On a pleasant Thursday evening, we made our way to the rooftop of Brezza, the exquisite Italian restaurant at Jumeirah Muscat Bay, for a special Michelin Four Hands dinner. The exclusive dinner was helmed by Salvatore Elefante from two-Michelin-starred L’Olivo at Jumeirah Capri Palace and Andrea Cattorini, Chef de Cuisine at Brezza in Jumeirah Muscat Bay.
The evening began with decadent hors d’oeuvres and chilled sparkling grape served to the beats of the resident DJ. After a quick meet and greet with the star chefs of the evening, Salvatore Elefante and Andrea Cattorini, we proceeded to the elegant dining space of Brezza. What lay ahead for us was a wonderful culinary journey where Capri met Muscat.
A native of Naples, Salvatore Elefant, the Executive Chef of Jumeirah Capri Palace, is fond of using seafood in his culinary creations and was bowled over by the variety he discovered in Oman. “As a child, I used to catch fish and learnt how to clean and cook. So, it’s wonderful to be able to create beautiful dishes using such fine variety found in Muscat,” he said.
Together with Chef Andrea Cattorini, Chef Elfant presented a symphony of flavours, textures and technical mastery.
Seafood was the main element in most dishes created – from the succulent gourmet seafood appetizer featuring slow-cooked octopus on a decadent base to the delectably irresistible langoustine with caviar. The dishes demonstrated profound respect for Italian ingredients elevated through global influences and the two chefs’ relentless creativity.
Each dish arrived as a small masterpiece, blending time-honoured culinary narratives with innovation. The seafood pasta with lobster was a class apart, with each element of the plate holding its own. Every mouthful felt like a journey through the annals of simple yet heartwarming cooking. The Wagyu tenderloin, which for me was the pièce de résistance, was flawless. The nuttiness and crunch of the sauce complemented the buttery Wagyu – a dish executed with precision that never felt contrived.
The chocolate-hazelnut dessert was the perfect finale to the outstanding meal. Delicate, light and refined, this was a dessert that was impossible to resist. The Michelin Four Hands dinner was beautifully complemented by a fine selection of grape beverages that only exalted the experience.
In an era of fleeting trends, dining experiences like these remain timeless luxury; innovative yet soulful, exquisite yet profoundly human. Jumeirah Muscat Bay’s Michelin Four Hands dinner brought together tradition with innovation in one of the finest ways possible – food.