The Michelin Guide unveiled its first list of winners in Dubai on Tuesday, with 11 restaurants receiving at least one coveted star. Of these, Tresind Studio, led by chef Himanshu Saini, was the only Indian restaurant to take one home.
Saini began his journey with Tresind when it first burst onto the Dubai food scene by bringing liquid nitrogen to Indian cuisine in 2014.
Since then, he has gone from strength to strength. Not only has he been a noteworthy presence at various food festivals around the UAE, but Saini also often collaborates on one-off, highly experimental four-hands meals with some of the best chefs in the world, including Bahraini chef Tala Bashmi and Mexico's Jorge Vallejo.
Click through the gallery above to see the 11 Michelin-starred restaurants in Dubai.
Now, Saini can consider himself to be up there with the best.
Tresind Studio, which used to be tucked in the corner of the main Tresind restaurant at voco hotel, recently moved to Nakheel Mall on the Palm Jumeirah.
It serves a set tasting menu, which changes every four months: think wood apple pani puri, ghee roast crab with burnt cinnamon and curry leaf tempura and morel pulao with Assam tea dashi.
“Tresind Studio offers a single tasting menu. Through the experience, we serve comfort food to guests, yet ensure every person is leaving with a different impression and a changed perception about Indian cuisine,” Saini tells The National soon after taking to the stage to collect the award.
"The end game is to show the world that Indian food can also be gourmet.
“With our approach, I want to make people understand that Indian food is more than a takeaway curry, naan or biryani.”
It is an exciting menu, which serves a payasam pudding made with pink peppercorns and served with tomato rasam; or buttermilk curry ice cream with padron peppers and pickled chutney.
“There are many recipes, many stories, many cultural interpretations that are not explored enough,” the chef says.
It's a tall order, but one Saini is more than willing to continue serving up, especially in the light of his latest accolade.
“Getting a Michelin star is a great start and a proud moment, but what I'd like to do next is to reflect back on what happened today, to evolve the cuisine even further and to push for two stars next year," he says.
“Being the only Indian restaurant in Dubai with a Michelin star, the expectations will be huge, but I want to surpass those.”
Saini has some experience in the world of gourmet cuisine, having worked with Manish Mehrotra, the award-winning chef behind Indian Accent in New Delhi and New York.
On top of this, Saini says he comes from an “agricultural family”, which has made him inclined towards using locally sourced ingredients where possible.
“We have the same menu for four months only. So while I cannot recommend a particular dish that residents or gastro-tourists must order, I would urge all our patrons to explore Papadom, our botanical bar that works hand in hand with the kitchen," he says.
"All the scraps wasted in the kitchen are utilised in a curated drinks programme.” Think beverages made with cacao and fennel cordial, popcorn and fig acid syrup, pickled papaya and pineapple tepache.
“We've cultivated a terrace garden on the rooftop, where we grow a lot of produce even in this crazy hot weather. And it's a spot where you can expect equally crazy things on the tasting menu,” says Saini.
The restaurant's description on the Michelin Guide website reads: “An immersive dining experience awaits in this elegant Indian restaurant. The multi-course tasting menu is a masterpiece of originality and precision.
"The meal ... explodes with flavour [and] intricate, sublimely executed dishes. Add in wonderfully attentive service and you have all the ingredients for an evening that will live long in the memory.”
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Squad for first two ODIs
Kohli (c), Rohit, Dhawan, Rayudu, Pandey, Dhoni (wk), Pant, Jadeja, Chahal, Kuldeep, Khaleel, Shami, Thakur, Rahul.
Tuesday results:
- Singapore bt Malaysia by 29 runs
- UAE bt Oman by 13 runs
- Hong Kong bt Nepal by 3 wickets
Final:
Thursday, UAE v Hong Kong
'The Woman in the House Across the Street from the Girl in the Window'
Director:Michael Lehmann
Stars:Kristen Bell
Rating: 1/5
Dubai Bling season three
Cast: Loujain Adada, Zeina Khoury, Farhana Bodi, Ebraheem Al Samadi, Mona Kattan, and couples Safa & Fahad Siddiqui and DJ Bliss & Danya Mohammed
Rating: 1/5
UAE Team Emirates
Valerio Conti (ITA)
Alessandro Covi (ITA)
Joe Dombrowski (USA)
Davide Formolo (ITA)
Fernando Gaviria (COL)
Sebastian Molano (COL)
Maximiliano Richeze (ARG)
Diego Ulissi (ITAS)
Things Heard & Seen
Directed by: Shari Springer Berman, Robert Pulcini
Starring: Amanda Seyfried, James Norton
2/5
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The specs: 2019 Infiniti QX50
Price, base: Dh138,000 (estimate)
Engine: 2.0L, turbocharged, in-line four-cylinder
Transmission: Continuously variable transmission
Power: 268hp @ 5,600rpm
Torque: 380Nm @ 4,400rpm
Fuel economy: 6.7L / 100km (estimate)
How to invest in gold
Investors can tap into the gold price by purchasing physical jewellery, coins and even gold bars, but these need to be stored safely and possibly insured.
A cheaper and more straightforward way to benefit from gold price growth is to buy an exchange-traded fund (ETF).
Most advisers suggest sticking to “physical” ETFs. These hold actual gold bullion, bars and coins in a vault on investors’ behalf. Others do not hold gold but use derivatives to track the price instead, adding an extra layer of risk. The two biggest physical gold ETFs are SPDR Gold Trust and iShares Gold Trust.
Another way to invest in gold’s success is to buy gold mining stocks, but Mr Gravier says this brings added risks and can be more volatile. “They have a serious downside potential should the price consolidate.”
Mr Kyprianou says gold and gold miners are two different asset classes. “One is a commodity and the other is a company stock, which means they behave differently.”
Mining companies are a business, susceptible to other market forces, such as worker availability, health and safety, strikes, debt levels, and so on. “These have nothing to do with gold at all. It means that some companies will survive, others won’t.”
By contrast, when gold is mined, it just sits in a vault. “It doesn’t even rust, which means it retains its value,” Mr Kyprianou says.
You may already have exposure to gold miners in your portfolio, say, through an international ETF or actively managed mutual fund.
You could spread this risk with an actively managed fund that invests in a spread of gold miners, with the best known being BlackRock Gold & General. It is up an incredible 55 per cent over the past year, and 240 per cent over five years. As always, past performance is no guide to the future.
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