Dubai Opera to open new Italian restaurant next year

Belcanto is helmed by a team of award-winning chefs

A rendering of Belcanto, which is due to open at Dubai Opera in early 2022. Photo: Belcanto

After the back-to-back closures of Sean Connolly's eponymous restaurant and The Loft at Opera over the past few years, Dubai Opera is set to welcome visitors to its latest culinary venture early next year.

Belcanto, which translates as “beautiful song”, will serve classic yet modern Italian cuisine.

The restaurant is being brought to the UAE by Restart 354, a regional outpost by the Vasilchuk Brothers, who oversee restaurant groups in Russia and Europe.

The menu

While not much is known about the exact menu that will be on offer, Tuscany-born brand chef Giacomo Lombardi has revealed a few dishes on his social media channels.

Diners can expect beef tartare, tagliata beef with seasonal mushrooms (pictured above) and burrata Belcanto, which is paired with a croissant and tomato jam (pictured below), among other innovative flavour combinations.

Desserts come courtesy of pastry chef Anthony Falcone, who has worked at a number of Michelin-starred restaurants, and that includes a mango-vanilla concoction and bite-sized petit fours.

Also part of the team are chef Vincenzo Palermo from Puglia in south Italy, who is an expert in making authentic Neapolitan pizzas, and award-winning mixologist Mikhail Melnik.

The interior

In keeping with its operatic environs, Belcanto is going for a sophisticated and elegant vibe, with an initial rendering revealing a space decked out with a plush red carpet, a life-size Cupid sculpture and an elevated area at the front of the room complete with a pianoforte.

Curated by Paul Bishop, founder of the award-winning interior firm Bishop Design, the decor seeks to bring “European flair with contemporary details to Dubai”, according to the restaurant team.

Andrey Fomin, partner and art director of Belcanto, says: “We wanted to create not just a fashionable but timeless experience. Belcanto is a place where European classics meet modernity.”