This year’s Dubai Food Festival, which runs from April 26 to May 12, will feature a chef’s menu. From May 1 to May 12, it promises exquisite dining selections from some of the best restaurants in the city.
However, the Chef’s Menu experience will highlight the culinary prowess behind the restaurant in addition to showing some of its standout dishes. Expect each chef to introduce meals, give you behind-the-scenes stories and inspiration for the dishes, and take you on a gastronomic tour.
24 restaurants and chefs from all over the city are participating, offering a variety of cuisines including Mediterranean, Peruvian, Cantonese, Indian, and Italian.
Chef Himanshu Saini at Trèsind Studio
Are you hoping to eat at one of the two Michelin-starred restaurants in Dubai? Then reserve a seat at Tresind Studio, chef Himanshu Sani’s culinary showcase. The restaurant, Rising India, is situated at St Regis Gardens. It honours 75 years of Indian independence with a multi-course feast that travels from the Thar Desert to the Himalayan Mountains and is presented with breathtaking theatricality by Tresind. There are two two and a half hour seatings available.
Chef Kelvin Cheung at Jun’s
Currently, Chef of the Year Kelvin Cheung is well-known and adored for his cuisine, which is inspired by his travels, life experiences, and Chinese, Indian, and American ancestry. Expect to savour contemporary American and Asian cuisines combined with Middle Eastern influences at the Dubai Food Festival, accompanied by humorous and intimate stories from Jun’s creator and chef.
Chef Luca Crostelli at Cala Vista
One of the city’s prettiest new outdoor restaurants, Cala Vista is a sun-drenched tribute to the Southern Italian shoreline. Luca Crostelli, the guy behind the cuisine, hails from a family of famous chefs and offers a three-course menu with robust Italian flavours against the backdrop of the Burj Al Arab.
Chef Neha Mishra at Kinoya
What’s On Restaurant of the Year, Kinoya, is the owner of a multi-restaurant empire that started out to be a Ramen queen. You may eat here under the direction of renowned chef Neha Mishra during the Chef’s meal series, where a specially-curated meal of their creative Japanese delicacies for Dhs 250. You’ll be able to enjoy dishes like donabe, onsen tamago, dashi, and omurice that aren’t usually on the usual menu.
Chef Paul Gajewski at The Guild
Executive chef Paul Gajewski selected with care a selection of the restaurant’s best dishes for The Guild’s five-course Chef’s Menu experience. It’s a journey across sophisticated European cuisines inspired by refined brasserie fare, with dishes like grilled Australian crayfish and king crab cocktail costing Dhs400 per person.
Chef Roberto de Vivo at Sucre
Punchy tastes and gorgeous decor are the foundation of this Mediterranean-inspired fire dining concept, and head chef Roberto de Vivo’s Chef’s Menu providing delivers just that. A showing of meals including Sicilian red prawn carpaccio, Angus steak with sides and sweets like Sucre’s renowned dulce de leche fondant are to be expected.
Chef Steve Nguyen at Ling Ling
Chef Steve Nguyen, the brains behind the bustling, midnight supper venue Ling Ling, is a maestro of Instagrammable Asian fusion cuisine. He serves a five-course menu of signature dishes called Chef’s Menu, which includes lamb shank rendang with lemongrass, chilli, coconut, eggplant and carrot, and crispy bee pollen chicken with black pepper honey glaze.
