Tresind Studio’s Rising India
A photo diary of Rising India’s latest incarnation: an evolution towards Indian cuisine’s future.
I reviewed Tresind Studio multiple times, but you can read a full review of Rising India here from 2023. You can also share, like and comment on this post or—even better—why not subscribe below!
“Tresind Studio is Dubai’s best restaurant”, so I will tell anyone willing to listen—even if they’re not. The words fall out of my mouth, coupled with a raft of reliable favourites.
Looking back, I first ate at Tresind Studio around the time I started this writing lark. I booked a table armed with a bulky digital camera (because iPhone cameras sucked back then) to eat through those embryonic stages of Studio finding both its footing and its voice, plate by plate, Season by Season, as the menus were then called). Now, Tresind Studio deftly wields modern Indian fine dining between its fingers.
I watched people come and go, dishes rotate on and off, and I turned up on day one for new menus—often to the team’s annoyance. There were evenings when I was the only person in the restaurant, notwithstanding their countless hours of prep squandered by cancellations.
You may have detected this by now, but to make it plain, I am pretty close to the team at Tresind Studio. I wrote the foreword in their menu. I am regularly invited to their new menu launches (note: I was asked to this one) and their collaborations. My wife and I travelled with Chef Himanshu Saini to Italy, where he cooked at Ein Prosit.
I would hear arguments about the blindness bias brings, but I am also very capable of falling out of love with restaurants, as some may attest. I also give those I care about most a harder time than those for whom I am indifferent.
I’ve spent hours with Himanshu festering nerdishly in the details of acid and spice, crunch and texture, flow, menu lengths, and pairings—often with alignment, often with friendly disagreement. (He cooks it, so he’s right.)
I witnessed their gentle rise from relative obscurity to being one of the World’s 50 Best Restaurants (currently lucky number 13).
Now, you are lucky to get a table.
Good. Nothing delights me more than watching good things happen to good people.
In many ways, Tresind Studio informed and shaped my impressions of fine dining and what it means. I could regale and distil those things here—those details that separate the good from the great—a punctilious practice that earned Tresind Studio its two Michelin stars. But there is one thing that stays with me.
That thing is joy.
Technical achievement and unmitigated joy are not common bedfellows in fine dining. A perfectly cooked slab of fish bathed in pools of cream and caviar will earn my admiration, but it does mean my toes curl with joy. To me, Tresind Studio’s Rising India menu hones technique in service of joy.
Tresind Studio’s Rising India menu
Tresind Studio abandoned its early ritual of menus by “Seasons”. Its Rising India concept now delves into India’s five regions and explores each plate by plate.
Here silos of chaat—that most delicious of Indian snack food that means “to lick” because you want to lick your fingers after eating it—are dispatched from the kitchen in quick succession and as a statement of intent. I throw my shoulders back in my chair: the crunch, the tang, all that herbaceous brightness.
The Deccan Plateau’s tender young coconut kushiyaki is sprightly, toothsome and vibrant. A bolshy lamb scarpetta from the Northern Plains makes delicious use of those best bits often left behind. The Coastal Plains serves a lobster tail buttressed by a pickled carrot and Alleppey curry of green mango. The Himalayas make delicious use of king oyster mushrooms elegantly cut into noodles and served with a Himalayan morel known locally as Guuchi (pronounced like the Italian clothing brand).
Rising India’s latest incarnation is more revolution than revolution across its 18 courses over three hours, with some dishes bidding adieu to make space for newcomers. (I won’t lie; I do miss some old favourites.)
A tomato tikka masala is paired with a throuple’s love-child of garlic naan, broth and soufflé. A banana and hazelnut tortellini with miso caramel is served in South Indian filter coffee. Italians might weep.
The Onam Sadhya ritual remains, offering quiet reprieve and reflection. The ghee-roasted crab in a bark of cinnamon is as close to a signature dish as Himanshu will likely allow. Most importantly, the opening of pani puri water aerated over dry ice continues to welcome all who come to Tresind Studio, and, as Vipin Panwar will tell you, it is tradition (see my video at the start).
I hope I never tire of Tresind Studio. I am honestly not sure that I ever could.
A question I ask myself about a restaurant is, what would happen if it closed?
For many of Dubai’s 13,000 restaurants (and counting)—including the fine-dining ones—the answer is nothing. Nothing terrible would happen. The culinary scene would be fine; we would forget about them within six months.
This is not true for Tresind Studio. When you look closer, Tresind Studio’s calibre and achievements are less important than its hand on the rudder of progressive Indian fine dining. To dine at Tresind Studio is to experience the culinary zeitgeist of billions of people and their stories over millennia. This would be missing. This and my joy.
Tresind Studio Rising India photo diary
This is from the non-vegetarian 18-course menu.
Snacks
‘Pani puri’ avocado, jicama, green plum aguachile; Shiso khakra, yogurt crémeux, garden herbs; Medu vada, gorgonzola dolce, kimchi, parmesan saaru; Langoustine nigiri, balchao XO; Tomato tikka masala, naan soufflé, tomato brodo.
Thar Desert
White asparagus rice no rice, pandan kadhi, black asparagus broth; Pickled pepper, tangerine flowers, khandvi ice cream.
Deccan Plateau
Tender coconut kushiyaki, palm heart, yuzu rasam; Ghee roast crab, burnt cinnamon.
Inspiration ‘Sadya’ Celebration of flavors
Coastal Plains
Turbot, black truffle thokku, cauliflower varuval; Lobster tail, pickled carrot, Alleppey curry.
Northern Plains & Himalayan Mountains
Kebab & kebab scarpetta, sourdough toasts; King oyster noodles, black fungus XO, morel shoyu.
Desserts
Oyster pearl, rambutan, seawater; ‘Murabba’ variation of apples with date & whey mole; Banana & hazelnut tortellini, miso caramel, South Indian filter coffee; ‘Honeymoon’ tea, milk & honey.
Tresind Studio, St Regis Gardens, The Palm Jumeirah, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Visit Tresind Studio’s website or call +971 58 895 1272 for more information and reservations.
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Seeing the BTS now, it's fascinating to see the evolution of a menu and dishes in real time. I've always respected Chef Himanshu before, but my appreciation is now at a completely different level. Thank you for this lovely post!
Brilliant to see your reflections over 7 years - the current menu looks sublime and has me salivating!