Dubai: restaurant recommendations
 

I'd appreciate any recommendations for FTer's favorite restaurants in Dubai, cuisine not important, good wine list would be nice. Thanks in advance.

if you want wine, then you have to eat in a restaurant attached to a hotel.. so aim for the most expensive hotel you can see, and the chances are meals/wine will be extensive. the majors (jumeriah, burj al arab, grosvenor house) all require advance booking through their dinner reservation desk.. numbers on their websites.

timeout dubai can guide you to specific recommendations. personally, i have never found a truly brilliant restaurant in dubai.

My two favorites are Rodeo Grill (at Al Bustan Rotana) and Thai Chi (Wafi City.) I don't drink, so can't help with the wine...

Cheers,

Agree with the above about Thai Chi, great food and service. The Sheraton hotel on the Creek also has a pretty good Italian restaurant that I like, with a great buffet on Fridays.

Zheng He's Chinese restaurant in the Madinat Jumeirah complex, easiest to get to from the Mina A Salam hotel.^^

Entrecote Cafe de Paris in the Khaleej Palace hotel is excellent, as is the Argentine steak restaurant in the Jumeirah Beach hotel. India Palace, a local chain, has great Indian. For buffets (with all of their limitations), Spice Market in the Renaissance is fun.

I'd reccomend Asha's (restaurant owned by famed Indian singer Asha Bhosle) located in Wafi City. Great atmostphere for Indian restaurant and nice menu as well.

The Spanish restaurant at Al Qasr.
The Persian and Lebanese ones at Madinat Jumeirah.
Argentinian one at JBH.
Cheers,

Just came back from Dubai, and here is a list of places that I would and would not recommend:

First Night: Tasca, 1 Michelin Star: Its okay, flavor profile is mediocre and doesn't seem to be a Michelin star worthy. Service is like any regular restaurant and not elevated. Great skyline view. I would not recommend.

Trescind Studio: 1 Michelin Star, I would highly recommend, and our favorite Dubai restaurant, and perhaps in the world so far. Creative and tasty flavor profile. The service is better than most French Michelin star restaurants that we have been to. I would come back to Dubai, just to dine here again. Modern eclectic: takes you on a journey throughout the India, and respective regional dishes. Attention to detail is high.

Trescind (not Studio) for lunch: I always tried to figure out what the difference is, between Trescind vs Trescind Studio when I was booking my Dubai trip. The websites are vague. In a nutshell, Trescind is still modern, but has more classic Indian dishes. Trescind Studio is more creative. I had the full tasting menu for lunch, and it was overall very good. I would come back again, but make sure you are very hungry.

Orfali Bros: Local hang out area with tasty low key food; decent food for decent price. I would come back again.

Niko Romito: 2 Michelin Star; such a let down, and not worthy of any Michelin star. The flavor profile is bad, and the dishes are not creative/inspiring. I would highly recommend to avoid this, and not worth of trying at all. Please save your money and time.

Moonrise: Another favorite, and would highly recommend. Mix of Dubai and Japanese with a modern twist. Great service, attention to detail, and overall tasty food. The place has room to grow and improve as the chef polishes his techniques/dishes with time. All of the staff were friendly and great, and they all wanted the place to succeed. Great location for sunset. Dishes are on the heavier side (more use of fat). Great non alcoholic pairing with food, that is included in the set menu. In 1-2 years, this place will be pretty good as the dishes are refined.

Oldie but Goldie: Zuma

Still great Asian food and a with a buzzing bar (after 10pm) - lot's of seen and to be seen, but that's part of the Dubai experience anyway :)

I also enjoyed Tasca in the Mandarin Oriental - more of a typical restaurant but a very nice Jose Alvarez outlet. Wouldn't think its 1 Star though

Dubai in my opinion isn't a place for foodies. I've been there numerous times and end up eating Shawarma at street stalls because the food is so bad elsewhere. It's mostly Indian and international cuisine which I don't care much about since you can get that food in any hotel there. There's much better food I can eat everyday in Mexico.

Being my first time in Dubai, the food scene is over inflated by the Michelin guide. Only a couple of stands outs, and being a fan of Indian food, I did enjoy some of the restaurants (we can't get decent Indian food in Hawaii). We avoided any French/Japanese places.

Yes, definitely no shortage of Indian food places. I found a Lebanese Restaurant at the Dubai mall that was good. It tasted just like the middle-eastern food from back in the day. But, other than that place and a hole-in-the-wall Shawarma place in Diera I would have starved 😁 But, actually the Hyatt club lounge had a good spread of middle eastern food every night, so I survived👍I just hate going to countries that can't highlight their cultural cuisine and only highlight international types. It's like going to Mexico eating mac/cheese, mash potatoes and fried chicken and cole slaw or fish and chips. That's my main problem with Dubai.

Generally I would say that seen and to be seen is more important than having outstanding food. There's a couple of good places but generally if I like to have proper Michelin star food I'll stay in London.

In example Tasca is definitely ok but my wife pointed out that they did not de-vein the prawns (ugh) during our last visit. How this place can have one Michelin star is beyond me; I would rate it as 'good' but nothing more.

So all time when we go out in Dubai I'll see it more from the party aspect or as having drinks with food attached.

Definitely agree with Tasca, not sure why it even has one star. If you haven't been to Trescind Studio or Moonrise, you should check those two out, as food is good at both.