Dubai Restaurants, Eat, Japanese Restaurants

Noren, Dubai ‘A Little Japanese Sunshine Beams Down on JLT’

Dubai Restaurants, Eat, Japanese Restaurants
October 21, 2026

With an ex-Zumba crew opening a good time Japanese restaurant in JLT, do we need to go to DIFC?

Noren is a new Japanese restaurant inside the Pullman Hotel in Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai aka JLT. It takes its name from the split fabric curtain that hangs in the doorways between rooms.

The Highs

The Lows

The Highs

The Lows

Two wolves live inside me.

Round table set for dinner in Noren’s dining room in JLT, Dubai, surrounded by mustard armchairs, with a bar of sake and spirits on open shelves against floor-to-ceiling windows — Round tables for big groups, and the bar behind. © Liam Collens

Noren had been open for two weeks when I crossed its threshold. I say that to explain two things.

The first is that if you are cooking and charging customers, you can be judged. No matter how long you have been open.

The second, as a man in his late, late, laaate 30s (I’ll be 44 in December), I know that the world is more complicated than absolutes.

So this isn’t a white-gloved swipe of the surfaces review scouring for lint. This is an observation, a glimpse into a restaurant still working itself out.

Noren is not JLT’s only Japanese restaurant

The entrance to Noren from the Pullman Dubai Jumeirah Lakes Towers lobby, opening onto the bar, beside a red-lit shelf of artwork and lounge armchairs — Noren’s entrance from inside the Pullman hotel. © Liam Collens

Off the top: there is little at Noren that I have not seen elsewhere. And it may not be the best Japanese restaurant in Dubai, but it certainly scratches an itch that JLT otherwise left unsalved. It isn’t painfully high concept, but perhaps a smidge performative. But, importantly, it does not surrender to an underwhelming box ticking as the Pullman’s token Asian diner.

Here, there is almost nothing new under the sun. But some places enjoy less sun than others, and Noren shows early signs of being an exciting addition to JLT, a part of town that enjoys a little sunshine, but maybe deserves a little more.

Chefs preparing sushi at the live counter of Noren, a Japanese restaurant in JLT, Dubai, with red counter stools in front, diners at tables and a backlit cocktail bar at the back of the room — Noren’s live sushi bar, dining room and cocktail bar in the back. © Liam Collens

Noren is not the same pedigree as Zuma, but it is certainly the same breed.

As you’ve probably heard, some ex-Zuma thoroughbreds are behind Noren. A team also affiliated with Kima Izakaya, also in JLT, which sits on my lists of the best restaurants in Dubai and the best restaurants in JLT. Noren is not the same pedigree as Zuma, but it is certainly the same breed.

At 130 covers, Noren is curvaceously plus-sized and, only two weeks in, she is full by 8.30 / 9 pm. Mostly with residents.

Chefs in bandanas working at Noren’s open kitchen in JLT, one waving to the camera, behind a stone counter under copper pendant lamps and green tiled walls. — Noren’s sushi station with some familiar KIMA faces. © Liam Collens

This is a homegrown restaurant frequented by repeat-customers and those curious to know whether it’s ‘good enough’, whether a team that helped make Zuma a popular behemoth can deliver enough to spare the arduous trek to DIFC.

Noren appeals to a thirty-something crowd that wants a comfortable chair while having a good time. I didn’t see anyone dancing on the bar, but it is early days.

It is a good-time place for get-togethers, midweek date nights and after-work gatherings. Also, *leans in* Noren is licensed. Very licensed. There are cocktails, a sake list running from carafes to 1.8-litre bottles, not to mention a long list of white and red wine.

Floor-to-ceiling glass wall of sake and wine bottles behind a set dining table at Noren, Japanese restaurant at the Pullman JLT, Dubai — Choose your weapon, mostly red. © Liam Collens

Listen closely while I tell you that the wine prices are affordable in a way I haven’t seen in Dubai before, except at LOWE which, for a short time, is charging cost price.

Noren’s red wine starts at AED 120 and whites at AED 165. Fill your boots while the filling is good.

Bryan, the sommelier (ex BOCA), poured the 120 dirhams bottle. I had no complaints. I trust Bryan with my drinking. So should you.

Noren’s menu and food

The menu’s 68 dishes before dessert itemises some predictable greatest hits: edamame, steamed or with chilli; chicken and prawn gyoza with wafu ponzu; spicy tuna maki; saikyo miso black cod.

Page of Noren’s menu listing small dishes, salads, cold dishes and tempura with prices in dirhams, including edamame, gyoza, chutoro and okonomi onion rings — So much of these we have seen before. © Liam Collens

Not everything we ate is worth mentioning. Chalk some of that up to the early days, and the rest to my apathy toward silliness and repeat offenders. (Yes you, charcoal shrimp and California maki roll). Also, can we agree that ‘tomato carpaccio’ is not a thing? Anyway.

What stood out: the okonomi onion rings, crisp tempura under a heap of dancing bonito flakes; the grilled sweetcorn finger-deep in an ochre spicy yuzu butter; the Australian tenderloin steeped in Japanese barbecue sauce.

Okonomi tempura onion rings at Noren in JLT, piled under bonito flakes with okonomi sauce, mayonnaise and spring onion, served with a chilli dip — Order the okonomi onion rings. You’re welcome. © Liam Collens

The aka yuzu-kosho Chilean seabass is not Just Another Miso Black Cod disciple. A little ripple of spice runs through it, and that small change gives a contemporary classic some. Little effort, big appreciation.

Oddly, the hero of the night was dessert. There was no dessert menu yet; the options were three ice cream flavours (unremarkable) and a pineapple-and-chilli-like parfait, a sort of granita. Forgive me, but it is the one dish I would come back for.

Layered pineapple and chilli dessert at Noren in Dubai: crumb, diced pineapple and cream topped with pineapple granita, lime zest and dried pineapple crisps, on crushed ice with yellow petals. — A chilli-pineapple crumble, granita, dessert thing. Order it. © Liam Collens

The pricing tells two stories. The small dishes and snacks, most under AED 50, are priced kindly and didn’t raise an eyebrow. They feel conscious of the residential neighbourhood and priced like a neighbourhood restaurant, unlike some.

The mains punch. The tenderloin, AED 275; the seabass, AED 175; beyond those, the ribeye with chilli Nagoya miso, AED 245; the king crab with lemon butter AED 265; the Japanese wagyu AED 550.

Robata-grilled Australian beef tenderloin in a pool of glossy Japanese barbecue sauce, topped with fine spring onion and chilli flakes, in a speckled bowl at Noren in JLT — Australian tenderloin, steeped in Japanese barbecue sauce. © Liam Collens

Service? In its infancy, a bit rushed on its feet, we asked they to explain multiple dishes a few times. Inconsistent, but finding their stride. Charitably, I suspect they get overwhelmed as the room fills.

Would I Return?

Yes, I spoke optimistically to my colleagues the following morning. Noren gives me enough to spare me the drive to DIFC. I also work in JLT, so I can’t say whether I’d cross town for Noren, but I don’t sense that’s their ambition.

The lunch menu is due the first week of October. For selfish reasons, I hope there is a business lunch.

Who Should Go?

Residents of JLT, Emirates Hills, The Springs, The Greens, Dubai Marina and the surrounding areas. Anyone who already considers JLT one of Dubai’s best eating neighbourhoods. Pullman guests: go downstairs. Noren is not your box-ticking Japanese restaurant.

Review Information

Disclosure: this meal was comped. I was a plus-one to Courtney Brandt invited by the restaurant.

Visits: 1.

Dishes ordered (in AED): steamed edamame (28); chilli edamame (30) onion rings, bonito and nama sichimi (48); chicken and prawn gyoza with wafu ponzu (42); tomato carpaccio with Ibaraki soy sauce (38); thinly sliced chutoro with jalapeno dressing (72); beef carpaccio with truffle soy sauce (78); Grilled sweetcorn, spicy yuzu butter (42); Australian tenderloin with Japanese barbecue sauce (175); Aka yuzu-kosho Chilean seabass (175); Pineapple and chilli granita (price unknown) (desserts were read out; no dessert menu yet).

Licensed: Yes, Paloma: price not stated (no cocktail menu provided); Domaine de Bila-Haut, Le Ciboise, Grenache-Syrah, Luberon 2024 (120 for the bottle).

Total (AED estimated): AED 850 plus cocktails and dessert for three people.

Noren, Pullman Dubai Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Cluster T, Jumeirah Lakes Towers, Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Call +971 4 565 4910 or visit Noren’s Instagram or Noren’s Website for the latest information.

Liam is a food and travel writer based in the Middle East. He co-authored The Rise of Indian Food: Recipes Reimagined by Trèsind Studio, out now and available here. Published by Phaidon Press. Photography by Shresth Maloo. Liam owns EatGoSee and contributes to other publications. You can find Liam on Substack, Threads and Instagram.