We had a fabulous evening at Shangri-La’s upscale Italian restaurant, Capri Court, for our 4th anniversary yesterday. Because I called early and made a reservation explaining it was for our anniversary, they put us in the most remote corner outside right next to the al Husn hotel cliff which was quite a romantic setting.
Whether sitting inside or outdoors, the ambience of Capri Court is quite charming.
There is also this private room which is quite fancy and would serve well as a location for a business lunch/dinner:
Capri Court is located in Bandar Hotel, one of the 3 hotels located at Shangri-La’s Barr al Jissah Resort & Spa. As always, it’s great walking around the premises and taking in the sights of this gorgeous hotel.
Enough about the hotel…let’s move unto the food! 🙂
Like most of the upscale Italian restaurants in Muscat, complimentary bread is served at the onset of your meal. Capri Court’s bread assortment was the most impressive of all the Italians restaurants we’ve tried which came withFoccacia Rosemary, Foccasia Sundried Tomato, Ciabata, Walnut and Grisini bread.
Wild Mojito for him (X2=7.6 OR), Love mocktail for her (2.7 OR). Of course they also have a wide selection of wines on the menu. We loved the drinks!
This smoked salmon was sent over, compliments of the chef, as they felt our dishes were taking too long. We actually enjoyed the whole non-rushed feel to our evening.
The Minestrone Soup (Zuppe-Minestrone di verdure) was delicous! (6.5 OR) “Capri Court Style” traditional vegetable soup with basil pesto. (contains nuts)
My wife loved her “Insalata dei Caesar” (Traditional Caesar salad) (7.5 OR) which is listed on the menu as “Chef’s Recommendation” with good reason. You can choose this salad with prawns, Gorgonzola cheese or chicken and as you can see my wife went with the prawns. This dish would be good for anyone who likes quail eggs as they serve quite a number of them in this dish.
I chose Capri Court’s signature pasta dish for my my main course: Pappardelle al ragu’ d’anatra, “Pappardelle pasta with stewed duck ragout, juniper berries and rosemary oil“. (7.5 OR) A fine dish.
My wife went with the lamb chops, surprise, surprise! 🙂 Costolette d’agnello al forno con timo al limone e millefoglie di verdure – “Baked lamb chops with thyme and lemon flavor and vegetable millefeuilles“. (16 OR) My wife thought this dish was delicious.
Instead of one of the desserts on the menu, I surprised my wife when I had previously ordered this which the manager brought in perfect timing:
1/2 KG Cake (4 OR). A big thanks to the staff at Capri Court for an unforgettable evening out on our anniversary! 🙂
For the full menu, click here. I think all restaurants should have their menus online like this. We basically knew what we’d order and what we could expect to pay before we showed up at the restaurant!
Here’s the view you can expect at Capri Court, taken from their website:
Have any of you been to Capri Court? If so, how was your experience? If you do go, make sure to make a reservation! (Tel: 968-2477-6666)
Andy in Oman 
Erm…we went one night, but it looked singularly unitalian in the menu (duck sauce? Caesar salad?).
The only thing I could recognize in the above is the Millefoglie.
I presume it’s an Italian-ish place designed by somebody who’s never been to Italy. Or perhaps they just don’t cater for Italians like us 🙂
Well they had pasta, lasagne and wine….sounds Italian to me, haha! 😉
Caesar Salad and a pasta dish with chicken in the menu… Definitely “unitalian”. On a different note, as Italian, I find the choice of eating “minestrone” in a fancy restaurant rather awkward 🙂
Alessandra,
I also wondered if “caesar salad” was exactly “Italian” when I saw it on the menu but that didn’t stop the dish from being fabulous! 😉 BTW, I’ve seen minestrone on quite a number of the fine dining restaurants’ menus here in Muscat. I’m not exactly sure why you find that awkward. Maybe they figure that they could add some “unitalian” dishes to their menu seeing how they describe the restaurant as “contemporary Italian”. ??
Andy – you might just have discovered how fussy Italians are about anything labelling itself Italian without the right nuances about it! 🙂
ps there is no such a thing as “contemporary Italian”. It sounds like “House Folk Music”…
pps minestrone is a poor’s dish, because you can put in it pretty much any vegetable you can think of, including those rather less expensive…
I guess I’ve learned a new trait about Italians, my friend, haha! My wife says that I could never be critical and fussy enough to be a true food critic. She may have a point. I’m easy to please when it comes to food! Minestrone may originally be a “poor man’s dish” but they sure know how to cook it up with style at Coma Prima (and other restaurants) here in Muscat. So what’s your favorite Italian restaurants in Oman? (Or are they all “unitalian”? 😉 )
We obviously didn’t specifically look for Italian places during our stay. I am sure there are many good ones but I can’t explain the unitalianity criteria.
For example, a Japanese restaurant near Tokyo serving spaghetti and meatballs? Or any pizza chain that includes the ham&pineapple variety, or a mechanical pizza-base maker (the horror!).
It appears that one of the peculiarities of Italian cuisine is the fact that some dishes and combinations are simply considered unbecoming of a good kitchen. 😀
ps even the best Italian restaurant in Oman, run by Italians and with qualified Italian cooks, will have to prepare things for their clients more than for tradition. So if you find any, still they might be serving some kind of Omani-Expat-Italian mix (and that might have happened at tourist-friendly Capri Court). If instead you want to _eat_ truly Italian, ask them to cook things the Italian way, not the local’s. Here in Italian restaurants in the UK for example we have to ask for strongly reduced amounts of tomato sauce, because the indigenous really like Italian food drowned in the stuff, and that looks decidedly unitalian too…
I guess I’ll have to fly to Italy if I want to try “true Italian food”. 🙂 Thanks for taking the time to explain. Fascinating!