Equals a pretty perfect night.
French Olive we think you’re mint!
Celebrating our 1-year anniversary, Mr L & M and I made our way into the heart of the city to French Olive in Al Sadd, and actually found ourselves taken on a quick trip to Italy… well in the food form at least.
This lovely-looking modern Mediterranean is open, spacious, light and bright and has its own bakery inside, which is always going to appeal to patisserie fiends like us. We’ve previously popped in for coffee and a cronut and were so impressed by the interior and menu options that we felt this was a worthy night to try the dinner menu.
What we ate:
The bread basket
Makes for a pretty picture, eh?! Served up alongside a platter which contained a space to mixed your oil and vinegar, some lovely olives and roasted garlic and a tasty tomato-based tapenade. Thankfully we only managed to tear into a small piece before the mains arrived so that couldn’t overindulge and not leave ourselves enough room to enjoy the main events.
Verde salad
Oh thank you French Olive you have managed to restore our faith in restaurant salads. This was carefully considered: the slivered toasted almonds, radish and herbs offered lots of texture and flavour to the beautifully dressed leaves which had a nice sharpness and bite.
Ricotta and spinach ravioli with sage brown butter
If this were to be our last meal on earth we’d die happy people. This dish was our idea of food heaven and elevated pasta to a whole new level. Smooth, silky pasta filled with a perfect balance of ricotta and spinach in a lovely rich brown butter sauce topped with a little Parmesan and toasted pine nuts. Oh boy we could eat that all over again. Like now.
Daviola Pizza con Mascarpone
The Mr. and I are still in debate over which pizza was better this or Los Spaghetto, but seeing as they were two completely different options I don’t think its fair to judge. The base was thin and crisp, the chilli gave it a little kick, and the salty pepperoni was well balanced with the creamy cheese. I don’t do pizza very often because of the calorific guilt that comes with it, but I’m very glad that this part of the brain had decided to go AWOL for the eve.
The verdict: Is go as soon as you can. Service is great: attentive and swift. The ambiance is relaxed and the menu offers a wide choice of pizza, pasta, meat and fish dishes. Surprisingly it wasn’t as pricey as we had anticipated especially when compared to somewhere more informal such as Carluccio’s or Jones the Grocer.
The damage: 185QR
L&M rating: 4.5/5
Lemon & Mint
1 comment