Patio – Your Local Bistro in Hulhumale’

by Iyath Adam

We recently visited Patio, a local bistro which opened earlier this year in Hulhumale’.

Located below the Oceanfront Residence building on Fithuroanu Magu, Patio has seating available both inside and outside, with tables for twos and fours. We chose to sit inside.

The inside is a cacophony of dark wooden interior, warm lighting, and upbeat pop music with families, groups of friends and even a couple or two seated. However, what draws your eye, the moment you step foot inside, is the life-sized, bare-branched wooden tree centrepiece in the middle of the restaurant floor. It’s almost as if the interior of the whole restaurant is centred around the tree with tables placed and going outwards near it. Certainly, a sight to behold!

Now, enough about the interior and on to the food.

The menu at Patio was pretty extensive with breakfast and brunch options as well as a good range of sandwiches, salads, pasta, rice, and meat dishes. Whole-wheat pasta options were available on request, along with oat milk and almond milk substitutions for all milk-based drinks.

As we went for dinner, we chose to try their spaghetti aglio e olio, short-rib sandwich, and the arugula peach salad. For drinks, we went with the chocolate peanut butter milkshake.

First up, the drink. Although not overly sweet (definitely a plus point!), the milkshake tasted more milk chocolate than a chocolate peanut butter version and we definitely missed the nutty, lightly salty taste of peanut butter.

Next, the food! Let’s start with the spaghetti aglio e olio. The portion size of the pasta was great and came with a side of delicious garlic bread. The spaghetti was cooked perfectly al dente and was herby, and garlicky (just the right amount) with bite-sized pieces of bell pepper and grilled chicken in the sauce.

The arugula peach salad – the dressing was on the sweet side, and the peppery arugula went well with the roasted peach slices, candied whole pecans and slightly tart pomegranate seeds and shavings of Parmesan cheese on top. Overall, the salad was refreshing and hearty and went well with the short-rib sandwich.

As described in the menu, the beef in the short-rib sandwich was fall-off-the-bone tender; flavourful, moist, melt-in-your-mouth and simply amazing! The beef, the tomatoes and microgreens in the filling went well with the rustic ciabatta bread. The sandwich came with a side of well-seasoned French fries and a small tub of ketchup.

On the whole, the food was delicious, and we can’t wait to try more of their other interesting dishes such as the oyakodon (Japanese chicken and egg rice bowl), Sri Lankan black pepper crab curry and Mediterranean seafood stew.

So, if you’re in Hulhumale’ and looking for a delicious meal, definitely try out Patio!