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Filia, Dubai: Great Views with All Purpose Italian
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Filia, Dubai: Great Views with All Purpose Italian
Fi’lia cooks simple Italian food through generational lenses, but aren’t you coming for the Gram?
Fi’lia, SLS Dubai Hotel, Fi’lia, Level 70, SLS Dubai Hotel & Residences, Marasi Drive, Business Bay, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Find the latest information on Fi’lia SLS Dubai website or call them via +971 4 607 0737.
Fi’lia, 2 starters, 2 mains, 1 dessert, 1 bottle of rose, 2 bottles of water, 1 coffee: 1050 dhs (including taxes and service). Starters: 55 - 115 dhs, pasta and risotto: 72 - 155 dhs, mains: 88 - 210 dhs, pizza: 64 - 118 dhs, sharing dishes: 140 - 370 dhs, sides: 35-45 dhs, desserts: 49 - 170 dhs. Wine glasses from 49 dhs, wine bottles from 265 dhs.
Written by Liam Collens // See other reviews here.
The Highs
The Lows
The Highs
The Lows
Review: Fi’lia, SLS Dubai Hotel, Dubai: Views and All Purpose Italian
Fi’lia recites Dubai’s “how to have a successful restaurant” protocol and checks (most of) boxes up and down. I doubt an actual protocol is published, laminated and passed around like high school gossip. To be clear, I don’t think this protocol formally exists – although I’m sure jittering consultants will tell you they know the sauce, wink wink. I’ve dined in a few joints in this city. You soon develop a sixth sense. Experience anticipates what’s coming next and you realise you’ve seen this, if not exactly this, before. Dubai restaurants are all too often a facsimile (more on this later).
So does Fi’lia call bingo Dubai’s successful restaurant protocol? A lot of boxes indeed, fully and completely. Fi’lia reveals itself iteratively: big items are instant, obvious and impactful. Some even before you arrive. Later, the details come into view and emerge with time.
Take outdoor dining. Dubai residents love a bit of al fresco dining. Those glorious Dubai months we hold onto just hoping they never go away. Yes, Fi’lia’s wind-swept outdoor terrace soars 70 stories high inside the SLS Dubai and Residences. During the summer, Fi’lia feels like an indoor elevated glasshouse overlooking the city and highways. So, a big tick for that box.
Twinned with al fresco dining comes one more USP (although “unique” is doing some heavy lifting): day or night, sensational views don’t hurt. Views happen in Dubai, but Fi’lia overlooks the dazzling Downtown Dubai and Business Bay. So two ticks there.
But what about a story? Something people can’t help but write about. “Did you know” and “oh I heard” pre-empt whatever comes next. People talk enthusiastically about Fi’lia. The all-female kitchen stands out in a male-dominated industry. Chef Sara Aqbal’s compelling story: a young, female head chef now appointed Global Executive Chef for Fi’lia’s global operations. Within 12 months came the awards (Dubai loves this box): Gault Millau ratings, Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand. Now, it’s the award-winning Fi’lia. Tick, tick, tick.
What else? Licensed? Very. Valet parking? Of course. Rooftop drinks? Pencil tick that one; the outside terrace and views give you what you need. Burrata? Three kinds (all 92 dhs). Ticks across the board.
Fi’lia is the resident Italian restaurant for hotel guests at SLS Dubai Hotel & Residences: a towering spike within throwing distance of Downtown, Business Bay and Meydan. Hotels too like a certain model. The token steakhouse, here Carna by Dario Cecchini, the token rooftop bar, Privilege, and, of course, a token Italian restaurant. Step forward, Fi’lia.
Fi’lia’s inside decor of the SLS Dubai Hotel and Residences during the day. It’s a vast restaurant space.
So does Fi’lia call bingo Dubai’s successful restaurant protocol? A lot of boxes indeed, fully and completely. Fi’lia reveals itself iteratively: big items are instant, obvious and impactful. Some even before you arrive. Later, the details come into view and emerge with time.
Take outdoor dining. Dubai residents love a bit of al fresco dining. Those glorious Dubai months we hold onto just hoping they never go away. Yes, Fi’lia’s wind-swept outdoor terrace soars 70 stories high inside the SLS Dubai and Residences. During the summer, Fi’lia feels like an indoor elevated glasshouse overlooking the city and highways. So, a big tick for that box.
Twinned with al fresco dining comes one more USP (although “unique” is doing some heavy lifting): day or night, sensational views don’t hurt. Views happen in Dubai, but Fi’lia overlooks the dazzling Downtown Dubai and Business Bay. So two ticks there.
But what about a story? Something people can’t help but write about. “Did you know” and “oh I heard” pre-empt whatever comes next. People talk enthusiastically about Fi’lia. The all-female kitchen stands out in a male-dominated industry. Chef Sara Aqbal’s compelling story: a young, female head chef now appointed Global Executive Chef for Fi’lia’s global operations. Within 12 months came the awards (Dubai loves this box): Gault Millau ratings, Michelin Guide Bib Gourmand. Now, it’s the award-winning Fi’lia. Tick, tick, tick.
What else? Licensed? Very. Valet parking? Of course. Rooftop drinks? Pencil tick that one; the outside terrace and views give you what you need. Burrata? Three kinds (all 92 dhs). Ticks across the board.
Fi’lia is the resident Italian restaurant for hotel guests at SLS Dubai Hotel & Residences: a towering spike within throwing distance of Downtown, Business Bay and Meydan. Hotels too like a certain model. The token steakhouse, here Carna by Dario Cecchini, the token rooftop bar, Privilege, and, of course, a token Italian restaurant. Step forward, Fi’lia.
Fi’lia’s inside decor of the SLS Dubai Hotel and Residences during the day. It’s a vast restaurant space.
Fi’lia makes its first impression count
I too need to check boxes when I take my wife out for lunch on the weekend after an afternoon of choosing new bedding. That’s right, it is all rock and roll in Chateau Collens. Fi’lia ticks her boxes: Italian, licensed and nearby. We chase the views down with a bottle of brisk, blush Tuscan Alie rose (670 dhs, ouch, cheaper bottles are available, don’t worry) and marvel over the One District development. Did you know there’s a “lake” there? Neither did I. Our server, a charming chatty guy — who, embarrassingly, his name I now forget — talked us through the courses and did a stand-up job of unpeeling then decanting Fi’lia’s Lasagna Della Nonna from its cast iron serving dish (99 dhs). Pretty stuff cast iron but keeps its contents burning hotter than a Chornobyl reactor.
Fi’lia’s decor pops during lunchtime. It’s a decor of two halves. Next to us is an oversized, copper pizza oven that glimmers and matches the decor’s warmer blush hues. Plants (possibly real?, I didn’t look up close) are peppered around the perimeter adding homeliness together with ash tile and hardwood floors, the latter warms the restaurant. It’s an Instagram photo shoot waiting to happen bathed in natural light. (Tick, tick). Overdressed Instagram posers conducted amateur photoshoots both times I came to Fi’lia.
Filia’s indoor dining delivers on one of Dubai’s restaurant success criteria, and that’s Instagram-worthy decor.
Fi’lia’s decor pops during lunchtime. It’s a decor of two halves. Next to us is an oversized, copper pizza oven that glimmers and matches the decor’s warmer blush hues. Plants (possibly real?, I didn’t look up close) are peppered around the perimeter adding homeliness together with ash tile and hardwood floors, the latter warms the restaurant. It’s an Instagram photo shoot waiting to happen bathed in natural light. (Tick, tick). Overdressed Instagram posers conducted amateur photoshoots both times I came to Fi’lia.
Filia’s indoor dining delivers on one of Dubai’s restaurant success criteria, and that’s Instagram-worthy decor.
And that’s the point about Fi’lia. There’s not a lot here that I cannot get elsewhere in Dubai.
Fi’lia’s food and menu
A few hundred words in and you may notice an omission. A common restaurant feature left out. So, what about the food? Here’s where reasonable people will disagree. After two visits, months apart, I like Fi’lia’s food, but I don’t love it. It’s affordable, it’s pleasant, it’s not doing anything new. Some dishes are not yet their best versions and, overall, you’ve seen this before.
Fi’lia’s menu ticks “all-purpose Italian”; a bit of something for everyone, perhaps a symptom of being a hotel restaurant? Northern Italian dishes appear. Vitello tonnato (88 dhs) and veal Milanese (210 dhs) are supported by Roman classics like cacio e pepe (102 dhs). Tuscan dishes of pappardelle al ragu (110 dhs) and cacciucco (340 dhs) with nods to Sicily such as saffron arancini (55 dhs) and, arguably, Parmigiana (110 dhs, although Southern Italians will bicker ferociously about the culinary origins in the way that only Southern Italians do). Admirably, there’s a noticeable number of vegetarian dishes and most options – meat, fish or not – are priced under 100 dhs. This is why Fi’lia earned a Bib Gourmand. This is why people should come. A bit of something for everyone at an inoffensive price point all swaddled in a compelling story. That’s Fi’lia’s UVP.
After the third helping of their spongy focaccia and syrupy good balsamic, we poke around the sweet and simple tomatinos crumbled with feta cheese and scattered woody thyme (72 dhs). The calamari fritti is scattered with rocket and an almond aioli; tasty, but begs for a crispy, thinner batter (67 dhs). A butterflied and grilled sea bream with cherry tomatoes, capers and olives need a side dish (140 dhs). The charcoal-charred broccolini al carbone fits the bill, but no wallop of charcoal whisper (40 dhs). Fi’lia’s stand-out dish was a tropical pavlova (52 dhs). Shatteringly-thin coconut meringue filled with sweet mango and mellowed mouth-popping passion fruit cream. Fi’lia’s pavlova and lasagna are the dishes that I tell people about when they ask me what to eat here.
Top left: Filia’s tomatinos with feta & thyme, calamari with almond aioli, lasagna della nonna, sea bream with tomatoes, capers and olives, mango and passion fruit pavlova and Alie Frescobaldi rose.
And that’s the point about Fi’lia. There’s not a lot here that I cannot get elsewhere in Dubai. Fi’lia’s competition is fierce. Dubai’s best Italian restaurants zero in and focus their menu: Alici’s Southern Italian seafood, L’Amo Bistro Del Mare, the same. Il Borro leans Tuscan.
Fi’lia’s menu strength lies in the price point, hence the Bib Gourmand. Few pull off all-purpose Italian well. The Artisan meanders around Italy successfully – as does Torno Subito. Both are also hotel restaurants. You’ll pay a lot more at The Artisan and Torno Subito. And, like Fi’lia, all three feature in Dubai’s Michelin Guide.
Fi’lia’s menu could do more to stand out in Dubai. Other Dubai Bib Gourmands show more innovation: REIF Kushiyaki, Teible and Orfali Bros (also, 2022 World’s 50 Best entrant). Fi’lia’s “Nonna, Mamma, Fi’lia” menu structure could effectively tell a story of culinary evolution, chaperoning classics towards present-day incarnations. A trick is lost. Unconstrained, what would Fi’lia’s menu look like? And, would they still sell stuffed peppers (88 dhs) and baked potatoes (45 dhs)? Fi’lia’s ticked the decor and service boxes, but is that enough?
Fi’lia’s menu is structured between traditional dishes through to more modern interpretations through a generational lens. This concept could be unpacked more.
SLS Dubai Hotel guests, Italian food fans, view chasers and Michelin Guide fans looking for reasonably priced meals. People looking to collect photos for the gram.
After the third helping of their spongy focaccia and syrupy good balsamic, we poke around the sweet and simple tomatinos crumbled with feta cheese and scattered woody thyme (72 dhs). The calamari fritti is scattered with rocket and an almond aioli; tasty, but begs for a crispy, thinner batter (67 dhs). A butterflied and grilled sea bream with cherry tomatoes, capers and olives need a side dish (140 dhs). The charcoal-charred broccolini al carbone fits the bill, but no wallop of charcoal whisper (40 dhs). Fi’lia’s stand-out dish was a tropical pavlova (52 dhs). Shatteringly-thin coconut meringue filled with sweet mango and mellowed mouth-popping passion fruit cream. Fi’lia’s pavlova and lasagna are the dishes that I tell people about when they ask me what to eat here.
Top left: Filia’s tomatinos with feta & thyme, calamari with almond aioli, lasagna della nonna, sea bream with tomatoes, capers and olives, mango and passion fruit pavlova and Alie Frescobaldi rose.
Fi’lia, Would I Return?
And that’s the point about Fi’lia. There’s not a lot here that I cannot get elsewhere in Dubai. Fi’lia’s competition is fierce. Dubai’s best Italian restaurants zero in and focus their menu: Alici’s Southern Italian seafood, L’Amo Bistro Del Mare, the same. Il Borro leans Tuscan.
Fi’lia’s menu strength lies in the price point, hence the Bib Gourmand. Few pull off all-purpose Italian well. The Artisan meanders around Italy successfully – as does Torno Subito. Both are also hotel restaurants. You’ll pay a lot more at The Artisan and Torno Subito. And, like Fi’lia, all three feature in Dubai’s Michelin Guide.
Fi’lia’s menu could do more to stand out in Dubai. Other Dubai Bib Gourmands show more innovation: REIF Kushiyaki, Teible and Orfali Bros (also, 2022 World’s 50 Best entrant). Fi’lia’s “Nonna, Mamma, Fi’lia” menu structure could effectively tell a story of culinary evolution, chaperoning classics towards present-day incarnations. A trick is lost. Unconstrained, what would Fi’lia’s menu look like? And, would they still sell stuffed peppers (88 dhs) and baked potatoes (45 dhs)? Fi’lia’s ticked the decor and service boxes, but is that enough?
Fi’lia’s menu is structured between traditional dishes through to more modern interpretations through a generational lens. This concept could be unpacked more.
Fi’lia, Who Should Go?
SLS Dubai Hotel guests, Italian food fans, view chasers and Michelin Guide fans looking for reasonably priced meals. People looking to collect photos for the gram.
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