MICHELIN Guide Dubai turns five this year, with its next ceremony set for 6 October at Atlantis The Royal. The room will fill with chefs, restaurant owners and food writers, all there for one reason: to see which names land in the 2026 selection.
Five years is long enough to become part of a city's rhythm, and that's roughly where MICHELIN Guide Dubai now sits. It's grown alongside the local restaurant scene, watching it get more varied and more accomplished with each edition. The Dubai Department of Economy and Tourism partners on the event, a nod to how central good food has become to how the city sells itself to the world.
None of that works without the restaurants themselves. Dubai draws cooking talent from across the globe, and that diversity plays out on plates all over the city, in ways that appeal equally to residents and to visitors seeking something worth the trip. MICHELIN applies its usual five-point test to every restaurant under consideration: how good the ingredients are, how well the kitchen executes its techniques, whether the flavours actually work together, whether the chef's own voice comes through in the food, and whether the quality holds steady over time.
The celebratory reception will feature chefs of some newly honoured restaurants. Among those expected are Row on 45, holder of Two MICHELIN Stars from last year's Dubai guide, plus One-Star restaurants avatāra and Hōseki, also honoured in 2025. Glass Hostaria joins with a One Star from this year's Italy guide, and Berenjak returns carrying its Bib Gourmand from 2025.
The rating system stays exactly as it's always been. A single Star flags cooking worth stopping for. Two Stars mean it's worth going out of your way for. Three, the rarest tier, is reserved for cooking worth planning an entire trip around. The Bib Gourmand runs parallel to the Stars, marking out restaurants that deliver real quality without the fine-dining price.
Stay tuned for the full 2026 Dubai list.