Published: 27 December 2024
Dubai Hills Estate sits within the wider sweep of Mohammed Bin Rashid City, where much of its identity has been shaped by golf-course views, landscaped avenues, family villas, apartment communities and the steady growth of Dubai Hills Mall and Dubai Hills Business Park. It is, first and foremost, a residential district, but one with enough leisure and retail around it to feel active beyond the usual rhythms of school runs, errands and evening walks.
It is impossible to discuss dining in Dubai Hills Estate without mentioning the golf club, the business park and the small cluster of restaurants that have given the neighbourhood a more sociable edge. Unlike Downtown Dubai or DIFC, the area does not depend on restaurant density. Its appeal is quieter and more considered, with a Michelin-starred vegetarian restaurant, intimate Japanese counters, polished Chinese dining rooms and golf-club terraces that make the setting part of the meal.
Avatāra
Located in Dubai Hills Business Park, Avatāra is the most serious fine-dining address in the neighbourhood. The restaurant is centred on a vegetarian Indian tasting-menu experience, with 17-course and 12-course menus available, along with vegan and gluten-free options on request. Its cooking takes vegetables, grains, dairy, spices and Indian culinary memory into a more theatrical dining format, where each course arrives as part of a structured progression rather than a conventional à la carte meal.
The menu gives that philosophy a precise form. Dishes such as Wasabi Greens with coral cookie and pickled daikon, Butternut with chickpea taco and black lime, Truffle with mushroom tart and black garlic aioli, and Jackfruit with teardrop peas, spinach and kafir curry show how the kitchen builds flavour around a single ingredient, then extends it through texture, spice and technique.
The restaurant’s creative identity is shaped by the wider Trèsind Group, with Bhupender Nath as Founder and Managing Director, Chef Himanshu Saini as Corporate Chef and Chef Omkar Walve leading the kitchen as Executive Chef. Chef Omkar, raised in Mumbai and part of the Trèsind Group since 2017, won the Michelin Guide Dubai Young Chef Award in 2023, giving Avatāra a strong current culinary figure as well as a recognised fine-dining pedigree.
Inside, Avatāra feels calm, intimate and deliberate. The full experience lasts around two and a half hours, and the menu is arranged with the sense of a journey, moving through texture, memory and spice with controlled pacing.
TERO by Reif Othman
TERO is tucked inside REIF Japanese Kushiyaki at Dubai Hills Business Park, but it works on a far more private scale. The experience is built around a 12-seat chef’s table, with guests gathered close to the open kitchen in a room that feels more like a small culinary theatre than a conventional restaurant.
The current season is shaped around the theme of Poultry & Birds, with three snacks followed by a six-course menu that is revealed only as the evening unfolds. That secrecy is part of the appeal. Rather than reading through dishes in advance, guests follow the rhythm of the kitchen, with each course arriving as part of a single seasonal idea.
Beverages are kept separate from the menu, with alcoholic and non-alcoholic options available at the venue and wine pairings forming part of the wider TERO experience. The format is intimate, focused and deliberately restrained, with four dinner seatings from Tuesday to Saturday and a two-hour dining window.
For Dubai Hills Estate, TERO remains one of the area’s most exclusive tables. It suits private celebrations, discreet client dinners and diners who prefer precision, pacing and surprise over a large à la carte menu.
MOLI by SHI
MOLI by SHI brings a more dramatic visual language to Dubai Hills Business Park. The name refers to jasmine in Chinese, and the interior carries that symbolism into a highly stylised room of Chinese architectural references and contemporary luxury. Design studio 4SPACE used Lumi stone, carved wall cladding, wood finishes, jacquard velvet, jasmine-shaped pendant lighting and a Dougong-inspired structure, drawing from the interlocking wooden bracket systems found in historic Chinese buildings.
The menu moves through refined Chinese and Asian dishes, with highlights including caramelised Chilean sea bass with truffle, Peking duck, lobster dumplings, prawn har gau, Cantonese crispy duck and wok-style seafood and beef dishes. The restaurant’s Dubai Hills Business Park location gives it an evening atmosphere that feels more dressed-up than most neighbourhood dining rooms.
MOLI is the restaurant for a more theatrical night in Dubai Hills. It suits dim sum lunches, polished dinners, seafood-led evenings and occasions that call for a sense of ceremony without leaving the community. Where Avatāra is meditative and TERO is intimate, MOLI is opulent, decorative and social.
REIF Japanese Kushiyaki
REIF Japanese Kushiyaki gives Dubai Hills Estate a chef-led Japanese address with a more relaxed but still highly polished character. The Dubai Hills branch has a fuller menu, a more refined ambience and a fully licensed bar, positioning it as one of the more elevated REIF locations in the city. It also includes Denka, a private dining room that seats up to 12 guests or can be divided into two smaller rooms for six, making it useful for intimate dinners and small-group hosting.
Chef Reif Othman’s style is playful but precise, shaped by Japanese sensibilities with touches of Italian and French technique. The brand is known for dishes such as the Wagyu sando, kushi skewers and the yuzu and lemon “toilet roll” cake that became one of its most recognisable signatures.
The Michelin Guide awarded the Dubai Hills branch a Bib Gourmand and highlighted dishes such as kushiyaki, escargot teriyaki and beef gyoza, all served in a contemporary room with colour and energy. REIF is not the most formal restaurant in Dubai Hills, but it has one of the clearest chef identities. It is ideal for guests who want Japanese cooking with wit, a bar-led evening and the option of a private room.
DUO Gastrobar
DUO Gastrobar brings a lighter, more European rhythm to Dubai Hills Business Park. The restaurant works with European and Mediterranean flavours, layered with subtle Asian influences, and opens daily from 9 AM with breakfast, coffee, lunch and dinner. Its food is designed to feel polished without becoming formal, making it one of the neighbourhood’s most useful addresses for residents, business lunches and relaxed evening dining.
The menu moves from breakfast into a more refined lunch and dinner offering, with dishes that reflect the restaurant’s preference for clean flavours, fresh produce and a cosmopolitan style of dining. DUO’s Dubai Hills branch has also earned Michelin Bib Gourmand recognition, which fits the restaurant’s appeal: polished, good-value cooking in a setting that feels elevated without becoming formal.
The interiors give DUO its calm appeal, with blond wood, cream tones, high ceilings and an open kitchen helping the space feel bright and social rather than heavy. It is perhaps the most elegant everyday restaurant in Dubai Hills Estate, where the experience is refined but never overworked.
Revelry
Revelry adds a more playful Indian voice to the Dubai Hills dining scene. Also set in Dubai Hills Business Park, it combines Indian tapas with a cocktail-bar mood, creating a space that feels less ceremonial than Avatāra but still rooted in strong culinary ideas.
Its menu is built around small plates and a “Passport Menu”, where global street-food references are reworked with Indian ingredients and flavours. Current examples include pindi chana hash brown, Revelry Caesar with green chilli pickle, and butter masala mac and cheese with kasoori methi Dorito crust. The drinks menu carries the same sense of storytelling, with signature cocktails treated as chapters in a wider evening journey.
Revelry holds a Michelin Bib Gourmand, placing it among Dubai’s recognised restaurants for quality and value. In Dubai Hills Estate, it works best as the livelier choice: colourful, cocktail-driven, informal enough for a spontaneous night out, but still thoughtful enough to feel distinct from the area’s more casual restaurants.
Duck Hook
Located at Dubai Hills Golf Club, Duck Hook brings the feel of a country pub and garden to one of Dubai Hills Estate’s strongest lifestyle settings. Its position by the golf club gives it a quieter rhythm, with the greens close by and a setting that lends itself to long lunches, casual evenings and post-round gatherings.
The interiors and outdoor areas lean into that pub-garden character, more convivial than formal, with a setting designed for relaxed dining rather than ceremony. The menu follows the same line. Alongside its à la carte offering and beverage list, Duck Hook runs a daily roast from 11:30 AM to 10:30 PM, a daily happy hour from 3:00 PM to 8:00 PM, Tuesday curry night and The Big Ducking BBQ on Saturdays and Sundays.
Much of Duck Hook’s personality comes through its weekly rhythm. Quiz nights, live sports and a seasonal pet menu, paused during the hotter months and set to return in September, make it feel less like a one-off dining address and more like a local that residents return to. For Dubai Hills Estate, it adds a more characterful, grown-up social spot to the community, shaped by pub comfort, garden ease and the pleasure of having somewhere lively close to home.
