Latest Lunch Spot in Doha

Last night we hosted a cocktail party to celebrate Little Z's 30 day since birth and even though I only had 3 glasses of wine, I was slightly hungover. T had seen better days too and we both decided to go for a walk to clear our heads and treat ourselves to lunch at the newest restaurant to open at The Pearl - Carluccio's.

Carluccio's Caffe is an Italian deli with branches all over the UK and also in Dubai. This Carluccio's is different from Dubai insofar as it is licensed to serve alcohol woohoo!!

The deli section had a small but mouthwatering selection of cheeses, salads, cakes, deli meats. On the shelves were their signature cookies, pasta and olive oils. A small packet of porcini mushrooms about 20 grams were QR 45 and a small jar of red pepperoncino pesto was QR 55. Prices were much higher compared to the UK, the same jar of pesto was only 4 quid there. Still, beggars can't be choosers, this is the second decent deli in  Doha, after Dean & Deluca in Villagio.

We quickly ordered lunch of mozzarella and tomato salad and a penne giardiniera which was made with a feather light white sauce of courgette and mild chilli with deep fried spinach balls with parmesan and garlic. I was pleasantly surprised at how tasty the crispy balls of vegetable were. The sauce was a little too light for me and needed a fair amount of salt to enhance the dish but perhaps that was just me.

I will have to come back again to try all the other pasta dishes and they are homemade and fresh. That night, I had some of the peperoncino pesto on my dinner and it was extremely spicy! Brillant stuff!