The Review
Sexy Fish is Caprice Holdings’ most theatrical export. The original opened in Mayfair in 2015; Miami followed in 2022, Manchester in 2023, and Dubai in December 2024, taking the 11th floor of Innovation One in DIFC. The Dubai outpost is the largest to date. Guests arrive via a dedicated lift that opens into a rooftop reception backed by a coral-reef wall and crowned, as if by accident, by a glittering Damien Hirst octopus. It is immediately clear which restaurant you have stepped into.
Martin Brudnizki designed the room. It is lit in jewel tones, wrapped in hand-blown Murano glass, and hung with bronze mermaids, handmade coral paintings, and a suspended school of glass fish that undulates overhead. Columns resemble octopus tentacles, because of course they do. This is a room that is willing to be called extravagant and has budgeted for it. The bar, framed by Hirst’s bronze mermaids, is the most photographed fixture in DIFC. The terrace, which wraps the Burj Khalifa, is where the restaurant’s most-posted photograph is taken.
Under Global Chef Director Bjoern Weissgerber, the kitchen serves a seasonal menu of sushi, sashimi, and robata-grilled meat and seafood. The black cod with miso — the caramelised, globally famous version that built Sexy Fish’s reputation in London — is the dish to order first. Wagyu, truffled chicken, king crab tempura, and yellowtail sashimi with yuzu ponzu anchor the main menu. The cocktail list is encyclopaedic, running to rare Japanese whiskies and signature drinks whose names double as the kind of conversation that tables at Sexy Fish tend to have.
Sexy Fish is not the city’s best Japanese kitchen — that honour goes to Hoseki or Zuma. It does not try to be. Sexy Fish is selling something else: an experience-led late-night room where the art, the music, the lighting, and the drinks compound into a kind of sensory inflation that DIFC finds addictive. Expect AED 800–1,500 per person for a full evening, with the drinks bill reliably matching the food bill. The bar programme, which runs a daily happy hour from midday to 8pm, is the value play and the easiest way in.
Best for Birthday
Sexy Fish is a birthday restaurant of the first order. The lift arrival, the Hirst octopus, the jewel-toned room, the glass fish — every element is engineered to produce a photograph. Music builds through the evening; the kitchen pushes late-night energy; private dining rooms absorb larger parties up to 20+. For first dates it is a calibrated risk — the room can over-perform a conversation — but for second and third dates it hits the exact register. DIFC business lunches work too; happy hour at the bar closes more deals than some boardrooms. Team dinners are where Sexy Fish genuinely excels; the room absorbs a party better than almost anywhere in the city.
Signature Dishes
The caramelised black cod with miso is the canonical order and the dish around which Sexy Fish built its global brand. The king crab tempura with spicy ponzu is the table-centre dish. The truffled chicken, lacquered and finished on the robata, is Weissgerber’s argument for robata as a serious cooking technique rather than a theatre. The yellowtail sashimi with yuzu ponzu is the cleanest opener. The cocktail list is as curated as the food menu — the Miso Sour and the Kintama Martini are the starting pair.
What to Know Before You Go
Sexy Fish is on the 11th floor of Innovation One, DIFC. Dedicated lift access from ground level; valet parking is available at the building entrance. Dress code is smart elegant — no shorts, no athleisure. Opening hours are Monday to Friday 12pm to 2am, Saturday 6pm to 2am, Sunday 5pm to 2am. Brunch on Saturday 12:30pm to 4pm. Happy hour runs Monday to Friday 12pm to 8pm at the bar. Reservations are through SevenRooms up to 60 days ahead; Saturday evenings book out weeks in advance. For private dining (parties of 20+), book the octopus room.
Also in Dubai, explore Zuma Dubai for the city’s Japanese benchmark just down the road in DIFC, La Petite Maison for French-Mediterranean in the same district, and Coya Dubai for Peruvian party energy. For all Birthday occasions globally, see our dedicated guide. Read more in our editorial on Dubai’s theatrical dining rooms.