CHIC Eats

savoiardi biscuits. Beside this dark beauty, its antithesis: a soffice souffle of Amalfi lemons. Soft as silk and topped with the fierce pink of raspberry sorbet, it tastes of potted sunlight. But it is with the final bite that I truly experience the transportive magic Chef Federico was hoping for. On the saucer beside the slow-brewed moka napoletana Neapolitan coffees we are brought as we sit back and contemplate our food journey, is a small, unassuming cookie. It’s simple – just hazelnuts held together with a little cocoa – but it takes my breath away. For a moment I am 15 again, skin bronzed by sun, sticky with salt, piling into the local bakery to fill sea-starved stomachs with these little lumpen brutti ma buoni (ugly but delicious). I am undone. In the gastronomic cornucopia that is Doha, it is very difficult to achieve the uniquely excellent. But Chef Pino has succeeded in creating a truly elevated and authentically Italian fine-dining experience that, while creatively ambitious, remains true to its heritage, though far from home. Veritas is nothing less than a culinary symphony.

For reservations and more information, please call 4445 0000. @almessilaresortdoha