The Review
Ronin opened on the ninth floor of FIVE LUXE JBR in 2024 and promptly walked away with MICHELIN Guide Dubai's Opening of the Year 2025. It is, even by the standards of a city addicted to spectacle, one of the most visually ambitious restaurants ever opened in the Emirates: a ceiling dripping with three hundred hand-sewn red lanterns, a pagoda dining pod wrapped in gold-leafed lacquer, a teppanyaki counter made of black volcanic stone, and an irezumi-tattooed mural wall that spans the length of the room. Then the Ain Dubai Ferris wheel appears through the window, slowly turning, and the whole thing tips from dining room into film set.
The kitchen is run by Celebrity Chef Sin Keun 'SK' Choi, a South Korean-born veteran of multiple MICHELIN and Gault & Millau kitchens. The menu is contemporary Japanese with a rebellious edge — the restaurant's tagline is 'a rebellion where ancient ritual meets modern mastery' — and the experience is calibrated around three stations: live-fire robatayaki, precision sushi, and the theatrical teppanyaki counter. The Wagyu Truffle Gyoza is the dish the room talks about: A5 wagyu, black truffle shavings, sesame ponzu, the lot glossed with edible gold and served on a sakura-leaf plate.
The BBQ Miso Black Cod is 72 hours in yuzu-saikyo marinade and finished over binchotan charcoal; the A4 Wagyu Caviar Carpaccio is the sushi bar's signature. The Robataya Grill section reads like a Kaiseki chef's dream list: Hokkaido scallops with yuzu butter, wagyu short rib with charred shishito, Tasmanian salmon collar with salt-grilled mushroom, each plate arriving under a bell of aromatic smoke. The cocktail list pulls from 47 sake producers and runs to a dedicated champagne programme supplied by Dom Pérignon.
Average spend sits at AED 750–1,100 per person with drinks. MICHELIN selected it in 2024 and awarded Opening of the Year in 2025; What's On Dubai named it Highly Commended for Fine Dining Asian Restaurant. The Monday–Friday 30% off à la carte promotion remains one of Dubai's best-value fine-dining deals. Reservations book up two weeks out; the pagoda and teppanyaki counter are the prize seats.
Best for Birthday
Ronin is the city's most photogenic birthday table, full stop. The pagoda dining pod seats six beneath a gold-lacquered canopy and is the private-room of choice for milestone birthdays; the main room's red-lantern ceiling is calibrated to photograph like a film still; and the teppanyaki counter turns the meal into a performance with fire, aged wagyu and sake pairings arriving in a sequence that never feels rushed. The kitchen does not do a cake parade — it does something better: a miso molten chocolate dessert delivered with a sparkler and a small silver ceremonial tray that makes Instagram look amateur. The bar runs until 2am.
Signature Dishes
Wagyu Truffle Gyoza — A5 wagyu, black truffle, sesame ponzu, edible gold — is the signature opener. BBQ Miso Black Cod is 72 hours marinated in yuzu-saikyo and finished over binchotan. The A4 Wagyu Caviar Carpaccio is the sushi bar's flagship — wafer-thin slices of A4 wagyu, Oscietra caviar, yuzu zest, a whisper of shiso. End with the Miso Molten Chocolate dessert, a single lava-dark sphere that breaks to reveal a salted white miso centre. The sake pairing, six pours matched to the tasting sequence, is the move — ask the sommelier to walk you through the Niigata selections.
What to Know Before You Go
Located on the ninth floor of FIVE LUXE JBR in Al Sufouh 2 — ten minutes from Dubai Marina, twenty from Palm Jumeirah. Complimentary valet parking at the hotel entrance. Dress code is smart casual — no flip-flops, no swimwear — but the room reads elegant; jackets recommended. Reservations through SevenRooms (ronindubai.com), WhatsApp, or phone. The pagoda seats six and books two weeks out for weekends; the teppanyaki counter seats eight around the black volcanic slab and is the best seat for birthdays. Monday–Friday 30% off à la carte is one of the best soft-promotion deals in Dubai fine dining.
Also in Dubai, see Zuma Dubai for the Japanese izakaya original, Nobu Dubai for the Atlantis outpost, and Hoseki for nine-seat omakase. See all Birthday tables globally, and read our Dubai dining editorial.