Martín Berasategui does not need Dubai. The man already has more Michelin stars to his name than most chefs have restaurants, and his flagship in the Basque hills has held three stars since 2001 without interruption. So when his group opened Jara on the 18th floor of The Lana, Dorchester Collection, in Business Bay, the question was never whether the food would be good. It was whether a Basque grill-and-share concept, dropped into one of the most competitive fine-dining skylines on earth, could justify a bill that comfortably clears the four-figure mark for two. We went, we ate, and we have opinions.
Who is Martín Berasategui, and why does the pedigree matter
Berasategui is Spain’s most decorated living chef, a Basque cook who built his reputation from a family restaurant outside San Sebastián into a global group. His own dining room, Restaurant Martín Berasategui in Lasarte-Oria, has kept three Michelin stars for over two decades, a run few chefs anywhere can match. Across his wider portfolio of restaurants in Spain and beyond, the collective star count is genuinely difficult to pin down with certainty, as it shifts with each annual Michelin ceremony and depends on which consulted or licensed venues are counted [VERIFY: current total Michelin star count across Berasategui’s full restaurant group, cited variously as nine, eleven and twelve stars by different sources]. What is not in dispute is the pedigree: this is a chef whose name alone fills a room, and Jara is his first venture in the Middle East.
That matters because Dubai has no shortage of celebrity-chef outposts that trade heavily on a name plastered above the door while a local team runs the kitchen with a loose recipe binder. Jara leans on Berasategui’s Basque grilling philosophy rather than his tasting-menu three-star repertoire, and the distinction is worth understanding before you book.
The setting: a firepit with a view
The room sits high enough to catch proper skyline views over Business Bay and, on a clear night, the Burj Khalifa in the distance. Dark timber, deep browns and pockets of velvet green give it a lodge-like warmth rather than the glass-and-marble coolness so many Dubai rooftops default to. An open kitchen built around a wood and charcoal grill sits at the centre of the action, meat and seafood displayed like a butcher’s counter before it goes on the fire, which is either theatrical or slightly macabre depending on your mood. Next door, the Jara Bar goes for drama on its own terms: a curved, almost 360-degree counter under a burnt-orange sphere chandelier, built for a proper pre-dinner drink rather than a quick one.
What is actually on the menu
Here is the detail worth knowing before you arrive with the wrong expectations: Jara is not a fixed tasting-menu restaurant. It runs on an à la carte, sharing-style format, with dishes priced individually or by weight, so the final bill is built by you and your appetite rather than handed down as a set course. That gives you control, but it also means the total can move a long way depending on how many small plates you order and whether the Carabinero makes an appearance.
- Cecina croquettes: crisp, béchamel-rich, made with cured beef, and a genuinely good way to start
- Grilled octopus with Galician potatoes: smoky, simply dressed, one of the more consistent orders on the menu
- Txuleton: a bone-in Basque ribeye, charred outside and pink within, meant for sharing
- Whole grilled turbot with pil-pil sauce: cooked over charcoal and finished tableside
- Carabinero: jumbo red prawn with hollandaise, the most expensive single item on the menu and priced accordingly [VERIFY: current price of the Carabinero prawn dish, previously listed around AED 295]
- Basque cheesecake: burnt on top, soft and slightly tangy in the middle, the dish most people order twice
Starters run from roughly AED 30 for the croquettes up toward AED 300 for the standout seafood, and desserts are kept deliberately short, just a handful of options rather than a sprawling list [VERIFY: current à la carte menu pricing, which may have changed since our last visit]. For a couple sharing three or four courses with a bottle of wine, expect somewhere in the region of AED 1,200 to AED 1,800, though a heavier order pushes that up quickly [VERIFY: current average spend for two, given the sharing-style pricing structure].
Service
On our visit, service was warm and genuinely attentive rather than performatively polished, with staff happy to walk through the grill concept for anyone unfamiliar with it. That said, reviews on Tripadvisor and Google are not unanimous: most describe attentive, friendly teams, but a handful mention pacing that slows once the room fills up. Given the price point, consistency is the one area Jara cannot afford to slip on, and it is worth flagging as the variable most likely to affect your night.
Who it suits, and who should skip it
Jara works well for a special-occasion dinner, an anniversary, a client meal where the bill is not your problem, or a night when you specifically want Basque grilling done by people who understand it rather than a generic surf-and-turf menu with a fine-dining markup. It suits sharers: two or three people happy to pass plates around the table will get more out of it than a solo diner working through a set menu. It is less suited to anyone hunting for a bargain, anyone in a rush before a show or flight, given the leisurely pace of a grill-led sharing menu, or anyone who wants the tightly plotted, course-by-course narrative of a traditional Michelin tasting menu. That format simply is not what Jara offers.
Practical details
Jara is on the 18th floor of The Lana, Dorchester Collection, Marasi Drive, Business Bay, Dubai. Dinner service runs Tuesday to Sunday, with the kitchen and bar closed on Mondays; exact opening and last-order times have varied slightly across booking platforms, so confirm the current window when you reserve [VERIFY: exact current opening hours for dinner service and the bar, as sources list evening start times between 6:30pm and 7pm and closing between 10:30pm and 1am]. The dress code sits at smart elegant to smart casual: no shorts, closed-toe shoes recommended for men, and generally the kind of outfit you would not feel out of place wearing at any five-star Dubai dinner. Reservations are recommended a week or two ahead, particularly for weekend tables and anything by the window, and can be made through the Dorchester Collection website, OpenTable, or by contacting The Lana directly [VERIFY: current direct reservation phone number for Jara or The Lana].
The verdict: is it worth the splurge
Yes, with conditions. The cooking is genuinely accomplished, the room has real atmosphere rather than borrowed glamour, and Berasategui’s pedigree is not just marketing dressing, it shows up on the plate in the way the octopus is charred and the cheesecake is balanced. Where it gets harder to justify is the sharing-style pricing, which can climb fast if you are not disciplined about ordering, and the fact that this is Basque grilling rather than a formal tasting-menu showcase of a three-star chef’s full range. If you go in expecting a relaxed, high-quality grill night with excellent bar energy attached, you will leave satisfied. If you go in expecting Lasarte-Oria transplanted to a Dubai tower, temper it: this is a very good restaurant wearing a famous name, not a carbon copy of the chef’s most decorated dining room.
FAQs
Is Jara a tasting menu restaurant?
No. Jara runs on an à la carte, sharing-style menu with dishes priced individually or by weight, so you build the meal yourself rather than following a set course sequence.
How much does dinner at Jara cost for two?
Expect somewhere around AED 1,200 to AED 1,800 for starters, mains, dessert and wine for two people, though a heavier order or premium seafood choice will push the bill higher [VERIFY: current average spend, given menu prices are subject to change].
What is the dress code at Jara?
Smart elegant to smart casual. Shorts are not permitted, and closed-toe shoes are recommended for men.
Do I need to book ahead?
Yes. Reserving a week or two in advance is sensible, especially for weekend evenings or a table with a skyline view.
Is Jara suitable for children?
The restaurant has previously stated a minimum age for young diners, with the bar area reserved for adults [VERIFY: current children’s age policy at Jara before booking a family dinner].
