Trèsind Studio

Regional memory at the pass

King oyster mushroom leaves the bench as noodles, set with black fungus XO sauce and a shoyu of morel mushrooms. Himanshu Saini, executive chef at Trèsind Studio in Dubai, works in that register, moving a known Indian reference until its outline changes without losing its source. He worked under Manish Mehrotra at Indian Accent in New Delhi, then carried that early modern Indian language to Trèsind in Dubai, which he opened from 2014. Trèsind Studio followed in 2018 as the more concentrated room, a place for tasting-menu pacing, regional framing, and a closer exchange between the pass and the table. The lineage matters because the cooking here does not treat tradition as ornament. Saini uses memory, technique, and regional produce as working materials. His role at the Studio is to tighten the gesture: a dish may borrow the shape of a noodle, the logic of a pickle, the comfort of curry leaf oil, or the acidity of a coastal preparation, then return it to the guest in a form suited to a small, formal dining room on The Palm Jumeirah.

A menu built by region

The format is a tasting menu, with the restaurant’s stated journey moving through four regions of India. The Northern Plains and Himalayan Mountains section gives one useful reading of the method: plains and mountains are not scenery, they become the frame for fungus, morel, depth, and restraint. Elsewhere, the house names Fried Lentil Donut with Gorgonzola, Langoustine with Balchão Pickle, Lobster Tail in Curry Leaf Oil, King Oyster Mushroom Noodles, and Banana Hazelnut Tortellini among its signatures. These are not translations in the loose sense. They are adjustments in texture, temperature, and sequence, with Indian references kept legible inside contemporary technique. The room also carries a curated wine program, wine pairings, and craft cocktails, so the beverage work follows the same discipline as the kitchen: not a separate flourish, but part of the tasting rhythm. Local sourcing, organic produce, and sustainable UAE farms are part of the restaurant’s stated method, giving the menu Dubai immediacy rather than a purely archival idea of India.

The room keeps the work close

The Studio’s intimacy changes the charge of the pass. The main dining space is darkly furnished and austere, with an open view into the kitchen, so the guest reads the hand before the plate arrives fully explained. Service is formal, but the scale keeps it bench-side in feeling: a course lands, a regional cue is given, the next preparation is already moving in the kitchen’s line of sight. The rooftop garden setting adds a second register, quieter than the city below, while the room holds to controlled theatre rather than spectacle. Trèsind Studio holds three Michelin stars, the first Indian restaurant in the world to receive that distinction, and it appears on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants list at rank 2. The better close, inside the room, is still a plate: langoustine sharpened by Balchão Pickle.