New Term, New Tables

If you have asked “where’s cool right now?” recently, chances are Suteki has already entered the conversation. One of the most talked-about new arrivals at Dubai Harbour, Suteki has quickly found itself at the centre of the city’s latest dining buzz. Slick interiors, a waterfront setting and Japanese dining all come together in a space that feels very much made for Dubai right now. With the city gearing back up for its busiest season, we are calling it early: Suteki is set to become one of Q4’s places to see and, perhaps more importantly, be seen.

Perhaps most exciting about Dubai’s current restaurant scene is the rise of concepts that don’t feel like they could simply have been dropped into any global city. Tanso is part of that new guard. Independent, considered and effortlessly cool, it represents a new era of dining that strays far from some of the old perceptions of Dubai’s culinary landscape. Less imported formula, more personality, less about excess for excess’s sake, more about creating somewhere people genuinely want to return to. It is a shift we are seeing increasingly across the city, and Tanso is quietly cementing its place at the forefront of it.

DIFC certainly is not short of Italian restaurants, which makes cutting through the noise no small feat. Siena, however, has arrived with its own point of view.

It’s sharp, contemporary and already feels comfortably at home amongst DIFC’s new generation of restaurants, the kind of place that works just as well for an early dinner as it does when the evening inevitably runs later than planned.

No theatrics required. Just a very good-looking room, food you actually want to order and the sort of crowd that makes you want to stay for another drink.

ZaZa’s has officially grown up, and got itself a liquor licence in the process.

The much-loved concept has opened its first licensed venue in DIFC, bringing a proper slice of New York to the heart of the district. And dare I say it, the pizza is some of the best we have had in Dubai. Further, ZaZa’s is not relying on pizza alone. An unbelievable soundtrack, packed room and energy that builds as the night goes on make this exactly the kind of restaurant DIFC does so well, somewhere you arrive for dinner and realise several hours later that nobody has suggested leaving (and continue the party till 2am).

Sa’Cha by Pang is further proof that some of Dubai’s most interesting new openings are happening well beyond the city’s usual dining postcodes.

Landing in Creek Harbour, Sa’Cha brings a confident new energy to the neighbourhood, with a menu rooted in Latin-Asian flavours and a concept that feels distinctly its own. More importantly, it gives Dubai diners another reason to break out of the DIFC-Jumeirah-Downtown triangle, something we are increasingly happy to do when the restaurant at the other end is worth it.