They say the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach, and to a woman’s heart through lively chat and laughter. When someone puts these elements—cuisine and conversation—in a padella to present the most delectable food on the table, what you get is an experience that will make you break into a tarantella. This is what Chef Alessandro Miceli from Italy can do to your craving heart and starving stomach when you arrive at MamaBella, the new, sassy Italian restaurant in Dubai. 

In a city that is fast becoming the nucleus of international cuisine, where flavours compete for prominence and titles cry out for attention, Alessandro Miceli has carved a niche for himself, not just with his recipes, but also with his philosophy, personality and approach to cooking. He flaunts a culinary style shaped as much by intuition as by technique, grounded in a deep respect for the traditions that made him who he is. 

Walking into Chef Alessandro’s sprawling restaurant MamaBella is like entering an open world of tastes and treatment. The tall ceiling lined with wood panelling, the large windows that open into the cityscape outside, and the light that fills the spacious dining hall with a lavish presence of green offer an instant invitation to our salivating senses. 

Chef Alessandro with mother Teresa Parasiliti (R) and mother-in-law Corradina Manzella (L)

Swagger and soul 

It is into this airy and impressive mise en scène that Chef Alessandro, with 30 years behind him as a food artist, arrives to speak about his cuisine culture and creed. Adding flair to his dapper self is the white linen shirt (not a regular chef’s coat), with his name chicly embroidered onto it. “This is specially ordered and made in India,” he declares testifying that he is a man who does not settle for anything less than the exclusive, neither in his personal style nor in his kitchen creations. 

True to the restaurant’s name that celebrates mothers, we are joined by 80-year-old Teresa Parasiliti, Chef Alessandro’s mother, and 76-year-old Corradina Manzella, his mother-in-law. Their presence is pertinent to what MamaBella is aiming to fashion in the coming months, a menu selected and prepared by mamas from across the world. It is a concept that Chef Alessandro has newly conceived to bring the old, traditional ways into his kitchen and, thereby, to his guests who long for the authenticity of home-cooked meals by their mothers. 

The two elderly women who threw in their seasoned lot to launch the unique idea are full of enthusiasm despite their age. “They cannot sit idle,” says the chef from Sardinia, whose inspiration for cooking comes from his childhood and family. He highlights how the two mothers have a thousand ways to cook tomatoes or artichokes, and how they bring in a vast repertoire of traditional Italian techniques and seasonal wisdom. It is this exceptionality of home cooking that he wants to offer his guests. 

Cooking with purpose 

For Alessandro, opening a restaurant from scratch is not merely about décor or dishes, it begins with the right mindset. “First, they must have a writing,” he says, referring to a sense of purpose that can kickstart the project. That sense of clarity extends into his insistence on openness, quite literally. His kitchen is fully visible to the dining room because, as he puts it, “everybody needs to know they are always in the eyes of the customer”. He wants his team to be present and accountable from start to finish, not just until the dish reaches the pass. “You are responsible until the product comes back clean on the table. That is the moment appreciation comes, like when your mom sees the plate is empty.” 

It is why he takes special interest to step out to the tables, observe reactions, answer questions, even prepare something simple in front of guests. “If people call you, go,” he says. “If they are happy, take the advantage. If they are not happy, learn why, without arguing.” This philosophy spills into his larger vision for MamaBella. There is no divide between kitchen and restaurant, no silos of ego or hierarchy. “We are all one organisation,” he insists. His words bear testimony to the importance of true communication and synchronisation at every point from the stove to the table. 

The MamaBella journey 

For Alessandro Miceli, who has been in Dubai for 20 years, MamaBella is not merely another addition to the city’s crowded dining scene. It is the culmination of a long, winding journey shaped by instinct, memory, and a deep longing to honour the women who taught him how to love food. “They first motivated me to open a Sardinian restaurant,” he recalls, “but I said no. It should represent the whole of Italy, not just the South. And I insisted that if I ever open something new, it must carry my mother’s name.” What began as Mama Teresa then evolved into MamaBella, a tribute both to his former restaurant Bella and to the generations of mothers who have shaped kitchens across cultures. “The word ‘mama’ is universal,” he says. “One hand says Italy; the other opens the window to mothers from anywhere in the world.” 

His vision, however, goes far beyond homage. Alessandro is quietly redefining what a restaurant kitchen can be. Instead of chasing trends or reproducing popular concepts, he wants to return to the soulful simplicity of home cooking. “Even a tomato or an onion, if it is good, can move you more than caviar or truffle,” he insists. His culinary philosophy rests on what he calls a different kind of contamination. It bypasses the global fusion fad to include a cross pollination of memories, traditions and domestic wisdom. “Our grandmothers fed us, not ran a business,” he smiles. “That is (what) I want.” 

Where home meets restaurant 

To bring this vision alive, Alessandro has created a “domestic kitchen” within the restaurant, a space where mothers from different cultures can come for a week or two, train the staff, share their family recipes, and leave their imprint on the menu. “Any mom can contribute,” he says. “They do not work here, they guide us, they teach us.” Each visiting mother develops a mini menu during her stay. Future weeks will feature mothers from regions like Abruzzo, each adding new stories and flavours. Importing authentic ingredients from Italy remains a challenge, but Alessandro sees it as part of the craft. “Seasonal ingredients, real stories, real hands, that is how food becomes emotional.” 

Come January 2026, Chef Alessandro Miceli will open his kitchen and the cavernous dining hall to flavours and aromas from mamas in and out of Dubai. “Thirty mums, four papas and eight bloggers have already signed up to participate in making this dream true,” he says with a glint in his eyes.  

“I so much look forward to cooking with Chef Alé, our long-time friend, in his new restaurant MamaBella. So proud of him that he followed his dream and has created a new standard in Dubai,” says 84-year-old Madeleine Blom who still cooks and refers to her recipe book she started writing in 1967. 

Someday, he hopes to have all these mums and their special recipes featured in a book—a collection of the stories and dishes that define MamaBella and the super chef that Alessandro Miceli is. For someone who sees cooking not as a vocation but as a means of serving the community, it is a natural extension of his generous spirit to satiate people’s stomachs and souls.  

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