Al Muntaha, Dubai, Burj Al Arab. Restaurant Review.

This leaves us with the small matter of food and wine.

There are two set lunch menus: a four-course menu for AED450 and a five course one for AED705. Both are much lower than the nine-course AED1100 dinner menu, and that’s before two wine pairings at AED900 or the Prestige Pairing at AED2900.


Blue lobster cooked over robata with lentils.

Á la carte exists, but as starters near AED 300 and mains orbit AED 500, it makes the set menus the shrewd choice for whom such things matter. The cheese trolley is not included, but it’s a worthy extra indulgence.

Now, the dishes are far more focused with less throw-it-at-the-wall, more-is-more, maybe if we do this, we will get a second star, which candidly is how it felt one night 16 months ago.

This lunch is more self assured, seafood forward and with enough complexity, pomp and flourish to feel special, laying on a sense of occasion without lording it over you. It never feels like a creative, untethered frolic. There’s luxury, there’s indulgence. Dare I say, it’s classy warmed by Antonio’s tête-à-tête and storytelling.


Antonio Costigliola curls butter like a champ.

Out comes a fragile tartlet of potato foam with a nose-whomp of grated truffle; a potato and mushroom pie matriculated from this Italian finishing school.

Later appears a tidy pile of spaghettoni—so thick, like boot laces, it takes 18 minutes to boil, apparently—with tuna crudo, shallots and the pop of mustard grains. I trace a heart on the plate as a note of appreciation for the kitchen. A lozenge of blue lobster cooked over robata is intentionally kept slightly raw with Altamura lentils and a spoon-coatingly rich bisque.


Bootlace-thick spaghettoni with raw tuna and mustard grains.

A Dover sole cooked whole comes sliced and sent to its final resting place in a bouillabaisse sauce with a crown of dressed lettuce. The “fish in a sauce” motif never feels monotonous. The pigeon, blushing medium, with radicchio, pickled shallots and blackberries that inflects a rewarding bitterness, bite and acid to the pigeon’s meaty earthiness.

Osetria caviar from Brescia appears on a marinated raw tuna tartlet, as pretty as a vintage brooch. White truffles shingled a pumpkin gnoochi and, later a chestnut ice cream with puréed Jerusalem artichoke like autumn leaves. I abandon my spoon to sweep the bowl clean with my fingers and lick them clean. Is there a greater compliment?


Raw tuna and red pepper tartlet.

A picturesque dessert injects a fresh palate cleanser with blood orange, lemon sorbet and eucalyptus water rinsed down with a chaser of Mosel Trockenbeerenauslese. Divine.

Al Muntaha, Would I Return?

For special occasions where fine dining is required, certainly. I do think a little wine bar here would be great addition for those like me who would turn up to drink a bottle and admire the views.


Burj Al Arab’s interior looking from the lobby upwards.

Al Muntaha, Who Should Go?

People looking for a solid one Michelin starred restaurant in Dubai. Anyone interesting in checking out the Burj Al Arab. Fine dining experience seekers also hoping to couple it with an iconic Dubai landmark. Enthusiastic wine drinkers looking for a cut above.

Written by Liam Collens // Read more reviews here. Liam is a restaurant critic, food and travel writer based in the Middle East. He owns EatGoSee and contributes to other publications. You can find Liam on Substack, Threads, Instagram, BlueSky or Facebook.