The Review
There are few chef-restaurants in Dubai with the lineage of Mina Brasserie. Michael Mina, James Beard Award-winning chef and founder of nearly thirty American restaurants — including the original MICHAEL MINA in San Francisco and BOURBON STEAK in Washington — chose DIFC's Four Seasons as the home for his first Middle Eastern venture. The result is the most internationally polished brasserie in Dubai: blue and white marble floors, Calacatta bar tops, glass chandeliers, and blue leather banquettes arranged with a confidence that feels transplanted from Mayfair.
Executive Chef Rami Nasser runs the kitchen with Beirut roots and European technique, rendering Mina's California-Mediterranean bible in a way that reads local. The tuna tartare — pine nuts, mint, garlic, sesame-habanero oil — is the dish DIFC regulars order without looking at the menu. It arrives with crisp lavash and is assembled tableside in under a minute. The Truffle Gratinee, a French onion soup crowned with black truffle and Gruyère, is the richest thing on the menu and probably the most photographed.
Mains lean steakhouse: Creekstone Farms beef flown in weekly, king crab spaghetti with a lemon butter that tastes like every Pacific coast kitchen Mina has ever run, and a whole sea bass cooked in salt crust that is cracked open by two servers at table. The pergola terrace is the restaurant's secret weapon — brass pendants, verdant planting, and a climate-controlled canopy that makes November-to-April alfresco business lunches properly enjoyable.
MICHELIN selected Mina Brasserie in the Guide's first two Dubai editions (2024 and 2025). Business lunch runs AED 285 for three courses; dinner spend with wine sits around AED 650–900 per person. Reservations are tight between 12:30 and 2:00pm Monday–Friday when the DIFC towers empty; dinner is more relaxed. The service — in the Mina family tradition — is precisely as good as a two-star room, in the polite, un-fussy American way.
Best for Close a Deal
Mina Brasserie is the DIFC business lunch made flesh. The blue-leather banquettes are designed for four-tops; the terrace pergola handles the larger investor delegations; and the bar, discreetly positioned behind a dark timber wall, takes the post-signature drinks overflow without anyone being asked to move. The shared-plates format gives the room flexibility: host can order the tuna tartare as an opener, the Creekstone steaks to split, and the Truffle Gratinee as the punctuation that turns the meeting into a meal. A la carte business lunch runs three courses for AED 285, which makes the expense account argument easy.
Signature Dishes
Michael Mina's tuna tartare — pine nuts, mint, garlic, sesame-habanero oil, finished tableside — is the signature. The Truffle Gratinee is the menu's indulgence: French onion soup, black truffle shavings, thick molten Gruyère. King Crab Spaghetti with meyer lemon butter is the move for the pasta course. For mains, the Creekstone Farms USDA Prime ribeye is the cut regulars order, 35-day dry-aged and grilled over mesquite. End with a dessert cart that includes the chef's chocolate praline tart — dark, glossy and worth the calories.
What to Know Before You Go
Ground floor of the Four Seasons Hotel DIFC, adjacent to Gate Village. Valet parking available directly at the hotel entrance. Smart business attire — blazers are standard for the lunch crowd, cocktail-appropriate for dinner. Reservations via OpenTable or phone (+971 4 270 7960) are essential for the 12:30–2:00pm slot Monday–Friday. A DJ plays Thursday–Saturday from 8:00pm, and there is a Wednesday aperitivo from 5:00–8:00pm that the DIFC-end-of-week crowd takes advantage of. Business lunch menu runs three courses for AED 285 per person.
Also in Dubai, see La Petite Maison for DIFC's other signature business lunch, CUT by Wolfgang Puck for the steakhouse equivalent, and Gaia for modern Greek. All Close a Deal tables across Dubai are here, and read our Dubai dining guide.