Brunch Italian Style – Review of Four Seasons Sapore Italiano

Most Fridays see me languish in my PJs until noon watching shows on the Crime Channel.

Not that there is anything wrong with that.

But every so often I can be convinced to leave my self imposed exile to try a new experience.

The Four Seasons Doha is an invite I always accept so this saw me drag on a dress, put some lipstick on and hit “record” on the showbox (Deadly Wives Marathon).

The concept is simple – a family style brunch in their Italian restaurant. Meant for sharing and meant to showcase something for everyone.

There are two sureties in my life – one is that I will always choose cheese and the other is I never say no to calamari. Both of these dishes were winners for me. The calamari crispy and perfectly cooked, and the salad light and fresh. this is a weird cheese lovers thing, but often this dish of a simple mozzarella and tomato salad is served extremely cold. this for me ruins the texture. This salad was perfect temperature.First World Tantrum averted.

Two other hits for me were the vitello tonato which is basically rare veal with a tuna sauce and the pasta alla Norma. There are no photos because I have a rule, ugly food has no place here. It doesn’t photograph well but tastes like a unami explosion. Not for the faint hearted, it’s a must try.

Pasta All Norma is one of my favorite pasta dishes – beautifully cooked eggplant and tomato. So simple it can easily be messed up, fortunately this wasn’t.

The main dishes also proved tasty, especially the chicken with mushrooms. Deceptively simple and easily overcooked, the chicken was cooked on the bone and sliced for serving. It was succulent and the mushrooms seasoned well.

As is the case with a family style menu, not every dish was a winner for me. a saffron risotto was pretty but a little bland for me. The same for a seafood macheroni, which was also lacking in my view, the pasta itself mismatched with the sauce.

Desserts were served individually with a small serving of each. While I am no fan of chocolate, the tart with sour cherries took me right back to the 1970s (in a good, ABBA style way).

As I said, that’s the point of “family style” – something for all tastes and a chance to try a little bit of everything. While there were a couple of dishes that didn’t light my fire, the majority were good.

Sapore Italiano (which means a taste of Italy) was just that – a taste of everything and I was quite happy whiling away the afternoon with good company, some Italian wine and a view of the unfolding September Storm that hit Doha that day.

The Details

Sapore Italiano 

Every Friday 12.30pm to 4pm

QR250 including beverages

Il Teatro, Four Seasons Doha

Website: http://www.fourseasons.com/doha

*Life on the Wedge was a guest of Four Seasons Doha but views expressed are my own