Fine dining is not easy to find in Dubai. A 15-course degustation menu is rarer still. Trèsind Studio, led by chef Himanshu Saini, offers both. Saini has built a reputation as one of the more inventive chefs working in the city, and the restaurant reflects that.
The setup includes an outdoor lounge and an urban garden. On a recent visit, around 20 chefs were working the kitchen, with several stepping outside during service to pick herbs, vegetables and edible flowers used to finish the plates.
The dining room inside has just six circular tables, all facing an open kitchen. The kitchen functions more like a stage. Chefs arrange each component with close attention to detail while guests wait to see what comes next.
That sense of not quite knowing is built into the experience. The menu is only given to guests at the end of the meal, so each course arrives without announcement. The standard is consistently high.
Dinner opens with an elaborate pani puri, a light and playful start that gives a sense of what follows. The courses build from there, with most plates designed to be eaten in a single, carefully constructed bite.
From the current menu, the ghee roast crab with burnt cinnamon and curry leaf crisp stands out, as does a naan soufflé that manages to feel both familiar and unexpected. The duck haleem with foie gras toast is well-judged and precisely balanced.
Midway through the meal, Saini serves his take on a traditional Sadhya feast, presented on a banana leaf. The lobster tail with smoked chilli jam and tomato moilee is the highlight of that course. The shellfish is cooked with real precision, and it is hard to find a comparable piece of shellfish elsewhere in the city. Tasting menus do not always get the balance right between creativity and flavour. Trèsind Studio mostly does.
The food carries the evening. The service is polished but sits on the formal side, and finding the right tone between attentive and relaxed remains a work in progress. Producing fifteen courses that hold a guest’s attention from start to finish is a considerable task. Trèsind Studio manages it.
This review was conducted anonymously, with the meal paid for independently.
Address:
058 895 1272.
tresindstudio.com.
Open Monday to Saturday, 7pm to 11.30pm.
