
Fi’lia is already successful in Miami and Nassau and its “honest Italian” cooking is breaking boundaries at its newest location in Dubai. Head chef Sara Aqel, 25, is Palestinian-Jordanian and trained in Italian cuisine under Massimo Bottura. At Fi’lia on the 70th floor of the hotel SLS Dubai, she’s bringing diners a story of real Italian womanhood - nonna, mamma and figlia - with rich and rustic flavours such as 18-hour veal ragu, vitello tonnato, and sea bass carpaccio. Pitched as the “region’s first female-led restaurant”, the team is 70% women. “Most of our grandmothers never had a platform where they could do it as a profession, earn from it, shine as stars in cooking. Their talent wasn’t taken seriously,” Aqel has said.