Giorgio Locatelli takes authentic Italian to Dubai

Giorgio Locatelli, chef-patron of London's Michelin-starred Locanda Locatelli, is to open a restaurant in Dubai, Caterer has learnt.

The Italian chef-restaurateur revealed that he is to launch Ronda Locatelli on 24 September in the Kerzner International-owned Atlantis The Palm Dubai hotel.

The 210-seat restaurant's cuisine will be based on the type of rustic pizza and pasta dishes that Locatelli used to serve when he was executive chef at London's Spiga restaurant, while working for A-Z Restaurants in the early 2000s.

Locatelli's role at the Dubai restaurant will be on an executive chef/restaurateur level. Day-to-day kitchen responsibilities will lie with head chef Alessandro Bottazzi, who has worked with him previously at Locanda Locatelli.

Ronda Locatelli will be one of four high-profile restaurants at Atlantis The Palm Dubai. The other three will be a Dubai branch of Nobu Brasserie Rostang, from Michel Rostang, chef-patron of Paris's L'Absinthe and Ossiano, a venture from renowned Spanish chef Santi Santamaria of Can Fabes restaurant in Sant Celoni, near Barcelona.

Atlantis The Palm Dubai is a $1.1b leisure complex currently under construction on Palm Jumierah, one of three man-made palm-tree-shaped islands in the United Arab Emirates's city state. The Atlantis complex includes two hotels which together have a bedroom capacity of more than 2,000, plus water and retail parks and 16 dining outlets.

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By Joanna Wood

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