At FACT, we debate and agonise over this award, but context is everything.
Who should win Restaurant of the Year? Is it the place with white linen and mirror service or the local neighbourhood stalwart? What does Restaurant of the Year really mean in Dubai, a city where restaurant doors open and close almost daily and tastes change with the wind?
Dubai is now a tortured crucible for restaurants where homegrown talent competes with international chefs. Both are forged in the wood fires of one of the world’s most competitive and, arguably, oversaturated dining markets. With 13,000 restaurants and counting, Dubai has more places to eat per capita than New York.
Deservedly, it is no surprise to those who live in Dubai know that it is one of the world’s best dining destinations. Centuries of spice trading, immigration, the Bedouin hospitality culture and–let’s be honest, a taste for the finer things in life–set the groundwork for what Dubai would become.
Now, more than ever, Dubai’s maturity as a global dining destination is acknowledged and respected. The international stage both listened and came to play. International chefs landed en masse in 2024 with big openings, bringing their voice, vision and capability of exceptional dining to a city that–at times–feels like it has seen it all. Even with our FACT Dubai Dining Awards taking place in November, blockbuster openings are still to come this year.
This intense and fickle market separates the good from the great. In the end, Dubai’s best restaurants are also some of the world’s best restaurants.
The game has changed for Restaurant of the Year–and the competition could not be more fierce.
Therefore, the FACT Dining Awards Dubai Restaurant of the Year 2024 needs to be a heavy hitter. A world-class restaurant synonymous with innovative cuisine. A groundbreaker and pacesetter by which other restaurants are measured both here and abroad.
FACT’s 2024 Dubai Dining Awards Restaurant of the Year is Trèsind Studio–a record-breaking three-time winner of this award.
This track record speaks to Tresind Studio’s consistency at the zeitgeist. A homegrown restaurant, a progressive Indian restaurant articulating what Indian and modern fine dining means while staying light on the tantara of gimmicks and fads, but with enough showmanship to still feel truly Dubai.
Chef Himanshu Saini’s concept and storytelling matured through its Rising India menu: a cogent journey through five Indian regions that explores ingredients, culture and tradition, but the menu remains future forward with modern techniques, also drawing inspiration outside of India. Yet, the dishes and storytelling stands out head and shoulders above its peer group in a restaurant where the ethos is that the guest is God.
An homage ceremony to Sadhya is rehearsed by the kitchen and floor team as, one by one, each recreates Tresind Studio’s contemporary portrayal of the Sadhya feast. The Thar Desert’s cuisine borne of hardship and scarcity elicits a punchy course of chillies, pickling and buttermilk. Fresh tender coconut is shaved and marinated to a herbaceous, verdant green then roasted on a kushiyaki to the texture of just cooked squid.
Playfully, pani puri is honourably elevated from a finger-licking street snack and a naan is presented as a brothy souffle. The Papadom Botanic Bar programme harnesses ingredients from the kitchen and creates on-site infusions used throughout their cocktail menu and beverage pairing. Charles, their resident artist, paints original canvas paintings as a collaboration between Tresind Studio and Touch.
Through Rising India, Trèsind Studio challenges preconceptions of Indian cuisine and it could fail in lesser hands.
And for all of those reasons, we are proud to award Trèsind Studio as FACT’s Restaurant of the Year 2024 in Dubai.
2025 already looks like it will be an intense race.
GO: Visit https://tresindstudio.com for reservations and more information.
