Part of: Top 20 Chinese Restaurants in Dubai →
Dubai opened well over a hundred restaurants last year, and a surprising share of the most ambitious ones were Chinese. For 2026 the category has stopped being about a single Cantonese institution and become a genuine spread — imperial Beijing, Sichuan heat, Hong Kong nostalgia and a wave of hotpot. These are the best new Chinese restaurants in Dubai right now: kitchens we have actually eaten at, photographed, and would book again this week. We gate every entry on first-hand visits, so a few headline 2026 arrivals that we have not yet sat down at appear lower, in a separate 'just landed' note rather than the ranking itself.
The eight new(est) Chinese tables to book
Ranked by our own visits across late 2025 and the first months of 2026 — kitchens that have either just opened or reinvented themselves enough to feel brand new.
#1 Mott 32
The Hong Kong heavyweight finally feels settled in its 73rd-floor JBR home, and the kitchen has tightened. The apple-wood Peking duck is the headline for good reason, but the quieter triumph is the soft-shell crab and the 36-hour-marinated char siu.
What to order the 42-day apple-wood Peking duck (AED 320, order 24 hours ahead) and the signature Iberico char siu (AED 110).
Best for: a celebration dinner where the view does half the work.
Skip if: you want a quiet conversation — the room runs loud after 8pm.
Read our Mott 32 review → Book a table →
#2 Mimi Mei Fair
Built around the fiction of a fictional empress's private residence, Mimi Mei Fair is the most theatrical of the new arrivals. Underneath the maximalism is a serious kitchen turning out delicate dim sum and a properly lacquered duck.
What to order the Empress chicken (AED 145) and the wagyu puff pastry parcels (AED 60).
Best for: impressing out-of-town guests who think they've seen everything.
Skip if: you're on a budget — this is a special-occasion number.
#3 Maiden Shanghai
The FIVE Palm dining room leans glamorous, but the dumpling kitchen is no joke. Weekend dim sum here has quietly become one of the better-value luxury feeds on the Palm.
What to order the Peking duck (AED 295) and the truffle-edamame dumplings (AED 55).
Best for: a Palm Jumeirah weekend lunch that drifts into the afternoon.
Skip if: you dislike a club-night soundtrack with your duck.
#4 Hutong
The red lantern room remains a DIFC fixture, and the kitchen pulls northern Chinese and Sichuan together with confidence. The crispy soft-shell crab and the Peking duck both earn their keep.
What to order the crispy duck salad (AED 95) and the Sichuan red-lantern prawns (AED 165).
Best for: a power dinner that needs to look the part.
Skip if: you want subtlety — Hutong is built to dazzle.
#5 Wanli Hot Pot
Hotpot done properly — a rolling twin-broth cauldron, paper-thin wagyu and a build-your-own sauce bar. It is the most interactive meal on this list and the one that pulls the biggest groups.
What to order the mala-and-tomato twin broth (AED 60) with sliced wagyu (AED 90).
Best for: a long, loud table of six or more.
Skip if: you want to be in and out in an hour.
#6 Lan Kwai Fong
Less flashy than the hotel arrivals, but the Cantonese cooking is honest and the set lunch is one of the best mid-range deals going. The har gow are pleated tight and the salt-and-pepper squid is reliably good.
What to order the dim sum platter (AED 38) and the three-course set lunch (AED 95).
Best for: a relaxed weekday lunch without the hotel mark-up.
Skip if: you're after a scene — this is a neighbourhood favourite, not a night out.
#7 Yauatcha
The London teahouse import keeps its split personality: precise dim sum at lunch, a jewel-box patisserie counter the rest of the time. The venison puff is still the order to beat.
What to order the baked venison puff (AED 48) and the prawn-and-beancurd cheung fun (AED 52).
Best for: an afternoon that starts with dumplings and ends with dessert.
Skip if: you want a big sharing banquet — portions here are dainty.
#8 Royal China
A steadier, more classical Cantonese kitchen that holds its own against the newcomers. The roast meats are the thing to order, and the weekend dim sum trolley is a proper occasion.
What to order the roast duck and char siu combination (AED 120) and the weekend dim sum set (AED 99).
Best for: anyone who wants old-school Cantonese without the theatre.
Skip if: you're chasing the newest, buzziest room in town.
Most of these rooms run a weekday set lunch at roughly half the dinner spend — Lan Kwai Fong and Royal China both pour a three-course midday menu around AED 95. Book the 12:30 seating; the dim sum steamers come out fastest before the 1pm rush.
How Dubai's Chinese scene changed in 2026
For years, Dubai's Chinese dining meant a short list of dependable Cantonese rooms and a lot of mall food courts. The 2026 picture is different. Imperial-Beijing concepts, regional Sichuan kitchens and a serious wave of hotpot have arrived more or less at once, and the city now supports genuine variety rather than a single style stretched across a dozen addresses.
Price is the thing to watch. The hotel headliners — Mott 32, Mimi Mei Fair, Maiden Shanghai — sit firmly in special-occasion territory, AED 350 to AED 600 a head once you've ordered duck and a couple of mains. The neighbourhood kitchens, led by Lan Kwai Fong and Royal China, deliver most of the satisfaction at roughly half that, especially at the weekday set lunch. Knowing which is which saves a small fortune.
If you're new to the category, start with duck. Almost every kitchen here treats its Peking or apple-wood duck as the signature, and it's the fastest way to judge a Chinese kitchen's ambition. From there, branch into the regional cooking — Hutong's Sichuan heat, Wanli's hotpot ritual — once you know which room suits your table and your budget.
Just landed — on our radar, not yet ranked
Four genuinely brand-new arrivals are next on our review list, and we have deliberately kept them out of the ranking until we have eaten and photographed them ourselves: Yù & Mì on the 36th floor of Mandarin Oriental Downtown (1960s Hong Kong styling, king crab xiao long bao); Park Chinois, the 1930s-Shanghai import landing at Gran Meliá Jumeirah; YU at Waldorf Astoria Palm Jumeirah, with tableside Peking duck; and MEI at Jumeirah Mina Al Salam, blending Chinese and Japanese plates. When our photographers have shot them, they will join the list above on merit.
See also in this cluster
More from our Top 20 Chinese Restaurants in Dubai hub — closely related guides worth a look:
Where this fits on the wider map
For the full picture, browse the Dubai Chinese cuisine guide, the best restaurants in Dubai, and our budget-friendly cheap Chinese eats.
Full reviews & related reading: Mott 32 · Long Teng
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the best new Chinese restaurant in Dubai in 2026?
On our 2026 visits, Mott 32 at Address Beach Resort JBR tops the list of new(er) Chinese tables, with its apple-wood Peking duck and Iberico char siu. Mimi Mei Fair and Hutong follow closely for occasion dining.
Which brand-new Chinese restaurants opened in Dubai recently?
The genuinely new 2025–26 arrivals include Yù & Mì at Mandarin Oriental Downtown, Park Chinois at Gran Meliá Jumeirah, YU at Waldorf Astoria Palm Jumeirah and MEI at Mina Al Salam. We list them separately until we've eaten and photographed them.
How much does dinner at Dubai's new Chinese restaurants cost?
Expect roughly AED 150–280 per person at neighbourhood Cantonese spots like Lan Kwai Fong, and AED 350–600 per person at hotel headliners like Mott 32 and Mimi Mei Fair. Weekday set lunches cut that to around AED 95.
Where can I get Peking duck in Dubai?
Mott 32's apple-wood duck (order 24 hours ahead) and Maiden Shanghai's classic Peking duck are the standouts on this list; Hutong's Beijing-style duck is the most theatrical presentation.
Are these Chinese restaurants halal?
Most of Dubai's hotel and mall Chinese restaurants serve halal-certified meat; standalone venues vary. Check at booking if it matters for your table — we note it in individual reviews where confirmed.