Agadir, the Westin Abu Dhabi Golf Resort & Spa’s Moroccan restaurant, was one of the city’s best-kept culinary secrets until it shut down this past summer. Perhaps it was simply too much of a secret to get sufficient patrons through its doors. Gladly, the signs seem more positive for its Italian fine-dining replacement, Sacci, which has been steadily building a following among the capital’s most sophisticated foodies since opening its doors about six months ago.
One of the best ways to get a flavour of why it’s proving popular is via its monthly Chef’s Table events. About about a dozen people are invited to the best seats in the house to showcase the work of Sacci’s chef Stefano Micocci, with each night themed around a different foodstuff.
We went along to the first running, which presented six courses – pro tip: skip lunch first – featuring asparagus. Far from shoehorning the vegetable into half a dozen dishes, however, the combinations were largely subtle and rather sublime.
Our personal highlights spanned one of the most everyday uses of asparagus to one that was a food first for us. The addition of grilled green asparagus to a score 8 striploin tagliata complimented expertly sliced steak that was memorably tender – so far, so normal. But you’re a veritable ice-cream novice until you’ve tasted green-asparagus-flavour gelato, which accompanied a pear and ricotta tartlet that also came with a white-asparagus-and-pine-nut praline.
The next Chef's Table event is on April 29, themed around artichokes. The six-course paired dinner costs Dh600 per person. For more information, call 02 616 9999 or visit www.sacciabudhabi.com.
aworkman@thenational.ae