Earlier this year, the Michelin Guide revealed its second crop of star-winning restaurants in Dubai.
A total of 11 venues received one star, three got two stars and 17 were listed under the Bib Gourmand category.
With the culinary and entertainment season well under way, The National continues its Star-grazing series and visits the latest Michelin-starred restaurants in Dubai to understand the ethos behind their celebrated menus.
The vegetarian-only Avatara, located in Dubai Hills, is our latest stop.
The story behind Avatara
It all started as a spin-off derived from a special menu at Tresind Studio, the two-Michelin-starred fine dining Indian restaurant, where Avatara chef Rahul Rana previously worked.
That menu shone a light on vegetables and non-meat products, he recalls, and it sparked an idea that has now been transformed into its own award-winning concept.
Avatara, a Hindustani word that loosely translates to incarnation, is the perfect embodiment for how Rana envisions the restaurant. The purely vegetarian dining spot alludes to India's vibrant agriculture industry.
The degustation menu comprises 16 dishes, which Rana describes as “soulful Indian food”. Each dish highlights a vegetable, and is not only packed with flavours, but also with stories.
What's on the Michelin-starred menu?
At first glance, a menu of 16 dishes in one seating feels like a lot. In theory, it helps that they are all vegetarian, and so perhaps lighter than meat dishes. In reality, this is a culinary journey that is opulent without being overwhelming.
The meal begins with naivedhya, or a holy offering, which sets the tone for what's to come. The bite-size appetiser contains panchamarita, a sweet nectar typically offered in temples. It is an explosion of flavours, quite literally, because of the carbonated sugar that pops in the mouth for a good few seconds.
The chef explains it is the best way to start a meal at Avatara, where guests are “treated like gods”, in line with the Indian principle of "atithi devo bhava". The plating of the dish, too, serves as a fitting prelude to Raha's remarkable attention to detail. It is garnished with edible flowers (another common temple offering) and served on a flamboyant bowl shaped like India's national bird, the peacock.
This palate tickler is followed by an aperitif: cucumber granita with beetroot sorbet and buttermilk. The small dish is a masterclass in combining different flavours: bitter, sour, salty and sweet.
This masterful blending is a common theme across the 16-course menu. To capitalise on the varying flavours, the chef has also completely removed garlic and onion from the menu.
“Although both these ingredients are commonly used in Indian cuisine, we don't use them at Avatara because they can easily overpower the other ingredients. We want our guests to really taste what they are having, and highlight the other vegetables we use,” Rana tells The National.
The rest of the dishes, too, include one star veggie each. The third, for example, is a tomato chaat. It is served on a sev cookie and comes with a sweet and sour shorba, a stew so flavourful, I can't help but request a refill.
Other dishes highlighting different fruits and vegetables include variations of roots dehydrated into chips and fritters made of lentils.
Another overarching element in Rana's menu is the use of “infamous vegetables”, such as bottle gourd and bitter gourd.
“People don't like these vegetables because of their nature. The bottle gourd is bland and the bitter gourd or karela is, well, bitter,” he says. At Avatara, you have no choice but to try them as it's a set menu, but believe me you won't regret it.
The bottle gourd is mashed into a paste-like texture, spiced and served on top of a poppadom waffle. There is nothing bland about it, from looks to taste.
The bitter gourd, too, is theatrical, cooked in ghee and served with mango gelato. The mixture of hot and cold is definitely interesting, and visually demonstrated by a red and light brown dosa crisp.
Meat eaters might be interested in the two dishes that imitate beef: A stuffed momo and a turnip steak. Rana nails the illusion, especially with the momo, which is filled with jackfruit, a common alternative to meat.
Another highlight of the menu is the horse gram curry served with hot, gluten-free bread. As the menu notes: “Horse gram, widely cultivated in [the chef's hometown] Uttarakhand, is highly nutritious and an excellent source of iron, calcium and phosphorus.”
Some of the dishes can get a little spicy, but the restaurant allows for modifications upon request.
The savoury dishes are followed by the first dessert, and a rather quirky one at that. It is a coconut kheer served on a male figurine holding a plate. As the evening progresses, the presentation gets more performative with two chocolate dishes, for which we won't spoil the surprise for.
The meal ends with a soothing jasmine and lychee tea, with the pot served next to a glass-covered rose a la Beauty and the Beast.
The 16-course menu is a showcase of Rana's cooking and plating skills. Despite the overwhelming number, the meal is not heavy, and the intrigue is maintained dish by dish.
Indian cuisine has a reputation for its rather strong use of spices, but Rana dials it down beautifully at Avatara – paying homage to the strong vegetarian roots of many Indian communities.
Avatara is open Tuesday to Sunday from 6pm-11pm, as well as for lunch on Sunday. The 16-course menu is priced at Dh450 per person
Conflict, drought, famine
Estimates of the number of deaths caused by the famine range from 400,000 to 1 million, according to a document prepared for the UK House of Lords in 2024.
It has been claimed that the policies of the Ethiopian government, which took control after deposing Emperor Haile Selassie in a military-led revolution in 1974, contributed to the scale of the famine.
Dr Miriam Bradley, senior lecturer in humanitarian studies at the University of Manchester, has argued that, by the early 1980s, “several government policies combined to cause, rather than prevent, a famine which lasted from 1983 to 1985. Mengistu’s government imposed Stalinist-model agricultural policies involving forced collectivisation and villagisation [relocation of communities into planned villages].
The West became aware of the catastrophe through a series of BBC News reports by journalist Michael Buerk in October 1984 describing a “biblical famine” and containing graphic images of thousands of people, including children, facing starvation.
Band Aid
Bob Geldof, singer with the Irish rock group The Boomtown Rats, formed Band Aid in response to the horrific images shown in the news broadcasts.
With Midge Ure of the band Ultravox, he wrote the hit charity single Do They Know it’s Christmas in December 1984, featuring a string of high-profile musicians.
Following the single’s success, the idea to stage a rock concert evolved.
Live Aid was a series of simultaneous concerts that took place at Wembley Stadium in London, John F Kennedy Stadium in Philadelphia, the US, and at various other venues across the world.
The combined event was broadcast to an estimated worldwide audience of 1.5 billion.
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
The specs
Engine: 2.0-litre 4cyl turbo
Power: 261hp at 5,500rpm
Torque: 405Nm at 1,750-3,500rpm
Transmission: 9-speed auto
Fuel consumption: 6.9L/100km
On sale: Now
Price: From Dh117,059
Benefits of first-time home buyers' scheme
- Priority access to new homes from participating developers
- Discounts on sales price of off-plan units
- Flexible payment plans from developers
- Mortgages with better interest rates, faster approval times and reduced fees
- DLD registration fee can be paid through banks or credit cards at zero interest rates
The candidates
Dr Ayham Ammora, scientist and business executive
Ali Azeem, business leader
Tony Booth, professor of education
Lord Browne, former BP chief executive
Dr Mohamed El-Erian, economist
Professor Wyn Evans, astrophysicist
Dr Mark Mann, scientist
Gina MIller, anti-Brexit campaigner
Lord Smith, former Cabinet minister
Sandi Toksvig, broadcaster
The specs: 2018 Maxus T60
Price, base / as tested: Dh48,000
Engine: 2.4-litre four-cylinder
Power: 136hp @ 1,600rpm
Torque: 360Nm @ 1,600 rpm
Transmission: Five-speed manual
Fuel consumption, combined: 9.1L / 100km
The White Lotus: Season three
Creator: Mike White
Starring: Walton Goggins, Jason Isaacs, Natasha Rothwell
Rating: 4.5/5
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On racial profiling at airports
In numbers: China in Dubai
The number of Chinese people living in Dubai: An estimated 200,000
Number of Chinese people in International City: Almost 50,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2018/19: 120,000
Daily visitors to Dragon Mart in 2010: 20,000
Percentage increase in visitors in eight years: 500 per cent
Sole survivors
- Cecelia Crocker was on board Northwest Airlines Flight 255 in 1987 when it crashed in Detroit, killing 154 people, including her parents and brother. The plane had hit a light pole on take off
- George Lamson Jr, from Minnesota, was on a Galaxy Airlines flight that crashed in Reno in 1985, killing 68 people. His entire seat was launched out of the plane
- Bahia Bakari, then 12, survived when a Yemenia Airways flight crashed near the Comoros in 2009, killing 152. She was found clinging to wreckage after floating in the ocean for 13 hours.
- Jim Polehinke was the co-pilot and sole survivor of a 2006 Comair flight that crashed in Lexington, Kentucky, killing 49.
Sinopharm vaccine explained
The Sinopharm vaccine was created using techniques that have been around for decades.
“This is an inactivated vaccine. Simply what it means is that the virus is taken, cultured and inactivated," said Dr Nawal Al Kaabi, chair of the UAE's National Covid-19 Clinical Management Committee.
"What is left is a skeleton of the virus so it looks like a virus, but it is not live."
This is then injected into the body.
"The body will recognise it and form antibodies but because it is inactive, we will need more than one dose. The body will not develop immunity with one dose," she said.
"You have to be exposed more than one time to what we call the antigen."
The vaccine should offer protection for at least months, but no one knows how long beyond that.
Dr Al Kaabi said early vaccine volunteers in China were given shots last spring and still have antibodies today.
“Since it is inactivated, it will not last forever," she said.
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How to report a beggar
Abu Dhabi – Call 999 or 8002626 (Aman Service)
Dubai – Call 800243
Sharjah – Call 065632222
Ras Al Khaimah - Call 072053372
Ajman – Call 067401616
Umm Al Quwain – Call 999
Fujairah - Call 092051100 or 092224411