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Quattro: Four Seasons Golf Club Dubai
Finding the Four Seasons, the latest addition to the Festival City complex is no mean feat — it's tucked away behind the main area and surprisingly, there's no hotel attached to the club house.

But the stunning club house fully makes up for that, recreating, according to the promotional material, the curve of a golfer's swing. That may be the case — from a distance. Close up, this temple of golf and food is a surprisingly pleasing juxtaposition of curves and angles.

And sitting atop, with a view you never thought you'd find out there in Dubai's backyard, is Quattro, which serves up "modern Italian" dishes. What's modern Italian? Well, it certainly retains the robust flavours of classic Italy — the tomatoes, mushrooms, veal, basil and seafood — but the combinations here are clever and delicate.

Consider my starter, sourced from the pasta menu (from which you can happily choose starter or main sized portions). An ode to all things Northern Italy, it was a comforting bowlful of ravioli stuffed with porcini mushrooms and creamy potato, and dressed with the most intense, earthy mushroom sauce. A mere knife-tip-full was enough to blow the mushroom receptors in my brain.

Sweet seafood

Across from me (my dining partner and I were seated in a charming little starlit nook which I would recommend asking for), roasted giant prawns had effectively halted all conversation.

These seared monsters were couched on a bed of celery and celeriac. Mmmm. But where's the sauce? You don't need it — a puree of white beans goes above and beyond the call of duty here, providing a slick, salty contrast to the sweetness of the seafood.

Seafood, incidentally, is a major feature of the menu, dominating the starter, pasta and risotto fields, before having its own section in the mains. I made a determined effort to seek out the hidden meaty gems, while my partner succumbed quickly to the crustacean charms on offer, taking the grilled lobster as a main.

Succulent

That proved to be a good choice, a light, succulent dish which played up the rich sweetness of lobster with delicate vegetables and salsa crudaiola, a sauce of finely diced vegetables. The incredible in-house breads were a perfect accompaniment — bouncy cubes of potato focaccia, sheets of parchment-thin "music paper bread", breadsticks flavoured with spinach or squid ink.

However, a disappointing veal Milanese was the surprising low point of the evening. The breaded slab of meat appeared to be moist, leaking juices all over the plate, but had a dry taste. And the promised foie gras stuffing was flabby and lacked flavour — as my dining partner remarked, if there's foie gras in there, you'll taste it. But we didn't.

Tempting flavours

A traditional dessert of pannacotta ("cooked cream" in Italian) is a smooth and sweet way to end to the meal, especially when served with some tangy fruit alongside. And a carousel of chopped tropical fruit encircling a scoop of mango sorbet was refreshing enough to mean we walked out of the restaurant feeling satisfied, rather than stuffed. Bonus: the fruit was topped with sweet and foamy zabaliogne, the classic whipped egg yolks and sugar.

The menu at Quattro was extensive and tempting enough to make our dinner choices quite difficult. That, coupled with the jolly service, beautiful views (including the possibility of dining on the terrace in better weather) pretty much guarantees we'll be back to sample some more. Now, will it be gnocci with clams or hand-cut pasta...?

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