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Great news for the capital’s discerning diners: La Petite Maison, consistently ranked as one of the best restaurants in the world, is coming to Abu Dhabi – tentatively scheduled to open in the first quarter next year on Al Maryah Island.
La Petite Maison was launched in Nice, France in 1980. It is a fine-dining French restaurant with locations in just a handful of cities around the globe, including London, Beirut, Istanbul and Dubai. Another is set to open in Miami by the end of this year.
Last year, the Dubai venue was ranked 81st in the world on the prestigious World’s Best Restaurants list compiled by Restaurant magazine. The Dubai restaurant was the only one of the locations listed in the top 100.
La Petite Maison is known for its French Mediterranean cuisine and prides itself on the use of high-quality ingredients, including fresh, seasonal and local produce. The menu includes simply cooked – yet flavour-packed – dishes such as roasted halibut with chanterelle mushrooms, seasonal mushroom risotto, homemade pasta with squid and prawns, grilled veal chops and roast baby chicken in lemon. Dishes often change with the season. The restaurant’s chef patron, Raphael Duntoye, who was in engineering before he became a chef, travels the world to come up with fresh ideas for the menu.
“I find inspiration everywhere,” he says. “From my travels, from the people I meet and from my life experiences.”
While it’s not hard to recognise a La Petite Maison restaurant once you step inside, Duntoye says: “Every La Petite Maison has its own unique identity in terms of atmosphere and style. But all of them are based on the food-sharing concept. We’re known for our commitment to simplicity, our ‘familial’ atmosphere, our high quality service, and, of course, the freshness of food.
“Consistency is very important. You are only as good as your last meal.”
When the Abu Dhabi outlet opens, the UAE will be the only country in the world with two La Petite Maison restaurants. “We are opening in the heart of the financial centre, which has a strong following of its own,” Duntoye says. “Abu Dhabi has its own unique clientele.”
sjohnson@thenational.ae
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