An unlicensed Jumeirah restaurant with food that rivals Zuma

he chef is from Germany (his Berlin restaurant has two Michelin stars); the cuisine combines the precision of Japan, the flavours of Thailand and the heritage of China; the interiors look like an opulent Shanghai theatre as imagined in the pages of Paris Vogue and the restaurant is smack bang in the middle of Jumeirah.

Dragonfly is culinary hybrid-vigour at its best, and proof that globalisation has improved the food we get to eat today. Sure, it’s pricey for an unlicensed place – the eight-course set menu costs Dhs650 a head – but the food you get here is top

Tnotch: many of the dishes are the same as the Tim Raue restaurant in Berlin (which sits at 34 on the San Pellegrino World’s Best Restaurants list). The food here requires painstaking preparation and fine ingredients, so you get what you pay for. Petit fours include beautiful discs of fresh horseradish, the Peking duck four ways (Dhs128) comes with one of the most moreish broths we’ve ever slurped and the turbot main (Dhs138) is the most subtle employment of soy sauce we’ve ever tasted. But what’s the dish you absolutely have to order? That’d be the Canton-style langoustine with wasabi (Dhs88) – a super juicy shellfish starter with the perfect flavour combo of sweet mango and punchy wasabi. We would order it again (and again and again). Drinks-wise, the homemade ‘jine’ (which is a play on juice and wine) is a refreshing alternative to sugary mocktails – we particularly loved the punchy tamarind and Madagascar pepper, which is served in a lovely Rubenesque wine glass. We’ll be back.

Building 5, City Walk, The Boulevard, Dubai, daily noon to midnight. Tel: (04) 3427044. Taxi: City Walk. dragonfly.ae Food: