Exploring the Best Indian Fine Dining Restaurant in Dubai (2 Michelin Star)

Today we are exploring incredible India – the customs, the culture and of course – the cuisine.
But luckily, I don’t even need to pack a bag, because we will do all this from the comfort of a rooftop restaurant in Dubai. It’s called Trésind Studio and it’s located in the world’s largest man made island, Palm Jumeriah. In the kitchen is chef Himanshu Saini. This year, Trésind Studio got number 11 on the World’s 50 best restaurant list and also got 2 stars in the Michelin Guide.

Here is the plan:
We start in the Thar Desert, and head down to the Deccan Plateau. From there it’s over to the Coastal Plains and Islands and then North to the Himalayas.

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Follow my journey on instagram: https://www.instagram.com/alexandertheguest

My name is Alexander. I’m the co-owner of a ONE Michelin star restaurant, and I’m on a mission – to find inspiration in gastronomy. I love fine dining, good wine and sharing what I know with other people.

Check out my restaurant:
https://www.instagram.com/42restaurant/

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trésind studio, michelin star, dubai, indian restaurant, alexander the guest, indian fine dining, dubai food

Today we are exploring incredible India – the customs, the culture and of course the cuisine. This is going to be quite a trip. But luckily I don’t even need to pack a bag. Because we will do all this from the comfort of a rooftop restaurant in Dubai.

This is the world’s largest man made island – Palm Jumeriah. Started in 2001 and finished in 2007, this construction project added  56 kilometers to Dubai’s coastline at a cost of 11 billion euros. It is so big you can see it from space. It’s peppered with luxury hotels,  seaside apartments and beachfront villas.

It’s also where you can find  our restaurant for today. Trésind Studio In the kitchen is chef Himanshu Saini. After culinary school, Chef Saini trained  at some of India’s finest restaurants including Indian Accent in Delhi. Then, in 2014, he made the move to Dubai. He was a man with a mission

To prove there was a lot more to  Indian cuisine than takeaway curry. This led him to open the  original Tresind restaurant. In 2018, he opened a second location  and called it Tresind Studio. Similar name but a different concept. Tresind Studio offers a 17-course tasting  menu featuring the different regions of India.

With a capacity of just 20 diners, the focus here is to make the  Indian journey a memorable one. I have been here before, and really enjoyed it. But since then, big things have happened. This year, Tresind Studio got number 11  on the World’s 50 best restaurant list.

When the Michelin guide debuted in Dubai  last year, Chef Saini got his first star. This year, he got the second. It makes him the world’s only  Indian-born chef with two Michelin stars. I can’t wait to see for myself how  the food and service have evolved.

We head to Palm Jumeirah and make our  way to the Nakheel Shopping Center, a luxury mall in Saint Regis Gardens. And they receive us like royalty. There are only 20 chairs, and the  space is modern with a minimalist feel. Everything is on display,

From the wine collection to the botanique  bar and even the kitchen itself. Chef Saini appears and  invites me onto the rooftop. Besides the breeze and the view, we get a  look at some of his freshest ingredients. Even in the scorching desert heat,

They are able to grow vegetables and herbs,  edible flowers and even banana trees here. “Can you imagine? in Dubai?” “Unbelieveable” The businessman side of me wakes up. Can you imagine the return  of investment of this garden? Normally, I just go for wine. I decide to let go of my wine obsession for now

And order the synergy pairing for 130 euro. Each drink is designed by  Italian mixologist Dom Carella to complement the tasting menu. For food, choosing is easy. The tasting menu is the only choice. It’s called Rising India and it goes for 175 euro.

It takes us around India and showcases  the food of the 4 major areas. The magic of the menu begins  with the help of liquid nitrogen. Then the cool mixture is  poured into the first bite. The placement of the snack pinpoints  our location in Palm Jumeriah. It’s a Pani puri.

One of the most popular Indian street foods These are one-bite wonders that sell like mad. It’s a hollow chip filled with  spicy, savory or sweet water. This is the first drink from the pairing. It’s red bell pepper, coconut water and  the finest single malt whiskey from India.

I am instructed to drink it after the next snack. That would be Shiso papadum with  yogurt chutney, mango and garden herbs. It’s presented on white clay found here in Dubai. Chef Saini presents snack number three. It’s a savory donut made of fermented lentils,   filled with a peanut butter  sauce and kimchi on top.

The next drink in the pairing  is called Black Lime Gin Wine.   It’s fermented with Omani black lime which is a popular spice here in the middle east. The next snack is a tartlet of potato  with scallops with miso mustard.

Also in the mix are ripe bananas, smoked  tomato chutney and balsamic on the top. I am just blown away. Now that we are warmed up, it’s time for the first leg  of our journey around India. The Thar desert is in the northwest and  straddles the border of India and Pakistan.

It’s the most populated desert in the world  with over 30 million people living there. Because of the dry conditions they  don’t use a lot of fresh produce. Instead they rely on things like desert  plants, dairy products and pickled vegetables. The traditional way of cooking is in a sand pit.

We can expect the next 3 courses  to have elements from here. As a reminder of where we are  on the menu, we have a visual. I love the presentation here. It’s a flat bread filled with cactus curry. we also have sweet mango pickle  and on top is sliced cactus.

The warm savory curry and the  cool sweet and sour pickle go really well together. It’s paired with a drink they call desert Lassi. It’s made with date, honey and vermouth. I just love this drink and this glass.

Our next course is a new spin on a traditional  dish cooked in the sand pit with hot coals. It’s duck confit, ash roasted  artichokes and black lime chutney. Then they added garlic  aioli and homemade sriracha. Just look at that. There is at least as much thought  and work put into the presentation

As the food itself. It’s hard to describe the flavors but there  are practically fireworks in my mouth. From the pairing we have Awakeness Thar  with hibiscus, grapefruit and vodka. This really feels like an adventure. Our next course is pepper and ice cream. On the bowl literally a pickled pepper.

It’s fried and then stuffed with pickled emulsion. In the middle is ice cream  made from buttermilk curry. The pickle is super acidic and absolutely perfect. The ice cream resets and restores my tastebuds. It’s like a lightswitch. Brilliant! My time in the desert was great, but it’s time to pack up and move on.

Next, we move to the southern part of India, known as the Deccan Plateau. It’s a huge tropical area  of 500,000 square kilometres and extends over eight Indian states, including the cities of Hyderabad and Bangalore. This part of the country is where  most of the rice, sugar cane and the aromatic spices come from.

With the Deccan plateau we get a new visual. Our first dish is tender coconut skewer marinated with smoked spices, and  a dashi mayo with oxalis leaves. The broth on the side is made with  regional spices and a bit of yuzu. Next on the synergy pairing is  Junmai Ginjo sake from Heaven Sake.

This sake is versatile and pairs  well with meat, fish and pasta. This is pandhra rassa or a stew made  with the first press of the coconut. It’s made with aromatic spices  like cardamom, cinnamon and cloves. In the center are tortellini  filled with gorgonzola dolce.

In this part of the menu we not only get to  experience the flavors, temperatures and textures, but the ceremony itself. “The ceremony is about the  first harvest of the season, and for the family lunch, people sit on the floor,  and they have a banana leaf in front of them,

And the whole meal is served  on the leaf, one by one. when people eat, they’re use their hands,  and end up mixing all the dishes together. and that’s the experience we wanted to  have a combination of many flavours, temperatures, textures from the ceremony.” To recreate the first harvest ceremony,

There is a line of people ready and waiting  to build the next course before my eyes. Literally everyone who works  in the restaurant is out here. To perform this tradition as a course on  the menu is heartwarming and powerful. So powerful, that Chef told me,  some even shed some tears over it.

It is a touching moment, even I have goosebumps. I’ve never seen such a thing before, it really IS a celebration, and a strong cultural message at the same time. Our next region is the Coastal Plains and Islands. India has more than 7 thousand Kilometers  of coastline and over 12 hundred islands.

Here, the food is strongly influenced by other  cultures that have been here over the centuries. The climate brings an abundance  of tropical fruit and coconut, and the proximity to the water  means that seafood dominates. Reminding us of this fact  is our hypnotic new visual. Our first dish is ghee roasted crab.

It starts with crab cooked in  clarified butter and sweet spices. Then its placed on top of cinnamon bark and baked. It’s topped with tempura and curry leaf crisp. I could have eaten 10 of these. The pairing is champagne from Ruinart. Nice touch how they match the  plate and the champagne flute.

Both are made with mother of pearl. Stunning. Champagne in the drink pairing is  usually something I love to see. But with this food it starts to cancel out  the spicy flavors instead of enhancing them. Elegant wines would not pair well  with these bold and spicy flavors.

One thing I noticed is  unchanged from Tresind Studio is the level of service. This is Vipin, the general manager. I asked him where he learned his profession. He tells me that he used to watch shows like Chef’s Table on Netflix to learn moves. He was practicing them in front of the mirror.

Today, here he is, in one of  the world’s top 50 restaurants. The next course is paired with  a red cherry and dill kombucha made in-house and designed for the next dish. It’s charred lobster tail in a base of   pickled tomatoes with fermented  chili and two types of curry.

The lobster is great on its own, but together with the kombucha, it’s phenomenal. For our next course we have dumplings  filled with sweetened lentils along side sauteed shrimp in a sour lentil broth. It’s delicious and I really love this menu so far.

Our final savory courses will come from the  northern plains and Himalayan mountain region. From the north comes a lot of Persian influence  with things like kebabs and naan bread. From the mountains they  have more Chinese influence, where we see a lot of noodles,  broth and tea gardens.

Our next drink is made with  fig leaves, tea and gin. This is the sommelier’s favorite of  the pairing and I can’t wait to try it. The next course comes from Kashmir. It’s a kebab of minced lamb in a green plum curry. On the bottom is a yogurt chutney  with pecans and pickled onions.

On top we have mountain leaves and  a cucumber flower dusted with mint. Our next course takes us back to the  street food stalls for Kebab Scarpetta. It’s a reduction found in kebab  shops that is full of fat and flavor but is often burned or thrown away. Here, they recreate and optimize it.

On the side we have sourdough toast for  what the Italians call la scarpetta. This is super rich and so so delicious. Our next course is inspired by the  Northeast part of India near China. It looks like noodles but it’s actually mushrooms. King oyster mushrooms are  cut and prepared like pasta

With picked mushroom XO sauce and tiny hot pepper in a broth  made of mushroom trimmings. Our next drink has apple, cucumber, roasted  sesame and a little bit of smoky mescal. It’s interesting and flavorful, but doesn’t grab my attention  like some others today. Our last savory course of the day is this.

It’s called oyster pearl. But there is actually no seafood in this dish. The sauce, or seawater, is made from  vinegar, black tea, soy and ginger. Lychee is used to mimic the oyster. The ball on the top is made  of sour milk and lemongrass.

I am told to eat it just  like an oyster – in one go. Our first dessert is stacked. On top is a cookie with cacao,  followed by cauliflower cremeux, toasted barley ice cream and  then candy floss on the bottom. It’s paired with a drink of  mulled wine and masala chai.

Again, so many flavors it’s  hard to isolate any of them. Excellent. This is rhubarb & strawberry  paan and nasturtium leaf I’m told to fold it like a  taco and eat it in one go. unbelievable flavors For the big finale, the whole  cast gets in on the action

As Fly Me to the Moon comes from the speakers. This course is called ‘Honeymoon’ The dessert is made to mimic a honeycomb. It’s made with white chocolate and cacao  butter and topped with organic honey. It’s paired with a light black tea.

The idea is to have milk tea  and honey all at the same time. The honeycomb melts on contact  and has a nice smooth texture. It’s a memorable way to bring the menu to a close. My total for the menu and the  pairing is around 400 euro.

After the meal, Chef Saini  sticks around to generously   share his time and his cooking philosophy. He likes to learn about 50  percent of what’s in a dish and then come up with the other half by himself. This way he can get inspired by others

And then use his imagination to  create something uniquely his own. Then the Chef asked me for my feedback. I liked how he didn’t ask what  I liked, but what I didn’t. Honestly, it was hard to find  anything here I didn’t like. It was a delicious, educational  and at times emotional journey.

And I wouldn’t change a thing. I enjoyed it so much, that I  already have my next reservation. and that does it for this episode, thank you for joining me, if you like this video, hit subscribe! See you next time!