Orfali Bros is the Middle East equivalent of the Roca brothers in Spain. There are three brothers working and cooking together in Dubai and just obtained the most sought Michelin’s star in 2024. 

The three brothers are from Aleppo in Syria, their menu is a love letter to their Syrian roots and the culinary traditions, the brothers grew up with, fused with contemporary Arabic and Mediterranean flavours. We put them in our priority list when we visited Dubai this late October 2024. We went for lunch on Wednesday, October 30th and we were welcomed by our host. The restaurant itself was not big, it can have maximum thirty guests who can watch all the cooking team working on two level open kitchen. 

The menu was entitled “Fusion is Confusion” and their philosophy is “Taste, Texture & Ingredients”. 

The menu was divided in four categories: for one; cold; hot and pizza and no pizza. The menu encourages small plates and shared dining. This fosters conversation and exploration of diverse flavours. Every dish reflects the brothers’ dedication to their craft. Their style blends playfulness, creativity, and authenticity. 

Each dish was colourful, bright, and delicious like the cornbomb, Orfali bayildi or adobo chicken wings. 

There is no wine list at the Orfali Bros, there are non-alcoholic drinks, and they are extremely well thought and amazingly good. 

The service was extremely nice, warm, and instructive. 

Orfali Bros is a multicultural and borderless restaurant where delicious food being cooked by adventurous chefs.

Orfali Bros

Wasl 51 Building D

D92 - Jumeirah - Jumeirah 1 -

Dubai, UAE

Tel : +971 4 259 2477

https://orfalibros.com

Rove in Dubai is becoming one of our favorite hotel brands. We really loved our stay at Rove at the Park in the attraction parks area. 

Rove at the Park has truly mastered the concept of what a family friendly resort should be. The hotel is perfectly built, designed, and decorated. From the parking lot to the rooms, the lobby, the breakfast area and from the kid’s game room to the gym and pool area, everything is well conceived and executed to make the guests (big and small) feel welcomed and at home. 

The service is warm, smiling, professional and competent. The entire staff, be it at check-in, in the restaurant, the cleaning or security squads, everyone is helpful and attentive. The hotel is very clean. 

We were also able to visit Rove at La Mer Beach which is located by the beach in the south of Dubai. There we were warmly welcomed by the Duty manager who showed us around the hotel and even a room. We immediately loved the vibe and the setting. 

We hope the Rove brand will soon extend to Europe and Asia as, in our opinion, it really captures the needs and wishes of 21st century travelers (big and small).

Rove At The Park

Dubai Parks and Resorts

P.O. Box 11944

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Téléphone: +971 4 241 9500

www.rovehotels.com

Trèsind markets itself as a fine dining Indian restaurant in Dubai. It offers a progressive Indian cuisine to its customers. 

We had read a lot of good reviews for this restaurant and its Chef, Himanshu Saini, so for our trip to Dubai in March we decided to go check it out, accompanied by a friend who lives there. 

For our dinner, we had the famous chef’s tasting menu which came in seven dishes, including amuse-bouches and dessert. 

We enjoyed arugula pani puri missi roti with green chili butter and the modernist chaat tart. We really appreciated the soup mushroom chai, dehydrated mushroom, truffle milk powder. The starter, tandoori rosemary lamb chops with chimichurri chutney and tandoori tiger prawn, amritsari soft shell crab demonstrated what Indian cuisine is all about, as it combines technical cooking with Indian ingredients and spices. The main course, prawn curry, lamb & coconut stew, chicken chettinad served with malabari paratha khichdi of India could have been served in a smaller serving size in our opinion, particularly when part of a seven-dish tasting menu. For the final, the dessert, black forest mithai cake and paan cotton candy, was a bit too sweet and too heavy. It would have deserved to be lighter and more refined. A dessert should always end a meal on a subtle note. 

The wine list is very, very expensive, too expensive for commoners like us. It has clearly been conceived for the ultra-rich. Our bottle from Sula, the Dindori Reserve 2020, was 100 euros, ten times its price at a wine retailer. We shared our surprise about it with the duty manager. 

The service at Trèsind was not up to the standard of a fine dining restaurant. The empty dishes were taken away to quickly even as one of us was not finished and still eating, one of the waiters came to present and prepare the next dish for our table in front of us and realized mid-preparation that the dish was actually for another table. 

Overall, the cooking of Himanshu Saini is good, his technical skills and prowess proved his desire to modernize Indian food and bring it into high gear. But the service is really in needs to up their game.

Trèsind 

Voco Hotel, Level - 2 Sheikh Zayed Rd - Trade Centre

Dubai - UEA

Téléphone  +971 4 308 0440

www.tresind.com/dubai

We were surprised by the “no reservation” policy at the restaurant 3 Fils in Dubai. 3 Fils recently became an overnight sensation when it was voted “best restaurant of the Middle-East” by the World Best 50’s. Initially co-founded by the famous Singaporean chef, Akmal Anuar, it is now helmed by Shun Shiroma and Freddy Kazadi. 

We decided to push our luck and walked in at lunch time on March 3rd, during our vacation in Dubai. The location and the entrance of the restaurant are pretty low key, on the Jumeirah fishing harbor, and the restaurant has a simple look and feel, surprisingly casual. 

We chose to seat outside, on the terrace, in order to take advantage of the blue sky and the emerald green sea, but also of the view of the Dubai skyline across the harbor. 

On the menu of 3 Fils is mainly Asian/Japanese food from sushi to wagyu beef, maki to Sakura ebi. We tasted all those dishes and they were all perfectly cooked and delicious, but the dish that really stood out for us was the dessert. A delicacy called Ispahan from the Spanish pastry chef, Carmen Rueda Hernandez. Wow, what a dessert! Not only was it beautiful, it was also savory, delicate, not too sweet, the perfect ending to an already great lunch. For drinks, we ordered two Naughty Rose cocktails made with strawberry, rose, saffron and non-alcoholic champagne. 

The service was very kind, smiling and efficient. 

3 Fils is a great place for lunch (or dinner). It has now become a must-go in Dubai.

3 Fils

Shop 02,Jumeirah Fishing Harbour 1

Al Urouba St​

PO BOX 19913

Telephone :+9714333 4003

+971562730030

www.3fils.com

One of the most surprising aspects of our trip to Dubai was the discovery that they have great Vietnamese food. 

There are a few authentic Vietnamese restaurants in Dubai such as Vietnamese Foodies. The one we went to was located in the Nakheel Mall on the Palm. The concept, created by owner and Executive Chef, Lily Hoa Nguyen, became an instant success in Dubai the moment it opened in 2018. 

The one in Nakheel Mall is elegantly designed with beautiful banquettes and wooden tables. We were comfortably seated and felt relaxed right away, almost as if we had traveled to Vietnam for a good lunch. Everything was delicious from the lychee soda to the mango pudding, the spring rolls to the famous chicken Pho. 

The service was nice and kind, it came with the ever-present smile so typical of the Vietnamese. 

A real homey Vietnamese food like in Saigon and we were happy to taste it.

Vietnamese Foodies

Nakheel Mall

447Q+CQ - The Palm Jumeirah 

Dubai

Telephone : +971 4 565 6088. 

www.vietnamesefoodies.com