Orfali Bros
“Three Aleppo born brothers held MENA's No 1 for three straight years. Book the AED 680 tasting for a birthday worth remembering.”
About Orfali Bros
Three brothers from Aleppo, Mohammad on the savoury side and Wassim and Omar running pastry, opened a bistro in the Wasl 51 complex on Al Wasl Road and quietly rewrote Dubai's food hierarchy. MENA's 50 Best named Orfali Bros the region's best restaurant in 2023, then again in 2024 and 2025; the 2026 list has it at No 4, and the Michelin star has stayed put throughout. All of this happens in a bright neighbourhood room with an open kitchen and none of the city's usual marble.
The cooking is Aleppo remembered through a magpie modern lens. The wagyu kebab with sour cherry compresses the city's famous cherry kebab into two bites, shish barak arrives rethought as gyoza, and the smashed wagyu OG burger has spawned imitators across the Emirates. Pastry is not an afterthought but a second engine: Wassim and Omar's counter of cakes and sweets justifies a visit on its own. The tasting runs AED 680; a shorter OG menu of the greatest hits arrived in June 2026 at AED 350.
The room takes reservations through the restaurant's site, and it needs them: tables clear out weeks ahead since the third No 1, though lunches and counter seats move more freely. Prices, formats and dress code all stay bistro casual, which is precisely the subversion. The most awarded kitchen in the region declines to behave like a temple, and eating here feels like being let in on the joke.
The Room
A bright, casual bistro with an open kitchen, counter seats and a pastry display doing serious business by the door. Music plays, brothers argue in the kitchen, and plates land without liturgy. The crowd runs from food pilgrims to Jumeirah families, dress is whatever you arrived in, and the energy is the opposite of hushed. The awards live on the plate, not the walls.
Why book it, occasion by occasion
Match the night to the room and the bill stops mattering. These occasions fit Orfali Bros best.
For the birthday that wants joy over ceremony
Birthday dinners die of formality more often than of bad food, and Orfali Bros is the antidote: a loud, warm room, plates built for passing, and a pastry section that treats the cake course as a headline event. Order the tasting at AED 680 if the table commits, or go à la carte and finish at the pastry counter choosing dessert in person. Tell the team it is a birthday; the brothers' hospitality does the rest without a single sparkler.
For the solo eater who wants the counter and the show
The counter seats face an open kitchen where the region's most awarded cooking happens at conversational distance, and single diners get the best view in the house. The à la carte format lets you build a personal greatest hits run, wagyu kebab, shish barak, one pastry, without committing to a full tasting. Lunch is the calm window. Food travellers eating alone are a recognised species here and treated as regulars in waiting.
For the guest who scores substance over marble
Some clients relax the moment a restaurant stops performing. Bringing them to a bistro that outranked every marble dining room in the region, No 1 on MENA's 50 Best three years running with a Michelin star retained, flatters their judgment rather than your expense account. The OG menu at AED 350 keeps a working lunch efficient; the full tasting turns dinner into a masterclass. Either way the story of three Aleppo brothers carries the table talk.
What to order
Tasting, OG menu or à la carte: every route works, but a few plates are non negotiable whichever you choose.
- Wagyu kebab with sour cherry
Aleppo's cherry kebab compressed into a two bite argument. If one dish explains the No 1 rankings, it is this.
- Shish barak à la gyoza
The Levantine dumpling rebuilt with East Asian technique: the clearest example of how the brothers think.
- The OG burger
The smashed wagyu burger that launched a thousand copies. Order it even if it looks out of place beside the awards; it is why they exist.
- Whatever the pastry counter says
Wassim and Omar's sweets are half the restaurant's engine. Skip a savoury course if needed, never the dessert.
Practical
- Address
- Wasl 51, Al Wasl Road, Jumeirah 1, Dubai
- Reservations
- Restaurant website · weeks ahead for dinner
- Tasting
- AED 680 · OG menu AED 350
- Format
- À la carte alongside the menus
- Awards
- One star · No 1 MENA's 50 Best 2023, 2024, 2025 · No 4 in 2026
- Dress
- Casual
- Counter
- Open kitchen seats, best for solo diners
- Pastry
- The counter sells out; go early
Questions diners ask
Is Orfali Bros worth the hype?
Yes, and it may be underhyped at the price. No 1 on MENA's 50 Best for 2023, 2024 and 2025, still No 4 in 2026, one Michelin star throughout, and a tasting at AED 680 that costs less than a starter run at the marble flagships. The value equation is the best in Dubai fine dining.
How do I get a table at Orfali Bros?
Book through the restaurant's website as far ahead as you can; dinner tables have cleared weeks out since the awards stacked up. Lunch sittings and counter seats turn over more freely, and solo diners have the easiest path in. The room stays casual, so no dress planning is required.
What is the OG menu at Orfali Bros?
A shorter set menu of the restaurant's greatest hits, introduced in June 2026 at AED 350 per person. It gathers the signatures, including the famous smashed wagyu burger lineage, into an accessible format, and it is the smartest first visit if the full AED 680 tasting feels like too much commitment.
What should I order at Orfali Bros?
The wagyu kebab with sour cherry and the shish barak à la gyoza are mandatory, the OG burger is the populist classic, and dessert from Wassim and Omar's pastry counter is non negotiable. Going à la carte across those plus one vegetable plate feeds two people generously for well under the tasting price.