Chef Abhiraj Khatwani’s eight-course tasting menu distils the restaurant’s bold, Thai-inspired identity into a concise, flavour-packed experience that feels especially relevant right now.
There is a lot weighing on the region right now, and while the conversation is often bigger than hospitality, the ripple effects are still felt across everyday life. Softer footfall and a general sense of uncertainty have made this a moment when community matters more than ever. That is precisely why the new Chef’s Tasting Menu at MANĀO feels so timely.
Priced at AED 350 per person, the new eight-course tasting menu experience at MANĀO is built around beef, seafood, fermentation and fire. It opens with Beef Miang, where wagyu beef meets shrimp paste relish and peanuts, before moving into Lobster Khanom Krok, a fermented rice custard topped with grilled lobster tail and coriander flowers. From there, the menu continues through Scallop Rice Cake, Sour Tomato Broth, Sticky Rice Roti with Beef, Coconut Meat and Pomelo Salad, and a choice of Spicy Lamb Curry or Yellow Curry with Prawn, before closing with Rosella Granita and White Rose Custard. For those looking to push the experience further, supplements include Curry Puff with Beef, Crab Shoulder, Stir-Fried Oyster Blade with Holy Basil, and Mango Sticky Rice.
That sense of confidence has defined MANĀO from the beginning. Born in Dubai, the restaurant was conceived as a celebration of Thai-inspired cuisine shaped by the personal journeys of Chef Abhiraj Khatwani and Chef Mohamad Orfali. Its philosophy is rooted in a chef-driven approach that respects ingredients, embraces local and Thai produce, and uses techniques such as fermentation and roasting to create food that is bold, expressive and deeply personal. MANĀO occupies a compelling middle ground between formal fine dining and everyday casual dining, where storytelling, precision and personality all matter.
That identity is inseparable from Khatwani’s rise. Before MANĀO, he stepped away from the rigid structures of fine dining and travelled to Udon Thani, where cooking with locals helped shape his understanding of Thai food. Under the mentorship of Chef Mohamad Orfali, he has translated those lessons into a restaurant that feels both grounded and original. The result has been one of Dubai’s most exciting culinary success stories: MANĀO earned a MICHELIN Star within five months of opening, Khatwani received the 2025 MICHELIN Young Chef Award, and the restaurant was later named FACT’s Restaurant of the Year in 2025.
In moments like these, restaurants such as MANĀO matter because they are not just places to eat. They are expressions of talent, resilience and cultural confidence. This new tasting menu offers yet another reason to book a table, back local creativity and rally around a homegrown restaurant that has already done so much to shape Dubai’s modern dining story.
GO: Follow @manao_dubai on Instagram for more information.