Cipriani Dolci serves Venetian pastries all day in Riyadh's Diplomatic Quarter

Cipriani Dolci, the Venetian pastry cafe of the Cipriani family, is serving in Riyadh's Diplomatic Quarter. It is the concept's first address in Saudi Arabia, and it sits on the ground floor of Diplomatic Quarter Mall in Al Safarat, with an indoor dining room and an outdoor terrace that together seat up to 170 people.

The name gives away the focus. Dolci means sweets, and the room is built around a central display counter of cakes, mignons and pastries baked every day. Among them are the house vanilla meringue cake and a torta di cioccolato. Around the counter, the menu runs from breakfast to lunch to coffee in the afternoon, so it works as a quick stop as much as a long sit-down meal.

There is savoury food too, taken from the Cipriani classics. Carpaccio alla Cipriani is on the menu: the dish of thinly sliced raw beef was first made at Harry's Bar in Venice in 1950, the bar the family opened and still runs. Baked tagliolini, another family recipe, sits alongside it, with lighter cafe plates for the middle of the day.

The family has been in hospitality for more than 94 years and four generations, and Giuseppe Cipriani leads the company today. Its restaurants and Dolci cafes run from Venice and New York to the Gulf, and the Riyadh opening takes the pastry format into the kingdom for the first time. In the Diplomatic Quarter it joins a growing list of cafes and restaurants that have made the district a weekend spot for families from across the city.

Cipriani Dolci is open from Sunday to Thursday from 8am to midnight, and on Friday and Saturday from 9am to 1am. Prices have not been published. Tables can be booked through the reservations page on Cipriani's own website, and walk-ins are welcome for the counter. Head for the ground floor of Diplomatic Quarter Mall; morning visits are the quiet time to try the meringue cake with a coffee.