Michelin Guide Dubai Grows to 122 Restaurants, Two With Three Stars

The MICHELIN Guide unveiled its fifth Dubai edition on Tuesday, October 6, 2026, at Atlantis The Royal. The 2026 selection lists 122 restaurants across 38 cuisine types, and two restaurants, FZN by Björn Frantzén and Trèsind Studio, hold three MICHELIN Stars. The listings span star-rated restaurants, Bib Gourmand and MICHELIN Selected.

Michelin’s release says the selection now has nearly twice as many establishments as at the guide’s launch in Dubai. The National reports the total rose from 119 in the previous edition. The details below are as of October 7, 2026, and draw on Michelin’s release, The National, Gulf News and Good Food Middle East.

Star tiers and the new one-star entries

The National counts 20 starred restaurants in the 2026 guide: two with three stars, four with two stars and 14 with one star. Orfali Bros moved up from one star to two, two years after earning its first star. Birch and KIGO entered the list at one star.

Birch is led by chef Arslan Berdiev and draws on Turkmen roots and Uzbek tomatoes, according to Gulf News. KIGO offers sushi omakase and kaiseki menus. Row on 45, Il Ristorante-Niko Romito and STAY by Yannick Alléno kept their two stars.

Good Food Middle East reports the same two three-star and four two-star restaurants, so the top tiers match across three reports. Gulf News does not name the 12 retained one-star restaurants, so the full one-star roster comes only from The National.

Three-star holders
FZN by Björn Frantzén and Trèsind Studio hold the two three-star ratings in the 2026 selection, and both were retained from the previous guide.

Where the new entries sit across price tiers

Michelin counts 19 new entries: two one-star restaurants, four Bib Gourmand restaurants and 13 MICHELIN Selected restaurants, according to Gulf News. The Bib Gourmand list now stands at 22 and the MICHELIN Selected list at 80.

Good Food Middle East describes the four new Bib Gourmand restaurants. Middle Child is an Italian bistro and deli, S.E.A Bistrot serves Asian cooking from Chef Shane, Three Bros is a sister restaurant to Orfali Bros with Syrian heritage, and YUBI Dubai makes hand rolls to order with house-made pickles and condiments.

The 13 new MICHELIN Selected restaurants are not named in any of the reports reviewed. The sources also do not say how many restaurants left the list, so the change from 119 to 122 cannot be broken down from the reports.

Michelin’s release says the guide is extending into hotels through a separate hotel selection programme. It also says Mindful Voices, a new global editorial platform for chefs and hoteliers, makes its Dubai debut in 2026. The Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism is the destination partner for the edition.

Closed restaurants keep their stars for now

The National reports that four starred restaurants are temporarily closed but kept their stars: Al Muntaha, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Ossiano and Smoked Room. The Michelin release does not mention closures, and neither does Good Food Middle East’s report.

The National links the closures to softer demand and reduced tourism following the Iran war, and reports that a Dubai food writer questioned why at least 10 closed restaurants across the guide’s lists were included. Michelin told The National it was fully aware of the closures and is monitoring when the restaurants might reopen.

Michelin says its inspectors will re-evaluate closed restaurants once they reopen, to confirm they still meet the standards of their distinctions. As of October 7, 2026, the sources reviewed do not give reopening dates for any of the closed restaurants.

Michelin says its inspectors will re-evaluate closed restaurants once they reopen.

Awards, availability and next steps

Special awards went to Gonzalo Platero and Window for Opening of the Year, Ninad Jani of avatāra for sommelier, Akinori Tanigawa and the KIGO team for service, Rémy Marquignon of Ossiano for young chef, and Zahra Erfanian Azmoodeh of Carbone Dubai for exceptional cocktails.

Gwendal Poullennec, International Director of the MICHELIN Guides, said the team is delighted to mark the guide’s fifth anniversary in Dubai, according to Michelin’s release. The National quotes him saying the selection reflects a city developing its own culinary identity.

The release features Zachary Roy, operational manager of LOWE, as a Mindful Voice. It summarises his remarks on nose-to-tail and fire-led cooking, locally sourced ingredients and composting.

The full selection is available on the MICHELIN Guide website and app. A replay of the ceremony is on the MICHELIN Guide Middle East Facebook page and the MICHELIN Guide Global YouTube channel.

Photo: Francesco Bini · CC BY-SA 4.0 · via Wikimedia Commons