In a city that treats dining rooms like stage sets and chefs like rock stars, choosing the “best” is never just about who plates the prettiest tartare. For our shortlist “Top 5 Restaurants in Dubai”, we looked at places that made us feel something: restaurants where food, design, soundtrack, service, and energy come together into one seamless story. We spent the year listening to what Dubai’s most discerning diners were whispering about, following the places industry insiders book for themselves, and tracking who kept standards sky-high night after night.
Our final five couldn’t be more different – one is an intimate 20-seat gastro theatre, another a glamorous Greek taverna, another a brand-new Italian-American icon at Atlantis The Royal. Yet they all share a few non-negotiables: consistency, personality, and that ineffable magic where you already want to come back before dessert even lands. Here is where we, at Chic Icon, would send you for the most memorable tables in Dubai right now.
NAHATÉ: Nomadic Fine Dining with a Private-Club Soul
NAHATÉ is the name you hear again and again when you ask Dubai’s insiders where they actually go out. Tucked into Gate Village 8 in DIFC, at the very heart of the city’s gastronomy and nightlife district, it feels less like a restaurant and more like being invited into a very spoiled friend’s ultra-chic apartment.
The concept is “modern nomadic cuisine” – a culinary journey that starts from French finesse and wanders confidently through Asia, the Middle East and beyond. Executive Chef Daniel Baratier and world-champion pâtissier Yazid Ichemrahen lead the kitchen, composing plates that are polished yet playful, elegant yet generous. It’s the kind of menu that’s meant to be shared, so don’t come here with someone you’re not ready to fight for the last bite with.
What makes NAHATÉ truly singular is its universe of collaborations. The dining room glows around the world’s first Baccarat Chef’s Table, crowned by a dramatic crystal chandelier and red mirrored table set with the maison’s signature glassware, serving a five-course set menu and bespoke desserts by Yazid. Just a few steps away, the Jacob & Co cigar lounge, also a world first, adds a decadent, almost cinematic layer to the night.
By weeknight, you’re wrapped in candlelight, Champagne and the soft murmur of a live piano. As the evening stretches, the room slowly slips into a Gatsby-esque party, with velvet, marquetry and brass catching the light in all the right places. For us at Chic Icon, NAHATÉ is where Dubai’s love of spectacle finally meets real depth on the plate—a place you book for milestones, but secretly wish could be your local.
Bookings
Phone: +971 052 208 0007; email: welcome@nahatedubai.com
Website
Sexy Fish: Underwater Fantasy High Above DIFC
If NAHATÉ is the glamorous apartment, Sexy Fish Dubai is the wild dream. Perched on Level 11 of Innovation One in DIFC, it looks and feels like an aquatic fever dream: shimmering installations, dramatic art, a dining room bathed in the glow of sculptural lighting. The London original is already legendary; the Dubai outpost takes the fantasy and amplifies it, as the city always does.
The cooking leans firmly into Asia with a Japanese accent – think sushi, sashimi, tempura and robata, all done with the kind of polish that matches the room. This is where you come for jewel-box nigiri, crisp-edged tempura, and plates designed as much for pleasure as for the camera. Brunch is a serious ritual here, with Saturdays turning into a glamorous parade of high heels, clinking glasses and DJs warming the room from daytime into early evening.
The bar deserves its own chapter. Sexy Fish Dubai’s cocktail programme is as curated as its art: agave-forward lists, inventive signatures, and a wine collection that can please both the Burgundy purist and the guest who just wants “something fun and sparkling. ”
At Chic Icon, we love that Sexy Fish never pretends to be shy. It’s loud, it’s indulgent, it’s absolutely about being seen and yet, when the sashimi arrives perfectly sliced and the robata skewers hit with that smoky kiss, you realise there is very serious cooking beneath the sequins.
Bookings
Phone: +971 04 381 9000; email: info.dubai@sexyfish.com
Website
Krasota Dubai: When Dinner Becomes a Show
Krasota is the restaurant we still catch ourselves talking about weeks later, the one you describe with your hands because words alone don’t feel enough. Hidden inside Address Downtown, it is an “immersive gastro theatre” , with just 20 seats wrapped around a 360-degree projection canvas. Each dinner is not just a tasting menu; it’s a performance that unfolds over one and a half to two hours.
Brand chef Vladimir Mukhin, the fifth-generation Russian chef behind Moscow’s acclaimed White Rabbit, brings the same storytelling DNA to Dubai. Shows such as “Imaginary Art” , “Imaginary Future” , and the new “Imaginary Russia 2.0” pair seven-course menus with narrative arcs, animation and sound design that move you from turn-of-the-century canvases to speculative futures and myth-laden landscapes.
From a Chic Icon point of view, what makes Krasota essential is the way it redefines what “fine dining” can be in this region. You’re not just eating a dish inspired by an artwork, you are literally surrounded by the art as it morphs around you, with flavours that echo colour palettes, textures and moods. Wine and mocktail pairings are designed to keep pace with the narrative, so a glass can feel like a plot twist.
Yes, it’s theatrical, but it never feels like tech for tech’s sake. By the time you step back out onto Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, you realise you haven’t just had dinner in Dubai you’ve time-travelled through culture, guided by a chef who understands both memory and imagination.
Bookings
Phone: +971 04433-12-58; email: dubai@krasota.art
Website
Sirene by GAIA: The Modern Greek Heartbeat of Dubai
Some restaurants are hot; Sirene by GAIA is beloved. Since opening in December 2024 in J1, this Greek-Mediterranean charmer has become the unofficial living room of Dubai’s power-players, artists and in-the-know travellers.
Curated by Chefs Izu Ani and Orestis Kotefas, Sirene by GAIA’s menu is rooted in Greek home cooking: simple, layered flavours, immaculate ingredients, and a sense that nothing on the plate is there by accident. An ice-market display of glistening fish and seafood anchors the space; you choose your catch, and the kitchen does the rest. It’s the Mediterranean at its most pure: olive oil that actually tastes of the grove, tomatoes that talk back, and sharing plates that seem designed for long, meandering lunches.
The space itself is all whitewash, marble, stone and lavish Greek beach club vibes – a refined taverna dialled up for J1. You might sit at the bar, snack on mezze and people-watch, or tuck into a central table that feels Mykonos.
In 2025, Sirene by GAIA’s reputation went global, earning FACT Dining Awards 2025 as the Best Greek Restaurant (Dubai), a nod to its enduring consistency and charm. For us at Chic Icon, Sirene by GAIA is where you take someone special: the food supports the conversation instead of stealing it, the service is quietly impeccable, and you leave feeling both spoiled and strangely in Mykonos.
Bookings
Phone: +971 04 834 0303; email: reservations@sirenebeach.com
Website
Carbone Dubai: Red-Sauce Romance at Atlantis The Royal
Carbone is not just a restaurant; it’s a mood, and in Dubai, that mood has found its most cinematic expression yet. Tucked inside Atlantis The Royal on Palm Jumeirah, Carbone Dubai imports the swagger of New York’s iconic Italian-American dining room and dresses it in a couture Dubai suit.
Major Food Group’s founding trio – chef Mario Carbone, Jeff Zalaznick and Rich Torrisi – built an empire on nostalgia: tuxedo-clad captains, sauce-slicked pastas, tableside theatrics and the unapologetic glamour of mid-century red-sauce joints. Dubai takes that DNA and amplifies it. Designed by Ken Fulk with regional execution by Bishop Design, the dining room is all crimson velvet, polished wood, art-deco curves and flickers of golden light, like stepping into a film where everyone somehow knows your name.
The menu is a love letter to Italian-American classics: bold, comforting, deeply satisfying. While we won’t spoil individual dishes (half the fun is letting a captain steer you), expect towering plates, generous portions and flavours that refuse to whisper. This is where you come when you want dinner to feel like an event: a pre-show Negroni at the bar, the clatter of ceramics, the low hum of a room that knows its own star power.
As Chic Icon, we see Carbone Dubai as a sign of how far the city’s dining scene has come. We’re no longer just chasing global brands; we’re hosting them at one of the world’s most talked-about hotels, in a room that feels utterly, gloriously itself. When the night ends and you step back out onto the Palm, the afterglow lingers like a final sip of Amarone – warm, a little heady, and impossible not to crave again.
Bookings
Phone: +971 04 426 0500; email: reservations@carbonedubai.com
Website
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