The Daily Telegraph - Saturday - Travel
ONE MICHELIN
STAR WINNERS
11 WOODFIRE
This unlicensed restaurant serves kombucha (a gently fizzy fermented drink) in wine glasses. Rewarding mocktails include the French 75 made with vanilla rooibos, bergamot and bitter lemon. Sip one while you await starters or have one in place of dessert. Intoxicating smoky aromas beckon diners into the handsome interiors with polished concrete walls. At the centre, grill master Akmal Anuar uses a variety of woods to fire his creations. The juicy wagyu burger topped with molten gouda is the bestseller. Start with still-warm freshly baked bread slathered in smoked butter, then linger on sweet red shrimp in a zesty pineapple gazpacho, before tucking into mains. Beyond the burger, there’s whole woodfired fish, crispy-skin duck leg sprinkled with sea salt and moist pink wagyu striploin charred to perfection. Desserts include burnt cheesecake and a torched crème brûlée.
Sharing plates from £16 to £190, desserts from £10 to £11; 11woodfire.com
AL MUNTAHA
Burj Al Arab
Chef Saverio Sbaragli previously worked at Paris’s three-starred Arpège under Alain Passard. His pedigree shows in complex dishes such as St Jacques scallops served with roasted root vegetables and a beetroot consommé with hints of horseradish. Merrily skipping between French and Italian fare, creamy risotto with burrata and Piccadilly (plum) tomato is the entry-price main at a brow-raising £63. One of Dubai’s most expensive restaurants, diners partly pay for the view from the top floor of the iconic Burj Al Arab hotel. Go for lunch by day so you can actually see something.
Degustation menu from £248; jumeirah.com
ARMANI/RISTORANTE
Armani Hotel Dubai
If you can’t get a table at two-star Il Ristorante-Niko Romito, head to onestar Armani/Ristorante, which specialises in the same meticulous Italian perfectionism on a plate. You’ll find Hokkaido scallops showing off in bowls of cauliflower emulsion seasoned with caviar. You’ll swoon at the ravioli filled with lamb ragout and cheese fondue. For dessert, La Sfera (the Sphere) is a feat of culinary engineering comprising a delicate sugar-glass bauble filled with layers of cake, cream and mousse (the flavours change with the season). They’re so difficult to make, almost half of all attempts fail. Talking of engineering feats, Armani/Ristorante is located within the world’s tallest building. Don’t forget to crane your neck beforeyou enter to admire the height of Burj Khalifa.
Degustation menu, £212; armanihoteldubai.com
HAKKASAN Atlantis, The Palm
When the first Hakkasan opened in London in 2001, it earned itself a Michelin star for its new-age Chinese cuisine. Now the Dubai outpost has followed suit, applying the same winning formula. Fat dumplings are generously stuffed and presented in bamboo steamers, billowing clouds adding dryice-like drama to the big reveal of what’s inside. Platters include kaffir lime lobster har gau; abalone chicken and caviar shui mai, and sea urchin and spring onion dumplings. Other reimagined Cantonese classics include the bestselling sticky and aromatic Jasmine tea-smoked Wagyu beef ribs.
Set menus from£111; atlantis.com
HOSEKI Bulgari Resort Dubai
“How did this place not get two stars?” was the question on everyone’s tutting lips as sixth-generation sushi master Masahiro Sugiyama graciously made his way to the Michelin stage to accept his restaurant’s single star. There’s usually a six-week waiting list to get one of the nine seats around Sugiyama’s sleek sushi counter. Ingredients are imported daily from Tokyo’s finest fish markets and tasting menus are served omakase-style, meaning the chef selects your dishes.
Sugiyama will introduce you to the delights of horse mackerel, hairy crab and cubes of foie gras-like monkfish liver. He will astound you with his nimble knife skills, and he will impress you with his omotenashi, Japanese hospitality centred on humility.
Between him and the kimono-clad hostesses, almost ghostly presences topping up drinks without ever interrupting, it’s hard to believe you’re not in Japan.
Omakase menus from £223; bulgarihotels.com
OSSIANO Atlantis, the Palm
A master of presentation, visionary chef Gregoire Berger’s fine French fare would beat the competition in a culinary beauty pageant. His restaurant is also a stunner.
Walled in by Atlantis, the Palm hotel’s gigantic aquarium, diners sit enthralled by the 65,000 resident marine animals. If you can take your eyes off the fish or the food, you may spot a nervous suitor going down on one knee, as it’s a popular spot for proposals. For me, the romance is on the plate. Berger’s latest degustation is a romp through his childhood memories of Brittany.
Dishes you will talk about for months to come include the Brittany brown crab served with a sweet Breton curry, created using Kari Gosse, a secret spice mix that was originally used for medicinal purposes, but then adopted as a key ingredient by Breton chefs since the 19th century.
Degustation menu, £244; atlantis.com
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TASCA BY JOSÉ AVILLEZ Mandarin Oriental Jumeira Dubai
José Avillez, arguably Portugal’s most famous chef, is a welcome addition to Dubai’s dining scene. Avillez brings with him some of his most cherished dishes from his bank of Lisbon restaurants, which includes two-Michelin-starred Belcanto. Overlooking olive trees and a turquoise rooftop pool on the sixth floor of Dubai’s five-star Mandarin Oriental, Avillez’s ambient tavern (“tasca” in Portuguese) serves creamy, crispy-coated avocado tempura, sweet scarlet Algarve prawn ceviche with chilli served on a tangy half of lime, and comforting pots of piri-piri stew, robust with lobster, clams, prawns and seabass.
Starters from £8, mains from £30; mandarinoriental.com
TORNO SUBITO
The Palm
The Torno Subito concept was devised by Massimo Bottura, the culinary guru behind threeMichelin-starred Osteria Francescana in Modena, Italy, which has topped the polls of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants more than once. Torno Subito steps away from fine dining, taking guests to an Italian Riviera-style trattoria for traditional dishes – think tagliatelle al ragu and spaghetti vongole – but resident chef Bernardo Paladini, who studied under Massimo for seven years, is capable of far greater things, which he’s shown in one-off menus and four-hand dinners. One to watch.
Best of Torno Subito tasting menu, £10; tornosubitodubai.com
TRÈSIND STUDIO Nakheel Tower, Palm Jumeirah
With so few Michelin-starred Indian restaurants globally, perhaps Trèsind Studio’s one-star win carries the greatest significance to the region’s aspiring chefs, with Dubai’s largest demographic hailing from India.
Chef Himanshu Saini, a longstanding inspiration within the industry, is on a mission to share the story of his beloved India through its diverse tapestry of cuisines. This season’s degustation includes Sadhya, which recalls a feast of the same name served at celebrations in Kerala. Every course, from the poppadom to rice and curry through to dessert, is served on the same plantain leaf, and Saini’s interpretation does the same by blending flavours together on a leaf-shaped plate.
Degustation menu, £133; tresindstudio.com
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