Reif Japanese Kushiyaki, Dubai Hills: We Deserve This
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Reif Japanese Kushiyaki, Dubai Hills: We Deserve This
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki, Dubai Hills Business Park, Building 3, Dubai. Also, Dar Wasl Mall, Al Wasl Road, Al Wasl, Dubai. All information is true as of publication. You can find the latest information on Reif Japanese Kushiyaki’s Website or call them on +971 4 255 5142.
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki Dubai Hills expands Reif Othman’s success, reminding imitators that he’s still the yardstick to beat.
Written by Liam Collens // Find other reviews here
The Highs
The Lows
The Highs
The Lows
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki, Dubai Hills: We Deserve This
There were only two reasons to come out here not that long ago. You are en route to Al Qudra or you are in the market for a villa. And, boy, are there villas. Farms and farms of villas sprouting everywhere vying for your sweet, sweet deposit.
With villas come residents, wants and expectations. Schools, a business park and, eventually, Dubai Hills Mall, which – hot take – is the best mall in Dubai from this resident’s perspective.
So now, can you shop? Sure. Are there golf courses and kids’ parks? Check. Solid restaurants though? Ah, we have a problem. Solid restaurants are in short supply out here. I would know. I put down roots in this part of town nearly five years ago. Lowe was the only thirst-quenching oasis in a dining drought. “Bloody far though”, I often hear. We would dust off our passports and carefully read the signs leaving Dubai then set a course towards North North Yemen. I joke, it’s not that far. It’s only Al Barari. But Lowe’s wood-fired sesame bread is ‘worth a special journey’ IMHO.
“Wait, Liam, if you go into Studio Cit—”, I said what I said. For too long residents in this area endured dining mediocrity packaged and presented as good. I would munch something so-so around here when I couldn’t be bothered to hack it out to Jumeirah, Downtown or somewhere better. Silly me.
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki is now open in Dubai Hills Business Park!
With villas come residents, wants and expectations. Schools, a business park and, eventually, Dubai Hills Mall, which – hot take – is the best mall in Dubai from this resident’s perspective.
So now, can you shop? Sure. Are there golf courses and kids’ parks? Check. Solid restaurants though? Ah, we have a problem. Solid restaurants are in short supply out here. I would know. I put down roots in this part of town nearly five years ago. Lowe was the only thirst-quenching oasis in a dining drought. “Bloody far though”, I often hear. We would dust off our passports and carefully read the signs leaving Dubai then set a course towards North North Yemen. I joke, it’s not that far. It’s only Al Barari. But Lowe’s wood-fired sesame bread is ‘worth a special journey’ IMHO.
“Wait, Liam, if you go into Studio Cit—”, I said what I said. For too long residents in this area endured dining mediocrity packaged and presented as good. I would munch something so-so around here when I couldn’t be bothered to hack it out to Jumeirah, Downtown or somewhere better. Silly me.
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki is now open in Dubai Hills Business Park!
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki fills a gaping void in the neighbourhood
It was a matter of time until someone answered the call. Step forward: Reif Japanese Kushiyaki. I originally wrote about Reif Japanese Kushiyaki’s original Dar Wasl location back in 2019 . Me, perched against a long, low-slung bar on a busy midweek evening sat next to a man who’d eaten there for the third or fourth time that week. Many, many visits to RJK (and The Experience) later, countless Reif imitators sprung up across Dubai.
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki’s interior channels woods and pops of bright colour in the spacious back end of the restaurant.
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki’s interior channels woods and pops of bright colour in the spacious back end of the restaurant.
A place that distils sensibility, shrouds complexity with simplicity and shuns both pretentiousness and the gaudy tantara Dubai often gorges on. There’s no dry ice, no dinner-and-a-show. Just a nicely decorated restaurant offering solid cooking and solid service. A space where quality speaks for itself as if we’d forgotten that’s enough.
Reif Othman stands head and shoulders with Dubai’s best
Reif Othman, the chef who helmed Zuma Dubai for years and then pivoted to this devil-may-care, modern Japanese Kushiyaki diner that others – imitators, we call them where I’m from – hungrily chase down for a slice of Dubai’s insatiable appetite for Japanese or Japanese-adjacent. They want Reif’s Midas touch. The good ones openly consult with him (hi, Mimi Kakushi) while others proffer versions that circle without landing. We know the ones.
The point is this: Reif is one of Dubai’s most accomplished (and self-financed) chefs. Reif’s plaque lies waiting to be hung in the hallowed halls of Dubai’s culinary greats. MENA 50 Best knows, Michelin knows.
With all this frothing praise, one could assume Reif Japanese Kushiyaki is an ultra-fine dining experience or a death row meal for speed dial. A kushiyaki, by nature, is decidedly casual bringing some neighbourhood warmth to Dubai Hills. Reif Japanese Kushiyaki is, indeed, a neighbourhood restaurant, but smart. You can see it in the service, the decor. The high ceilings, the woods, the solid tables. The attention to detail from an experienced team long into their stride. (I do recommend nabbing a seat towards the back for a little more space between tables and said high ceilings.)
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki’s famous crispy chicken sando and their duck gyozas.
The point is this: Reif is one of Dubai’s most accomplished (and self-financed) chefs. Reif’s plaque lies waiting to be hung in the hallowed halls of Dubai’s culinary greats. MENA 50 Best knows, Michelin knows.
With all this frothing praise, one could assume Reif Japanese Kushiyaki is an ultra-fine dining experience or a death row meal for speed dial. A kushiyaki, by nature, is decidedly casual bringing some neighbourhood warmth to Dubai Hills. Reif Japanese Kushiyaki is, indeed, a neighbourhood restaurant, but smart. You can see it in the service, the decor. The high ceilings, the woods, the solid tables. The attention to detail from an experienced team long into their stride. (I do recommend nabbing a seat towards the back for a little more space between tables and said high ceilings.)
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki’s famous crispy chicken sando and their duck gyozas.
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki, a shrine to delicious things
There’s plenty of new and reassuringly familiar at Reif Japanese Kushiyaki’s Dubai Hills branch. Faces from Dar Wasl pepper the (very capable) service team. Classic favourite dishes like Reif’s wagyu sando (AED 218) and the 18-hour steeped ginger chicken rameng (AED 78) sit shoulder to shoulder with newbies: a miso burrata (AED 88, which Courtney Brandt praises) and grilled avocado with seaweed butter. The hearty mushroom clay pot rice finds a home here too. A dish that single-handedly makes the case that vegetarian eating is some of the best in Dubai (AED 136).
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki’s menu is divided into smaller morsels starting from AED 52 upwards to snacks around AED19 before getting into more substantial kushiyaki skewers between AED 50 to 89 and, of course, Reif’s well-known hearty and star dishes. Prices can stand out, like a marble bun of A5 kagoshima, otoro and bacon jam (yes, bacon jam) for AED 220. However, Mrs EatGoSee and I find ourselves rolling around like Violet Beauregarde for a bill that, once you take the booze out, came to AED 350 for five dishes split between two people where the priciest dish – a deliciously-gentrified prawn toast that sings of bright, gently spiced yuzu togarashi mayo and lightly seared prawns (that probably went to a good finishing school) – topped out at AED 79. This is why Reif has a bib gourmand.
The delightfully advanced prawn toast and our lunch receipt.
Wait, did you say booze? Oh yes, the newly-minted Dubai Hills edition of Reif Japanese Kushiyaki is licensed with cocktails, sakes, sparkling and a shortlist of New and Old World Wines both by glass and by bottle. A licensed good neighbourhood restaurant in Dubai and NOT in a hotel – what a time to be alive!
A parade of dishes arrives at our table. The baby corn and sweet corn espuma charred then awakened with yuzu that dares you to not lick the plate (AED 45). Our cauliflower kushi on a plate scarred with a viscous black sesame sauce, so good, I trace it with my fingertips around the plate fearing not to leave any behind (also AED 45). A duo of red snapper and scallop kushi in an umeboshi brown butter moonwalk that line between cooked and not (AED 89). The crispy squid kushi katsu is as good as it was all those years ago with a memorable crunch (AED 48).
The R.F.W fried chicken wing is not the only thing that’s stuffed (AED 53) as we cautiously order a banana passion that would make Warhol chortle with approval (AED 56). Banana cream cools the tangy passion fruit curd encased in yuzu white chocolate that satisfyingly shatters under a fork. A white bud silver needle tea brings us to an end and hopefully staves off gout (AED 38).
The cauliflower kushi; red snapper kushi; crispy squid katsu kushi and baby sweet corn espuma.
I went twice in one week and resisted two further times in the last two weeks. But trust me, I will be back. Back a lot. Reif Japanese Kushiyaki answers the brief we need in this part of town. A place casual enough to roll up in shorts (but not in the evenings), jeans and my finest Giving Movement swag. A restaurant that knows I want to eat well. I want my wife and friends to enjoy it, have a drink and not take longer than 20 minutes to get home. A place that distils sensibility, shrouds complexity with simplicity and shuns both pretentiousness and the gaudy tantara Dubai often gorges on. There’s no dry ice, no dinner-and-a-show, no projected hologram around your plate. (Yes, we are doing this now). Just a nicely decorated restaurant offering solid cooking and solid service. A space where quality speaks for itself as if we’d forgotten that’s enough.
Reif Kushiyaki Banana Passion dessert; the cheesecake (mango, ut flavours change with seasonality); a bank of indoor dining towards the main entrance.
Residents of Dubai Hills stretching down Al Qudra to DAMAC Hills 2. Lovers of Reif Otham’s cooking. Casual neighbourhood restaurant seekers. Modern Japanese cooking fans. Dubai Hills Mall shoppers looking for something better.
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki’s menu is divided into smaller morsels starting from AED 52 upwards to snacks around AED19 before getting into more substantial kushiyaki skewers between AED 50 to 89 and, of course, Reif’s well-known hearty and star dishes. Prices can stand out, like a marble bun of A5 kagoshima, otoro and bacon jam (yes, bacon jam) for AED 220. However, Mrs EatGoSee and I find ourselves rolling around like Violet Beauregarde for a bill that, once you take the booze out, came to AED 350 for five dishes split between two people where the priciest dish – a deliciously-gentrified prawn toast that sings of bright, gently spiced yuzu togarashi mayo and lightly seared prawns (that probably went to a good finishing school) – topped out at AED 79. This is why Reif has a bib gourmand.
The delightfully advanced prawn toast and our lunch receipt.
Reif Japanese Kushiyaki is licensed!
Wait, did you say booze? Oh yes, the newly-minted Dubai Hills edition of Reif Japanese Kushiyaki is licensed with cocktails, sakes, sparkling and a shortlist of New and Old World Wines both by glass and by bottle. A licensed good neighbourhood restaurant in Dubai and NOT in a hotel – what a time to be alive!
A parade of dishes arrives at our table. The baby corn and sweet corn espuma charred then awakened with yuzu that dares you to not lick the plate (AED 45). Our cauliflower kushi on a plate scarred with a viscous black sesame sauce, so good, I trace it with my fingertips around the plate fearing not to leave any behind (also AED 45). A duo of red snapper and scallop kushi in an umeboshi brown butter moonwalk that line between cooked and not (AED 89). The crispy squid kushi katsu is as good as it was all those years ago with a memorable crunch (AED 48).
The R.F.W fried chicken wing is not the only thing that’s stuffed (AED 53) as we cautiously order a banana passion that would make Warhol chortle with approval (AED 56). Banana cream cools the tangy passion fruit curd encased in yuzu white chocolate that satisfyingly shatters under a fork. A white bud silver needle tea brings us to an end and hopefully staves off gout (AED 38).
The cauliflower kushi; red snapper kushi; crispy squid katsu kushi and baby sweet corn espuma.
Would I Come Back to Reif Japanese Kushiyaki?
I went twice in one week and resisted two further times in the last two weeks. But trust me, I will be back. Back a lot. Reif Japanese Kushiyaki answers the brief we need in this part of town. A place casual enough to roll up in shorts (but not in the evenings), jeans and my finest Giving Movement swag. A restaurant that knows I want to eat well. I want my wife and friends to enjoy it, have a drink and not take longer than 20 minutes to get home. A place that distils sensibility, shrouds complexity with simplicity and shuns both pretentiousness and the gaudy tantara Dubai often gorges on. There’s no dry ice, no dinner-and-a-show, no projected hologram around your plate. (Yes, we are doing this now). Just a nicely decorated restaurant offering solid cooking and solid service. A space where quality speaks for itself as if we’d forgotten that’s enough.
Reif Kushiyaki Banana Passion dessert; the cheesecake (mango, ut flavours change with seasonality); a bank of indoor dining towards the main entrance.
Who Should Come to Reif Japanese Kushiyaki?
Residents of Dubai Hills stretching down Al Qudra to DAMAC Hills 2. Lovers of Reif Otham’s cooking. Casual neighbourhood restaurant seekers. Modern Japanese cooking fans. Dubai Hills Mall shoppers looking for something better.
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