with the restaurant’s newest menu addition; a ‘hot out of the oven’, decadently rich Chocolate Souffle. The warmth of the dark chocolate goes deliciously well with the vanilla ice-cream served on the side.

Overall, we had a lovely evening at Filini. The food here is an absolute work of art. My favorite was the Gnocchi Patate. Still dreaming of scooping up more of those sauces with warm Italian bread! Highly recommended.