Mamma Bella Ristorante: Nonna Hugs & Handmade Pastas

Maybe it’s the January blues, with all the excitement of the holidays behind us, but I feel as though I stand at the base of a new mountain of a year to climb. After nearly 15 years in the business, I sometimes feel as though I have seen it all. The same menus, the same stories, the same enthusiastic smiles showcasing the burger of the week. Just the same, same, same!  And yet the other day, we were invited to something new. Something wholly different. Familiar yet fresh. And if you know me, this is exactly the type of experience I resonate with, the transformation of the known to the unknown. The safe to the new and exciting.

Let’s jump into it. The other day, we were fortunate enough to be invited to the first ever Cucina Mamma event, featuring the famous Nonna Silvi, the 84 year young unlikely Tiktok star, with over 2 million followers, though none of that seem to interest her as much as working in her Tuscan bakery and playing cards with her sisters.

The Cucina Mamma experience was a deeply personal labour of love by Chef Alessandro Miceli.

An experience so close to his heart, he is joined by his own mother and mother-in-law as the eponymous Mama Bellas. So as he and his kitchen team are producing a great Italian dinner, the Mama’s are lending in their expertise and creating a vibe that is truly unique to the Dubai dining scene.

 As a self-proclaimed mama’s girl, I’ll admit to a twinge of envy. Chef Alessandro has achieved a dream I hadn't even dared to conceive: a professional world where 'going to work' means hanging out with the mothers in his life. My own most cherished memories are anchored in my mom’s kitchen—hours spent over bubbling pots, the tang of homemade pickles, and the kind of deep conversation & laughter that only happens when hands are busy and hearts are open. To turn that intimacy into a day-to-day reality is a rare and beautiful luxury, and it was clear from the glow in the room that Chef knows exactly how precious this magic is.

We showed up a little early and were able to tour the other venues a bit, and then took a seat at the bar for a welcome cocktail. As we enjoyed them, Chef Alessandro came by and we were able to have a little chat with him. We told him that the minute we entered the restaurant, there was a palpable heartbeat. His eyes lit up as he shared his philosophy of hospitality with us, to sit together, talk, savor, and make memories amongst family and friends. After 20+ years navigating the high-stakes world of Dubai dining, he was over the transactional nature of the business. MammaBella is his intentional return to the soul, a place where every guest is welcomed as a person rather than a booking number.

It’s his space to reclaim the joy of sharing a table and the meaningful connections that happen around it. Music to my ears.

And what better way to achieve this than with the Nonnas  acting as the protagonists of the restaurant. The Chef's goal, simply, was to step back and make every effort to help them shine in that spotlight.

While we were chatting his team were passing around cute canapes, my favourite being anything with the housemade Ricotta, fresh, velvety & truly a treat. The Cucina Mamma experience took place in the private dining room (PDR for industry nerds), which was designed to look like an Italian Nonna’s kitchen, albeit with luxury Dubai outfitting. Checkered flooring, tile backsplash, pistachio green cabinets, cute appliances, and a big rustic communal table comfortably sitting 10, intimately sitting 12. Every effort was made to design the room as a functional kitchen and to add a live cooking element to the space. As we entered the room, the ever so lively Nonna Silvi, was focused on vigorously rolling out tart dough and making our dessert for later.  She was exactly what I pictured when I envisioned dining at a Nonna led restaurant. Although small in stature she was a big presence in the room, speaking to us only in Italian, she definitely loved being in the spotlight.

Soon after being sat at the table Chef Alessandro and Nonna Silvi started populating our table with platters of little bites for us all to share, a very Italian way to do things. Having just returned from a month in Florence, we knew they meant business and we were in for a real treat. There were 2 different services of olives, pickled Calabria chillis made in house, n’duja warming over a tea light, (I ordered an n’duja warmer in the taxi home), crispy fritters, a fried polenta with mushrooms, chic pea salad with a tart vinaigrette and big baskets of homemade breads still warm out of the oven! Then Nonna Silvi came around the table with a platter in hand and started serving us dinner while Chef Alessandro described the dishes. First came a delicious warm bacalao served with a crostini to make little bites, soon after a mushroom frittata, light and umami rich. Round and round she went, lovingly spooning soft, not too dense, meatballs in tomato sauce, making sure you had “enough” , which in Italian means having extra, for the uninitiated. Soon after, a perfectly made eggplant parmigiana started making its round, flawlessly fried, soft and steaming in the center and topped with melty mozzarella and a Fresh Tomato sauce. I opted for seconds. And just like that, a table of strangers became friends as we shared in the oohs and ahhs as bowls of Fettucini Alla Ragu & Paccheri Al Pomodoro came out.

To our delight, Nonna Silvi, serving each one personally. I can tell you from personal experience, there is no better pasta than one served to you by the hands of an Italian grandma. 

Just as we were leaning back, hearts and bellies full, Chef Alessandro entered, arms in the air, demanding we dance off the meal and make room for the Secondis! I was led by the hand to the packed dancefloor, by Chef Alessandro himself, where I found 3 little Nonnas surrounded by other restaurant patrons. Caught up in the moment, I ate, I twirled and I succumbed to the infectious hospitality that defines the space. We sang along to Quando Quando Quando or L’italiano. This continued throughout the night, as we went back and forth to our table and the dance floor, eating and drinking and being merry. In true Italian style, the food kept coming, a perfectly poached fish en papilotte with puttanesca, a rustic lamb stew with carrots and peas, a buttery, crumbly berry tart, and a platter of cookies and biscuits made by Nonna Silvi herself. MammaBella isn't just a venue; it transplants the unfiltered soul of a Southern Italian home into the heart of Downtown Dubai.

At MammaBella Ristorante, my long-held dream of being adopted by an Italian Nonna finally became a reality. Welcomed with literal open arms, I learned firsthand that a Nonna’s hug is as generous as her dinner table. Chef Alessandro has bypassed the 'kitsch' and gone straight for the heart. It is rare for a venue to feel this authentic—not as a gimmick, but as a pulse. It is so immersive, so vibrant, and so refreshingly real that the boundaries of geography simply dissolved. There was a moment, somewhere between the hand-gestures and the second plate of pasta, where the Dubai skyline blurred and I was wholly transported. I went in as a guest; and left as family, and for one magical evening, I quite literally had an Italian Nonna of my own. 

//

Mandana Shabani is a chef and Food Editor. Please contact mandana@raemona.com