Topping the charts for August Abu Dhabi pizza news…

One of our favourite new Abu Dhabi restaurants — Antonia, has launched a new promotion that enables you to get a-more of their epic ‘square pizza bang’ for your hard-earned buck.

Their unlimited pizza and pasta deal, means you can mangiare your way through all-you-can-eat portions of authentic Italian pasta and (what might be the best in Abu Dhabi) pizza, served ‘al taglio’ (by the slice) — that’s how it’s eaten ‘when in Rome’.

You’ll be able to peruse and choose bites from a condensed menu of ‘Nona’s select choices’ between midday and 3pm, Monday through Thursday. The base ‘food only’ package is just Dhs95, but there’s an option to include two house beverages for a total price of Dhs135.

Based in the scintillating culinary hub of Mamsha Al Saadiyat, Antonia absolutely *gestures in Italian* blew us away when we went to try it out earlier this year. Worthy winners of the Indie Restaurant of the Year at the What’s On Awards Abu Dhabi 2022, their pizzas are all about that base (and topping).

Extracted from the What’s On review: “First, the 72-hour fermented Italian-provenance sourdough base is a masterpiece. It’s light and airy, puffed up with self-appreciation of its layered earthy flavour. There’s crunch, there’s bite, there’s profundity in that dough.

There is a more objective measure of just how good a pizza base is — keep an eye on the servers returning plates to the kitchen, how many of them have the discarded, uneaten crusts on? At Antonia, it’s a clean sweep — only immaculate, crustless plates head back to the potwashers.

We tear through the diavola, each foray into the mouth echoes with the aroma of authentic European beef salami, tomato sauce that is unmistakenly the result of genuine Italian culinary craft, and warming tones of chili oil.

The tartufo e funghi is a fitting bedfellow, part-balancing-act-part-spin-off-show, it’s an artful montage of individual rustic chords pulled straight outta the Roman ‘campagnaside’.”

Mamsha Al Saadiyat, Saadiyat Island, unlimited lunch promotion Mon to Thu, midday to 3pm. Tel: (02) 667 2554, @antonia.uae

Images: Provided