Restaurant in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
The Michelin star here is earned, not decorative.
Hakkasan Dubai at Atlantis, The Palm holds a Michelin star (2025) and a 4.4 Google rating, making it the most credentialled Chinese fine-dining option in Dubai. At $$$$ pricing with a dramatic, design-led room and Cantonese-led kitchen under Chef Park Chan-il, it earns its place for special occasions and celebration dinners. Book two to four weeks out; weekends fill fast.
The most common assumption about Hakkasan Dubai is that it trades on its Palm address and glossy interiors rather than kitchen substance. That assumption is wrong. Since its 2011 debut, Hakkasan has held its position as one of the few Chinese restaurants in the Gulf to receive a Michelin star, earning one in 2025 and maintaining a Google rating of 4.4 across 857 reviews. This is a $$$$ venue that delivers on the price — but it is not for every occasion, and knowing when to book it matters as much as knowing that it is good.
Hakkasan Dubai sits inside Atlantis, The Palm, which immediately tells you something about the scale and register. The room is designed for drama: dark lacquered screens, low lighting, and a layout that creates a sense of enclosure within what is otherwise a large hotel dining floor. For a first-timer, the spatial experience is more intimate than the hotel setting suggests. Seating is arranged to give tables reasonable separation, and the atmosphere reads upscale lounge as much as fine-dining room. This works in your favour if you are coming for a celebration or a date; it works less well if you want a quiet, contemplative dinner. The energy here is deliberate and polished rather than hushed.
The Palm location means you are committing to a journey. Factor in travel time from central Dubai, whether you are driving or using a taxi or rideshare. The Atlantis property itself is large, so allow time to find the restaurant once you arrive. This is not a venue you can drop into spontaneously on a whim.
Chef Park Chan-il leads the kitchen, and the cooking is grounded in Cantonese technique with the presentation refinement that the Hakkasan brand is associated with globally. What makes the Dubai location worth considering specifically is that it delivers this level of execution consistently, which is not guaranteed across all outposts of an international restaurant group. The Forbes Travel Guide recognised Atlantis, The Palm as a Four-Star property, and Hakkasan operates within that service culture. The combination of the 2025 Michelin star and the sustained Google rating suggests the kitchen has not coasted.
For a first-timer, the format here rewards sharing. Chinese fine dining in the Hakkasan model is built around multiple dishes across the table rather than a single plated progression. If you are dining as a pair, you will get a better sense of the menu by ordering four to six dishes between two rather than sticking to a rigid two-course structure. Groups of four or more will naturally eat better here, because the sharing format scales up. If you are coming solo or want a tasting menu format, Hakkasan is less obviously the right call — you might get more from a counter-based omakase elsewhere in Dubai.
At $$$$ pricing, Hakkasan Dubai sits at the same tier as Al Mahara and Avatara Restaurant. The Michelin star is the clearest external signal that the cooking justifies the spend. Within Dubai's Chinese restaurant category, the competition is meaningful: Hutong offers Northern Chinese cooking at a comparable pitch, Mimi Mei Fair takes a more playful approach to Chinese cuisine, and Shang Palace at the delivers traditional Cantonese in a more classically formal room. Hakkasan's edge over these options is the Michelin credential combined with the theatrical environment, which makes it the stronger choice when the occasion calls for impact as well as quality.
If you are looking for Chinese dining at a lower price point without sacrificing interesting cooking, Tang Town and XU Dubai are worth considering as alternatives. But if the occasion warrants $$$$ spending and you want a Michelin-backed Chinese restaurant in Dubai, Hakkasan is the clearest answer in the city right now.
This is a hard booking. Hakkasan Dubai's combination of a recognised award credential, a landmark hotel address, and limited availability in premium time slots means weekends and public holidays fill well in advance. Book a minimum of two to three weeks out for a Friday or Saturday dinner. Midweek slots are more accessible, and if your schedule allows a Tuesday or Wednesday booking, you are likely to find better table choice and a marginally quieter room. For special occasions , birthdays, anniversaries, corporate dinners , book four weeks out to have confidence in your preferred time.
If you are travelling elsewhere and want to benchmark Hakkasan Dubai against the wider Chinese fine-dining category, Hakkasan in Abu Dhabi is the closest regional comparison. For Chinese cooking operating at Michelin level in other cities, Restaurant Tim Raue in Berlin and Mister Jiu's in San Francisco represent distinct takes on the category. In Asia, VELROSIER in Kyoto, Koshikiryori Koki, Piao-Xiang, and Series in Tokyo, along with Haobin in Seoul, show how differently the Chinese fine-dining category expresses itself across markets.
For broader planning in Dubai, see our full Dubai restaurants guide, our full Dubai hotels guide, our full Dubai bars guide, our full Dubai wineries guide, and our full Dubai experiences guide.
Hakkasan Dubai does have a bar area, and it is worth knowing that the bar can function as a lower-commitment entry point to the venue , useful if you want to experience the space without committing to a full dinner spend. That said, the kitchen's strengths are in the sharing dishes designed for the dining room format. If a full dinner is out of budget or you could not get a table, the bar is a reasonable fallback. For the full experience that justifies the Michelin credential, the dining room is where it happens.
Smart casual is the floor, and smart-to-formal is where you will feel most at ease. The $$$$ price tier, the Atlantis location, and the Michelin star all signal a room where guests dress up. Jeans are likely fine if they are dark and clean, but trainers and casual resort wear would feel out of place. Given that many diners come here for celebrations, the room skews toward dressed-up. If in doubt, err toward a dinner jacket or smart dress.
Yes, and groups of four or more actually eat better here than smaller parties. The Chinese sharing-format menu scales well with table size, and Hakkasan has the floor space and service infrastructure to handle larger bookings. For groups of eight or more, contact the restaurant directly well in advance , the Palm location hosts a significant volume of corporate and celebration dining, and private or semi-private arrangements may be available. For $$$$ group dining in Dubai, Hakkasan is one of the more practical choices given its track record with larger parties.
At $$$$ pricing with a Michelin star and a 4.4 Google rating across 857 reviews, Hakkasan Dubai is worth the spend if Chinese fine dining is what you are after. The Michelin credential is the clearest external validation that the kitchen delivers at the price point. It is not the cheapest way to eat well in Dubai, but it is the most credentialled Chinese restaurant in the city. If you are comparing it against other $$$$ options in Dubai , Al Mahara for seafood, Avatara for Indian , Hakkasan is the right choice specifically when you want Cantonese-led cooking at this level.
It is one of the stronger choices in Dubai for exactly this purpose. The combination of theatrical design, Michelin-backed cooking, and a landmark hotel setting gives the evening a built-in sense of occasion. It outperforms more quietly formal rooms for occasions where the atmosphere matters as much as the food. Birthdays, anniversaries, and milestone dinners all work here. Book four weeks out if the date is fixed, and if your group is larger than four, flag that when booking so the venue can seat you appropriately.
| Venue | Price | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| Hakkasan Dubai | $$$$ | Hard | — |
| 11 Woodfire | $$$ | Unknown | — |
| Avatara Restaurant | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
| Al Mahara | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
| Zuma | $$$ | Unknown | — |
| City Social | $$$$ | Unknown | — |
How Hakkasan Dubai stacks up against the competition.
Bar seating is part of the Hakkasan format globally, and the Dubai location at Atlantis, The Palm follows the same template with a dedicated bar area. It is a practical option if you cannot secure a dinner reservation at short notice, though the full $$$$ kitchen experience is designed around table dining. If your goal is the Michelin-starred food rather than drinks, prioritise a table booking.
Hakkasan Dubai operates at the $$$$ tier inside a Forbes Travel Guide Four-Star hotel, so the dress expectation is formal or polished evening wear. Treat it like any other Michelin-starred room: no shorts, no trainers. The room is designed for drama and the crowd dresses accordingly, particularly on weekends.
The venue's scale inside Atlantis, The Palm makes it more group-friendly than most Michelin-starred restaurants in Dubai. Larger parties should check the venue's official channels well in advance, as private dining configurations are standard for the Hakkasan brand. For groups of 6 or more, lead time of several weeks is advisable given how hard this booking already runs for standard tables.
At $$$$ pricing, Hakkasan Dubai sits alongside Al Mahara and Avatara Restaurant in Dubai's top tier, and the 2025 Michelin star is the clearest external validation that the kitchen justifies the spend. If you are comparing it to Zuma on value, Zuma offers more flexibility and a lower per-head cost, but it does not carry the same award credential. Hakkasan Dubai is worth it specifically if Cantonese fine dining with serious kitchen technique is what you are after — not if you want a livelier, sharing-plate night out.
Yes, and it is one of the stronger cases in Dubai for a milestone dinner. The combination of a 2025 Michelin star, a landmark address at Atlantis, The Palm, and a room built for high-occasion dining means the setting does a lot of the work. Book well ahead — this is a hard reservation — and request a specific table preference when you do.
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