‘Pizza was our family Friday night dinner,’ Raj and Sebastian Dagstani recall, so they thought, why not open a one night a week pizzeria? We had a good laugh listening to father and son ask each other the questions we had prepared about their Marmellata adventure in Abu Dhabi…
‘We just did fig pizza with gorgonzola, lemon, walnuts and beef prosciutto because one of our guests has a fig farm in Liwa, she showed up with 3 kgs, the figs are spectacular!’ Marmellata celebrates food of Southern Italy, ‘that came there by way of the Arabs’ Raj adds. Eggplants, sesame, pistachio, oranges, lemons, the toppings change with the seasons, things Raj and Sebastian dream up, read about or hear, traditional tastes but also pushing boundaries a little. Sebastian’s favourite focaccia is the Barese, with Taggiasca olives, plum tomatoes ‘we rip them, their juice is quite nice, then add burrata on top with Spianata (spicy beef) and spicy honey,’ an unusual combo. ‘How about you pops?’ Sebastian asks. Raj replies ‘we did thinly sliced oranges on top of mascarpone, sprinkled with shredded dark choccolate on a sweet pizza, that was a ton of fun. Also the smoky duck with bitter radicchio and figs an unusual sweet and sour combo that took some convincing but once you try it you’re hooked. Now we have the chiodini mushrooms thyme focaccia with stracciatella, speck (beef cured in juniper and rosemary) and truffle honey.’ At Marmellata, ‘you find pizza, focaccia, cookies, and coffee.’ ‘Coffee is not food is it?’ laughs Sebastian. ‘Coffee is food man!’ replies his father. In fact, their coffee is artisanal, roasted in Florence ‘by a guy who does this blend for his mother because she usually finds specialty coffee too acidic, it has the flavor profile of an Italian roast which suits us.’ The dessert of the day is cookies with Italian butter, dipped in local Mirzam chocolate, topped with pistachio. Marmellata did a collaboration with Hatem from Mattar farms at restaurant Local in Al Zeina, ‘our bread, his meat’ and another one with chef Khaled from Fa’e in Abu Dhabi; ‘he made cheese and we paired it with end of winter vegetables, sweet potatoes, zucchini and co.’ Their menu highlights Italian delicacies with inspiration from the people they meet along the journey ‘food friends coming together.’
Sebastian is now a 16 years old high school students who plans to study hotel management ‘right now that’s my whole story’ he laughs. Raj ran restaurants in New York for a few years, and also worked in art. When they moved to Abu Dhabi for his wife’s career, he wanted to start a food project that would be ‘an extension of our home,’ something he could also involve his kids with for fun. They started with a one night a week pizzeria in September 2019. During the covid lockdown, they reopened an online version with just focaccia, the website would open at 10 am for preorders to be picked up from the take away window, you could book a slot ‘clean, easy and fun.’ Set in what was once an old little souq in the outskirts of town, the whole area has been redesigned by a real estate company around a park, it became a destination, Souk Al Mina. ‘Our space was small, it was used for storage, outside was the parking lot, we put electricity and water and had just four tables.’ Marmellata now boasts a dining room with 25 tables inside and outside, with a big kitchen, and oven decks to bake. ‘Pizza flour is finely milled, the dough gets flattened, while focaccia will rise in the pan, there is more bran and more germ in the flour it ends up fluffy inside and crisp outside,’ both are fermented overnight, a total of 30 hours. ‘We plan to build out the dining room and do special things, roasted things; vegetables and salads. Once we get up to speed, we have a lot of things to explore.’ Everything is prepared in the pizza oven, ‘it’s nice to have that constraint, there is no fryer, meat is cured and brought in as is.’ They have started welcoming their regulars in the new space, ‘our guests have kids now, new jobs, things changed for them too, they’re like family.’ ‘The opening has been gentle.’ Sebastian laughs at that comment and Raj admits ‘Ok ok, yes we’re busy.’ From one night a week they are now open 4 and soon 5. A father son duo full of peps serving comfort food with a taste for adventure and a dash of laughers.
