Sheikh Hamdan-approved restaurants in Dubai: 15 to book

Sheikh Hamdan-approved restaurants in Dubai are an informal map of where the city’s dining power is moving now: Alserkal Avenue counters, DIFC dining rooms, J1 Beach addresses, Dubai Mall, Bluewaters Island and the big hotel openings. Treat the wider 41-restaurant roster as signal, not celebrity trivia. These 15 are the ones to prioritise if you want a practical cross-section of Dubai right now, from a 32-seat walk-in counter to Atlantis the Royal Italian-American dining.

Window (Alserkal Avenue)

Book, or rather turn up early, if you want the most useful small-room example on this list. Window is a 32-seat, walk-in-only neighbourhood restaurant at Alserkal Avenue from Fyte Hospitality, the team behind Kokoro. That matters because this is not a reservation-flex dining room built around table minimums. It is small, counter-led and deliberately immediate.

The room is built around a long diner-style counter facing an open kitchen with a pizza oven, Josper grill and coals. Those are the details to watch: fire, counter seats, no booking cushion. Window is the opposite of CARBONE Dubai: 32 seats and walk-in timing versus Atlantis the Royal, velvet banquettes and 1950s New York Italian-American cues. Choose Window when you want the Sheikh Hamdan-approved restaurants trail at its least corporate and most seat-sensitive.

This is for two people, not a big birthday table. The move is to arrive off-peak, accept that the counter is the point, and use Alserkal Avenue as the anchor for the evening. If you care about small independent restaurants in Dubai, Window is the one to track first.

La Maison Ani (Dubai Mall)

La Maison Ani is the easy yes if you need a central Dubai table with a known chef attached. Chef Izu Ani’s French-Mediterranean eatery sits in Dubai Mall, and Sheikh Hamdan has reportedly visited more than once, including shortly after the restaurant opened in May 2022.⁴ That repeat-visit context is more useful than a single photo: it tells you this is not just a novelty stop.

Use La Maison Ani for the kind of meal where location matters as much as the kitchen. Dubai Mall can be a logistical compromise for serious diners, but Chef Izu gives this address a stronger reason to exist. The French-Mediterranean brief is also broad enough for mixed groups: someone can lean lighter, someone else can order in a more classic brasserie register, and no one needs a tasting-menu attention span.

Among Chef Izu-linked venues on this list, La Maison Ani is the most mall-friendly choice. Alaya gives you DIFC and a broader Eastern Mediterranean frame; Carine, also associated with Izu Ani, belongs to the wider Sheikh Hamdan dining trail at Emirates Golf Club. La Maison Ani is the practical pick when you need a central, recognisable Dubai table without asking the group to cross town.

CARBONE Dubai (Atlantis the Royal)

CARBONE Dubai is for the guest who wants the room as much as the rigatoni-era mythology. The Dubai outpost sits at Atlantis the Royal and takes its reference point from Italian-American restaurants of 1950s New York. That makes the decision fairly simple: book it when the hotel address and the New York-coded dining-room energy are part of the reason you are going.

The useful specifics are inside the room: a jellyfish tank running across a wall, chandeliers, velvet seating, leather banquettes and an art collection. Those details tell you the format before you see the menu. CARBONE Dubai is not the place to disappear into a quiet corner and talk about natural wine. It is a hotel-stage dinner for people who want the evening to feel produced.

For Dubai visitors staying at Atlantis the Royal, this is an easy in-house booking to attempt early. For residents, it makes more sense as an occasion restaurant than a weekly Italian address. The better way to judge it is not against a neighbourhood trattoria, but against Dubai’s other high-gloss hotel rooms. If you are already drawn to Atlantis the Royal, CARBONE Dubai should be on the shortlist.

The Cullinan (Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab)

For diners who want a new-hotel setting attached to their dinner, The Cullinan is the steakhouse play. It is a fine-dining steakhouse in Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab, one of Dubai’s most visible luxury hotel addresses. Sheikh Hamdan has reportedly visited, which puts it firmly inside the city’s high-profile dining circuit.

The decision point here is format. A steakhouse in a luxury hotel is built for business dinners, celebratory groups and guests who want an easy premium read without decoding a long tasting menu. If you are hosting visitors who ask for “somewhere Dubai,” The Cullinan gives you hotel architecture, steakhouse familiarity and a name that has already entered the Crown Prince’s orbit.

Do not overcomplicate this one. Book it for a group that wants beef, service formality and a room that feels tied to the newest wave of Dubai hotel dining. Skip it if your priority is chef-driven experimentation or a small counter seat. The Cullinan’s value is clarity: fine-dining steakhouse, Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab, high-visibility dinner.

Ninive (J1 Beach)

On the beachside Middle Eastern front, Ninive’s J1 Beach outpost is the booking with scale. Sheikh Hamdan reportedly returned to J1 Beach within a month of visiting Gigi and chose Ninive next. That sequence matters because J1 Beach is not just a beachfront address; it is becoming one of the clearest clusters for restaurants that want both sea views and social heat.

The seafront Ninive has a restaurant spread across two floors, plus a pool and beach experience. Those facts should shape how you use it. Book Ninive when you want the meal to connect with a longer beach afternoon or a late dinner plan, not when you need a quick, quiet table. The two-floor restaurant gives it more event energy than a compact DIFC dining room.

The food frame is Middle Eastern, which gives Ninive a stronger Dubai sense of place than some imported beach names. It is a good choice for visitors who want to stay close to the water without defaulting to generic resort dining. For residents, it is a J1 Beach marker worth knowing because Sheikh Hamdan’s visits have made that stretch harder to ignore.

Berenjak (Dubai)

Berenjak Dubai is the Iranian-cuisine pick on this list, and that alone gives it a different job from the hotel steakhouses and beach clubs. It is known for Iranian cooking and a refined take on homemade classics, and Sheikh Hamdan has reportedly been spotted there. If your Dubai shortlist is too heavy on Italian, Greek and French-Mediterranean names, Berenjak corrects the balance.

The smart use case is a dinner built around comfort, smoke, rice, bread and grilled flavours rather than a room designed to signal luxury at first glance. Berenjak sits in Dar Wasl Mall on Al Wasl Road, and the appeal is the category itself: Iranian cooking with enough local attention to draw the Crown Prince’s camp.

This is the one to keep on the list when you want a culturally specific meal without turning the night into a formal tasting menu. It also makes the Sheikh Hamdan-approved restaurants list more useful, because it shows the trail is not only about imported brands and hotel dining rooms. Berenjak is for diners who want a clearer cuisine decision.

Gigi (J1 Beach)

At J1 Beach, Gigi makes its case with refined Italian classics served alfresco. Sheikh Hamdan visited the J1 venue on Monday, December 9, 2024, and posed with the Rikas Hospitality team behind the restaurant.¹ That makes Gigi one of the most plainly social entries on your list: St Tropez roots, beach address, Italian menu, public Crown Prince visit.

The restaurant hails from St Tropez and serves refined Italian classics. Use that information practically. This is a lunch-to-dinner table for people who want a resort-style rhythm without leaving Dubai, not a place to test how quiet a dining room can be. The alfresco format is part of the booking decision, especially in the cooler months when outdoor dining in Dubai is at its best.

Gigi is best for groups that want recognisable food, a beach setting and a little imported Riviera energy. It is less compelling if your main criterion is a chef’s personal Dubai story. The restaurant’s strength is that everyone understands the brief before they arrive: Italian, J1 Beach, outdoor, social.

Kinoya (The Greens)

In The Greens, the strongest food-obsessive draw here comes from Kinoya. The supper-club-turned-ramen restaurant is inside Onyx Tower in The Greens, founded by chef Neha Mishra, and was named Restaurant of the Year at the What’s On Dubai Awards 2024.² Sheikh Hamdan chose it for lunch in September and posed with Mishra and general manager Adrian Chow outside the restaurant.

The appeal is not hard to parse. Kinoya has the origin story serious diners like: supper club roots, ramen focus, founder-chef identity, and an award that confirms it has moved beyond niche status. In a city where many dining rooms arrive fully capitalised and fully styled, Kinoya reads as a more personal restaurant.

Book Kinoya if your Dubai trip is organised around what locals and regulars actually care about eating. The Greens location also helps; it pulls the list away from the usual hotel-and-DIFC loop. For a two-person lunch or dinner, this is more interesting than another big beachfront table. It gives the Sheikh Hamdan trail real dining credibility rather than just address value.

11 Woodfire (Dubai)

11 Woodfire is the open-fire booking with a named chef at the centre. The restaurant opened on January 1, 2022, and Sheikh Hamdan visited early that same month.⁵ Chef and restaurateur Akmal Anuar heads the restaurant, which gives the venue a clearer culinary identity than many concept-first Dubai openings.

The format is the useful detail: open fire. That means you are booking for heat, smoke, grill marks and a kitchen where the cooking method defines the meal. If a group wants a restaurant that feels chef-led but not formal in the tasting-menu sense, 11 Woodfire is an easy recommendation. The restaurant caught attention quickly after opening, and the Crown Prince visit came while the newness was still fresh.

For visitors, 11 Woodfire works as a Dubai dinner that does not rely on a beach view or luxury-hotel lobby to justify itself. For residents, it remains a useful benchmark for how quickly a focused restaurant can enter the city’s conversation. Put it ahead of more generic grill rooms if the open-fire format is the reason you are booking.

Alaya (DIFC)

In DIFC, Alaya is the move for diners who want Chef Izu Ani in a more regional register. Sheikh Hamdan visited in September 2022, and the restaurant was created by Chef Izu Ani and Evgeny Kuzin.⁶ The food is Eastern Mediterranean with Middle Eastern influences, which gives it a broader, more Dubai-relevant frame than a straight French-Mediterranean brief.

DIFC matters here. It is one of Dubai’s most competitive dining zones, especially for business dinners, post-work tables and visitors who want a restaurant that feels plugged into the city’s financial core. Alaya fits that use case better than a beach restaurant and more formally than a mall address.

Choose Alaya when you want an Izu-linked restaurant with stronger evening energy and a more expansive regional reference point than La Maison Ani. It is also a safe choice for groups that want familiar luxury cues but do not want steakhouse predictability. The best reason to book is the combination of DIFC location, named creators and Eastern Mediterranean direction.

Alhajarain (Hatta Heritage Village)

The out-of-town note in the roundup is Alhajarain, and that is why it matters. The restaurant is in Hatta Heritage Village, the Dubai exclave that Sheikh Hamdan and his friends are known to frequent. He reportedly visited Alhajarain for a meal with friends, which places it in a different category from the city’s hotel dining rooms.

This is not the table to book because you want chandeliers, a branded import or a polished terrace. It is the one to keep in mind if Hatta is already part of your plan. The practical value is itinerary-based: if you are going to Hatta, Alhajarain gives the trip a dining anchor tied to the Crown Prince’s own public trail.

For most Dubai visitors, Alhajarain is worth tracking rather than building an entire trip around. For residents with a Hatta day planned, it becomes more relevant. The broader point is useful: Sheikh Hamdan’s restaurant map is not limited to DIFC, J1 Beach and the city’s luxury hotels. It reaches into the places Dubai residents actually drive to when they want a change of pace.

Alici (Bluewaters Island)

Alici is the Bluewaters Island seafood booking with a proven local accolade. The Italian seafood restaurant won Newcomer of the Year at the What’s On Awards 2019³, and Sheikh Hamdan has reportedly frequented it. That award matters because it gives Alici a track record beyond its setting.

The format is clear: Italian seafood, terrace appeal and Bluewaters Island. Use Alici when you want a coastal meal that still feels restaurant-led rather than beach-club-led. It is especially useful for visitors who want Italian seafood in a recognisable Dubai leisure district without defaulting to a hotel dining room.

Compared with the J1 Beach names, Alici’s case rests more on seafood and Bluewaters than on imported beach-house identity. That distinction helps when planning. If your group wants Italian but not the St Tropez-coded Gigi version, Alici is the more seafood-forward option. The What’s On Awards 2019 win gives you an additional reason to take it seriously.

Avli by Tashas (DIFC)

With repeat Crown Prince relevance, Avli by Tashas is the Greek DIFC option. Sheikh Hamdan has been seen in the DIFC dining room on more than one occasion, which makes it one of the more established entries in the city-centre part of the trail. The restaurant is Greek, and the Tashas name gives it a familiar operator context for Dubai diners.

The decision is simple: book Avli when you want Greek food in DIFC and a dining room that works for both business-adjacent dinners and social nights out. DIFC gives it convenience for finance-district guests, while the Greek brief makes the table easier for groups than a narrower, chef-counter format.

Avli also helps separate the Tashas Group’s city and beach identities. Bungalo34 handles the Greek-inspired beach-restaurant lane; Avli is the more urban DIFC counterpart. If you are choosing between the two, let the occasion decide: DIFC dinner and sharper city pacing at Avli, beach lunch and softer daytime rhythm at Bungalo34.

Bordomavi (Jumeirah Fishing Harbour)

The 3Fils connection is the reason to pay attention to Bordomavi, the Jumeirah Fishing Harbour seafood entry. The seafood restaurant opened in November 2023 at Jumeirah Fishing Harbour and comes from the minds behind 3Fils. Sheikh Hamdan visited a few weeks after it opened.

The setting is part of the argument: Jumeirah Fishing Harbour gives Bordomavi a less obvious Dubai luxury address than Atlantis the Royal, DIFC or J1 Beach. That can be a plus. The restaurant draws its menu inspiration from the ocean, so use it for seafood-led meals rather than a general “somewhere nice” dinner.

For serious diners, the 3Fils association is the trust marker. For visitors, the harbour location gives the night a different texture from the city’s hotel circuits. Book Bordomavi when seafood is the point and you want a restaurant connected to one of Dubai’s better-known independent dining names. It is one of the more useful recommendations in the roundup because its identity is specific.

Bungalo34 (Beachfront Dubai)

Bungalo34 is the Greek-inspired beach restaurant from Tashas Group, and Sheikh Hamdan has been hosted there for lunch. That tells you exactly when to use it: daytime, beachside, group-friendly. This is not trying to solve the same problem as Kinoya or Window. It is a lunch address with an operator that already understands Dubai’s social dining habits.

The Tashas Group link is the main credential to note. Between Avli by Tashas in DIFC and Bungalo34 by the beach, the group appears twice on this trail, which says something about how reliably its restaurants land with Dubai’s high-profile diners. Bungalo34 is the more relaxed of the two based on setting and meal occasion.

Book it when the brief is Greek-inspired food near the beach and the group cares about atmosphere as much as the plate. Skip it if the guest of honour wants a chef counter, ramen, open fire or a steakhouse. Bungalo34’s value is not mystery. It is a clear beach-lunch proposition with Crown Prince visibility.

What's Next for Sheikh Hamdan-approved restaurants

The wider Dubai trail also runs through names such as BeYou Cafe, BB Social Dining, Carine and Caviar Kaspia, each showing a different side of the Crown Prince’s public dining habits: coffee, social plates, Chef Izu Ani’s French-Mediterranean cooking at Emirates Golf Club, and a Paris-born caviar name whose Dubai branch he visited in October 2021.⁷ The pattern is more useful than any single sighting. Sheikh Hamdan’s restaurant appearances connect new openings, chef-led rooms, beach addresses, independent counters and hotel dining rooms.

For your next Dubai booking, do not treat the list as a ranking. Use it as a filter. Window and Kinoya are the strongest calls for food-focused diners, CARBONE Dubai and The Cullinan suit glossy hotel nights, Gigi and Ninive belong to the J1 Beach plan, and Alaya or Avli make the most sense when DIFC is where the evening needs to happen. The next names to watch will be the ones that pull the Crown Prince trail beyond the obvious luxury addresses and into smaller rooms with sharper reasons to book.