Restaurant in Dubai, United Arab Emirates
Dubai's only Hanwoo beef. Worth the booking.
HANU at the St. Regis Palm Jumeirah is the only restaurant in Dubai serving Hanwoo beef, flown directly from Korea. Tableside charcoal grills, a Star Wine List-recognised drinks programme, and five-star service make it the most focused Korean barbecue option in the city. Book it for a special occasion dinner where beef provenance and setting both need to deliver.
HANU at the St. Regis Palm Jumeirah holds a position no other Dubai restaurant can claim: it is the sole venue in the city serving Hanwoo, Korea's native cattle breed, flown directly from Korea. That exclusivity is not a marketing footnote — it defines the entire premise of the restaurant. If Korean barbecue at the highest provenance level is what you are after, there is no alternative in Dubai. Book it.
For special occasions, HANU delivers on every practical requirement: a refined room inside a St. Regis property, tableside charcoal grills that make the meal participatory without feeling casual, and service that matches Korean hospitality conventions with five-star hotel polish. It is a better choice for a celebration dinner than most of Dubai's fire-led concepts, because the combination of rare beef, the Palm Jumeirah setting, and genuinely considered service creates an occasion rather than just a meal.
The editorial angle here is technique, and HANU earns close attention on that score. Hanwoo is prized for fine marbling and a sweetness that distinguishes it from Japanese Wagyu's more pronounced fat richness or Australian Wagyu's broader flavour profile. The kitchen's role is restraint: simple seasoning, precise heat management over traditional charcoal, and timing that preserves the beef's own character rather than masking it. That is harder to execute than it sounds , tableside grills create variables, and lesser Korean barbecue venues in Dubai hand over too much control to the diner. At HANU, the service team manages the cook, which is the right call at this price tier.
The menu extends beyond the beef cuts into the wider tradition of Korean fire cooking. Banchan and sauces are made with attention to provenance, serving as foils rather than fillers. The drinks programme, which earned HANU a Star Wine List recognition for 2026, pairs Old World wine structure with cocktails using Korean botanicals , a considered pairing decision that works with the smoke and umami depth of the food rather than against it.
For context on how Korean fine dining is being executed globally right now, Atomix in New York City represents the tasting-menu benchmark for the cuisine. HANU is not trying to replicate that format , it is doing something different, anchoring in barbecue tradition and beef provenance rather than omakase-style progression. Both are worth knowing about if Korean cuisine at a serious level is your category.
Dubai's hospitality calendar peaks between October and April, when outdoor temperatures are manageable and the Palm's hotel strip is running at full capacity. Booking HANU during this window, particularly on weekends, is more competitive than during the summer months, when occupancy at Palm properties drops. If you have flexibility, a midweek dinner in the cooler season gives you the full experience without the weekend crowd dynamic.
For a date or a business dinner with a client who has been around Dubai's circuit, HANU is a stronger choice than the familiar Japanese or steakhouse options. The Hanwoo story is a natural conversation piece, the charcoal grill creates engagement without being gimmicky, and the St. Regis setting handles the prestige requirement without you needing to explain the restaurant's credentials. Compare that to 11 Woodfire, which is also fire-led and well-regarded in Dubai's modern cuisine space, but operates in a different register , more creative technique, less centred on a single premium product story.
If you are building a Dubai dining itinerary around serious restaurants, pair HANU with Trèsind Studio for Indian tasting-menu cooking or FZN by Björn Frantzén for Nordic-influenced modern cuisine. Each covers a different tradition at a high technical level. See our full Dubai restaurants guide for broader coverage, and our Dubai hotels guide if you are staying on the Palm.
| Venue | Awards | Price | Value |
|---|---|---|---|
| HANU | Korean soul, luxury setting and a new fire-led voice in Dubai At The St. Regis on the Palm, Hanu has quickly become one of Dubai’s most distinctive dining experiences. Conceived by Kyung soo Moon, with Chef Wilson Shim, it brings the precision and purity of Korean barbecue into a cosmopolitan setting without losing its essence. Fire is the motif, but it is handled with restraint; the result feels refined rather than theatrical. Hanu takes its name from Hanwoo, Korea’s most prized native cattle breed, and it is the only restaurant in Dubai to serve this beef. The meat is flown in directly from Korea, prized for its fine marbling and delicate sweetness. It sits alongside Japanese and Australian Wagyu, but Hanwoo sets the tone, cooked over traditional tableside charcoal grills to ensure perfect heat control. The cuts are treated with respect – seasoned simply, grilled carefully and presented at just the right moment – so that their character remains intact. The room mirrors that philosophy. The interior is elegant without ostentation: warm woods, polished surfaces and soft light frame the central charcoal grill and create a serene atmosphere. It feels intimate even within the grandeur of the hotel. The service follows suit: calm and composed, blending Korean hospitality with the refinement expected at a St. Regis property. The experience here goes beyond meat alone. Hanu’s menu explores the breadth of Korean fire cooking, with dishes that balance heritage and modern technique. Side dishes and sauces are made with the same attention to provenance and craft, complementing the beef without overwhelming it. The wine and cocktail programme extends that balance into the glass, pairing the depth of smoke and umami with both Old World structure and contemporary cocktails that use native Korean botanicals. Korean restaurants are gaining global momentum, but Hanu has played a pioneering role in setting that stage for Dubai. It shows how Korean barbecue can be elevated without losing authenticity, using exclusivity and tradition to create a complete dining experience. Under Chef Moon’s direction, Hanu doesn’t just import a concept – it builds a new chapter for Korean fire cooking in the Middle East, where heritage, craft and location come together in a singular way.; Star Wine List (2026) | — | |
| 11 Woodfire | Michelin 1 Star, World's 50 Best | $$$ | — |
| Avatara Restaurant | Michelin 1 Star | $$$$ | — |
| Al Mahara | World's 50 Best | $$$$ | — |
| Zuma | World's 50 Best | $$$ | — |
| City Social | $$$$ | — |
How HANU stacks up against the competition.
Dress to match the setting: HANU sits inside the St. Regis Palm Jumeirah, which sets a formal-casual bar. Think polished evening wear rather than resort casual. The room uses warm woods and soft lighting, so the atmosphere rewards dressing up slightly, but strict black-tie is not the expectation.
Book at least one to two weeks ahead during Dubai's peak season (October to April), when hotel dining on the Palm runs at full capacity. HANU is the only Dubai restaurant serving Hanwoo beef flown directly from Korea, which gives it a pull that fills tables consistently. Last-minute availability is unpredictable.
The venue database does not confirm a standalone bar seating option. The room centres on tableside charcoal grills, which suggests the full experience is table-based. HANU's cocktail programme — which draws on native Korean botanicals — is worth exploring as part of a full dinner rather than a standalone bar visit.
Yes, with a clear rationale: the combination of Hanwoo beef (exclusive to HANU in Dubai), tableside charcoal grilling, and St. Regis service creates a format that justifies a celebration booking. It earns a Star Wine List recognition for 2026, which adds to the case if wine pairing matters to your group. For a purely theatrical spectacle, 11 Woodfire leans harder into the fire-cooking drama; HANU is more composed.
For fire-led cooking with more theatrical flair, 11 Woodfire is the closest peer. Zuma covers Japanese-inflected premium proteins in a louder, more social setting. Al Mahara offers luxury hotel dining at a comparable tier but with a seafood focus. Avatara is the Dubai option if you want premium Indian fine dining instead. None of them serve Hanwoo, which remains HANU's differentiator.
Hanwoo beef is the non-negotiable starting point: it is flown directly from Korea and is available nowhere else in Dubai. The menu also features Japanese and Australian Wagyu, but Hanwoo sets the tone and should anchor any order. Pair the beef with the Korean-botanical cocktails or the wine programme, which earned Star Wine List recognition for 2026. Specific cuts and side dishes are not confirmed in available data, so ask the kitchen what is current on arrival.
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