AED250 for a slice of pizza.

Okay, granted that not technically accurate, but hear me out.

Anyone who knows me will know that I love my pizza. Not the Pizza Hut and Dominos nonsense, I’m talking real authentic stuff. Light crust that is just a little charred, a good dollop of fresh mozzarella baked to perfection in a wood-fire oven. Frankly in Dubai, I’ve enjoyed that experience in a grand total of one location, which has since shut down. But we’ve learnt to move on, haven’t we? Okay maybe not.

Ferrari world hosts a few “authentic” Italian outlets to keep in with the theme. As part of my reconnaissance mission, I walked around the entire place to find out everything I could about the attractions before we decided which ones to hit, I passed by what looked like an absolutely delicious slice of pizza. I ventured in to find a cross between a restaurant and something like a business- or first-class lounge at an airport, really. As I normally do, the first thing I checked out was their oven. A nice little brick deal but with conventional gas flame. Not my ideal kind, but I can live with that.

After we were done with our ‘adventure’ on the world’s fastest roller coaster, I dragged everyone in for a slice. I LOVED the mushroom pizza, of which I sadly do not have pictures. Frankly, and I’m pretty vocal about this, I do not like stuff on my pizza. Pizza to me, is defined by the crust, the sauce, the cheese. Finito. Okay one exception — mushrooms. Otherwise it’s just mozzarella and basil. Oh, heaven.

Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy the extravagant topped pizzas — take the Superbiotic at NKDPizza, they’ve actually done it well, but to me, those don’t fall under the authentic Italian Pizza category. Moving on.

The Pizza at Mamma Rossella was very well done. The crust was light enough while being a tad crisp and sauce didn’t interfere with the rest. The cheese was just your standard mozzarella (ie, not the fresh kind) but it worked. One caveat is that they make their pizzas frequently and stack them, so they reheat when you pick up a slice (yes, exactly like they would in say, New York) but it was still pretty good.

Before I talk about my problem with this whole scenario, I need to give their Olive Oil a shoutout. Yes, you heard me. Their Olive Oil must have been imported but it was amazing. Fresh, olivey and it tasted like it had been cold pressed an hour or so ago. It was so brilliant I took a picture of the bottle so I can try to hunt it down.

Right, so about the price. This is a bit of a dissapointment. The only way to get a slice is by making an AED243 payment (AED225 to get into Ferrari World and a basic cheese pizza slice is AED18). You basically can’t decide to drive up to Ferrari World just to grab a slice. Which if you know me, is something I would do for a slice of good pizza. The drive, not the pay.

I was able to find out — sadly — that this was their only branch, and they are negotiating with the big digs at Ferrari World to try and either get the restaurant area accessible without attending the “theme park” or get a mini-restaurant version outside the ticketed area; either of which are good for my purposes anyway. However, they did confirm they won’t be opening anywhere else for the moment, to maintain the exclusivity of being at Ferrari World.

Mamma Rosella
Ferrari World, Abu Dhabi