Trèsind Studio is the most decorated restaurant in Dubai. It earned two Michelin stars in the inaugural 2022 Dubai Michelin Guide, retained them in 2023, 2024 and 2025, and has been ranked in the top five of MENA's 50 Best Restaurants three years running. There is no peer. Stay by Yannick Alléno, Hakkasan, FZN — all one-star houses. Trèsind Studio sits alone at the top of the Dubai fine-dining ladder.
Chef Himanshu Saini and a kitchen team of seven serve twenty seats per service, two services per night, four nights a week. Sixteen courses. AED 1,250 per person, tasting menu only — there is no à la carte. The cuisine is Indian, but Indian as a starting point: regional dishes from Hyderabad, Kerala, Goa, Bengal, Punjab, Awadh — each one stripped, technically reconstructed, and rebuilt as a finished plate.
We have eaten at Trèsind Studio four times since 2023. This review is the longest we will write about any Dubai restaurant. Skip ahead to the booking section if you are already convinced; if you are weighing the AED 1,250 spend, read on.
The Setting: Twenty Seats, Open Kitchen
The Studio is the smaller, more ambitious sister concept to Trèsind Mumbai and Trèsind Dubai (the parent restaurant downstairs at Voco). Twenty seats. Two services per night. Four nights of service per week. The dining room is calm, monochrome, with a large open kitchen behind a glass wall — Saini and the team are visible throughout the meal. There is no music, no decorative theatre. The plates are the theatre.
The chef's counter — five seats facing the open kitchen — is the seat to ask for. Saini himself works the pass at every service and the counter team interacts directly with him. Booking the counter requires an explicit request at reservation; the standard tables are still excellent.
Service is paced for a 2.5–3 hour meal. Wine pairing (AED 695 separately) follows the same temporal arc. Skip the pairing on a first visit to focus on the food; come back for the second visit and add the pairing.
The Menu: Sixteen Courses
The tasting menu changes seasonally but follows a consistent structure: snacks, cold courses, hot courses, the rice service (the menu's emotional climax), petits fours. Each course represents a region of India, presented in a way that often deliberately disguises the original dish until you taste it. Mid-meal, you will look down at a plate and not recognise what you are about to eat. Every time, the first taste resolves it.
Five Courses That Define the Menu
Bombay Toast Reimagined
Saini's quiet emotional centrepiece. The Bombay railway-station sandwich — chutney, cheese, bread — reconstructed as a single bite of toasted brioche cube, micro-coriander chutney, and aged cheddar foam. Tastes exactly like the railway snack. Looks nothing like it. The dish that proves the menu's whole ambition.
Coconut Stew & Appam
Hand-poured appam (a fermented rice pancake) made tableside on a small clay pan, served with a coconut and curry-leaf stew that holds slow-poached prawns and cardamom. Pure Kerala homestyle, raised to plate-level finesse. Fifteen minutes of pleasure.
Galouti Kebab, Saffron
Lucknow's signature melting-lamb kebab, prepared with 60+ spices. Saini's version uses 90-day aged lamb and a lower fat ratio. Served on saffron-laced varqi paratha. The most pure-Indian course on the menu and the one regulars order seconds of.
Hyderabad Biryani Service
The menu's theatrical climax. The team brings a sealed clay pot to the table, breaks the seal with a knife at table-side, releases the steam — and serves the biryani directly onto a single hot plate with mirchi ka salan and raita. Twenty courses earlier you weren't sure where the menu was going; this is where it lands.
Coconut & Mango, Petit Four
The closing bite. A single sphere of mango sorbet inside a coconut tuile, dusted with cardamom sugar. Cold. Sweet. Two seconds. The menu ends gently rather than loudly.
The Menu — What to Order, What to Skip
| Dish | Category | Price (AED) | Order? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tasting Menu (16 courses) | Set | 1,250pp | ONLY OPTION |
| Wine Pairing (8 glasses) | Beverage | 695pp | Add on visit 2 |
| Sake Pairing (5 glasses) | Beverage | 395pp | Worth it |
| Tea Pairing (5 cups) | Beverage | 245pp | Lighter option |
| Welcome Champagne | Add-on | From 95 | Optional |
| After-Dinner Cigar Lounge | Add-on | From 250 | Worth it once |
The Verdict
Trèsind Studio is the only Dubai restaurant that reaches the level of a top European Michelin two-star. The cooking is genuinely modernist — not in the sense of foam and gel, but in the sense that every course is the result of careful technical reconstruction. The kitchen runs with the discipline of a brigade that cooks the same menu twenty times a week and still cares. Service is precise without being precious. The room is calm and unornate.
Our Scorecard
Why It's Worth It
- Only 2-Michelin-star restaurant in Dubai
- Saini at the pass at every service
- Sourcing among the cleanest in the city
- Service paced precisely for the 16 courses
- Bombay Toast course alone justifies the trip
- Top 5 MENA's 50 Best three years running
Things to Know
- Books 6–8 weeks minimum
- AED 1,250pp before drinks — biggest spend in city
- Vegetarian menu available but less extensive
- Voco Dubai location is awkward without car
- Limited evening services (Wed–Sat only)
- No à la carte — full commitment required
If you have a special occasion this year, this is the spend. If you have any interest in modernist cuisine generally — Noma, Geranium, Frantzén — Trèsind Studio is the Dubai equivalent and it deserves to be visited at least once. If you are budget-restricted, eat at Trèsind Dubai (the parent restaurant downstairs) at AED 295pp for the standard tasting; it is not the same experience but it gives you Saini's culinary voice at a fraction of the cost.
Compare against: Row on 45 at Grosvenor House — TimeOut's Restaurant of the Year 2026, 17 courses at AED 1,800+pp, more European in idiom. Stay by Yannick Alléno at Atlantis Palm — French Michelin 1-star, half the price, completely different cuisine. FZN by Björn Frantzén — Nordic-Japanese tasting at AED 2,000+pp, more theatrical, less restrained.
How to Book / Get There
Trèsind Studio uses SevenRooms with limited release windows.
Standard booking: 6–8 weeks ahead minimum. Wednesday and Thursday have slightly more availability than Friday/Saturday.
Chef's counter (5 seats): Request explicitly at booking. Often only available 8–10 weeks ahead.
Cancellations: Open at 72 hours and 48 hours before sold-out targets. Set reminders.
Dietary requirements: Vegetarian menu available; vegan possible with 7 days notice; allergies accommodated. Notify at booking.
Best for: Anniversaries, birthdays, end-of-year. Avoid bringing first-time-Dubai-Indian eaters — the menu's regional sophistication assumes some familiarity with Indian cuisine.
Parking: Voco Dubai valet — complimentary 4 hours.
Reserve at Trèsind Studio →
Your Questions Answered
How do I book Trèsind Studio?
SevenRooms or via Voco Dubai concierge. Booking opens 60 days ahead but tables are typically gone within 48 hours of release. Plan 6–8 weeks ahead minimum. Cancellations open at 72 hours and 48 hours before sold-out targets — set reminders.
Is Trèsind Studio worth AED 1,250?
If you have eaten at any 2-Michelin-star European restaurant, you know the answer is yes — this is the same level. If you have not, the value question is genuine: it is twice the price of most Dubai fine dining. The food and execution justify the spend; the room and atmosphere don't add to it.
What's the difference between Trèsind Studio and Trèsind Dubai?
Trèsind Dubai (downstairs at Voco) is the parent à la carte restaurant — same chef leadership, broader menu, AED 200–400 per person. Trèsind Studio is the upstairs 20-seat tasting-menu-only Studio at AED 1,250pp. If budget is tight, start with Trèsind Dubai.
Can I get a vegetarian menu?
Yes — a full vegetarian tasting menu is available at the same price (AED 1,250pp) and is genuinely strong. Vegan with 7 days notice. Notify at booking.
What's the dress code?
Smart casual to smart. Open-collar shirts, dresses, smart trousers. The room itself is casual but the setting calls for adult dressing.
How long does the meal take?
2.5–3 hours for the standard tasting. Add 15–20 minutes if you take the wine or sake pairing.
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