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Dubai: Japanese eatery Umi Kei is a tribute to tradition
The venue in Marsa Al Arab is centred on the overtly traditional sushi bar, complete with a display of the freshest and highest-grade fish Dubai has to offer
- PUBLISHED: Fri 18 Jul 2025, 5:10 PM
It’s official: I have found the chicest restaurant in Dubai. Umi Kei engulfed me in an instant sense of muted harmony, with soft lighting encased in gentle cedar and bamboo panels. The venue is centred on the overtly traditional sushi bar, complete with a display of the freshest and highest-grade fish Dubai has to offer, and surrounded by high chairs for those who wish to enjoy a more casual dining experience.
We sat adjacent to the sushi bar and robata grill, ensuring we kept our eyes on all the action. As we discovered upon exploring the menu, Umi Kei is part of ‘The Fore’ — a network of four restaurants within the heart of Marsa Al Arab. This allowed us to order a delightful beverage from a neighbouring restaurant while pouring over the dishes available within Umi Kei.
Our smart and passionate waitress talked us through the menu and the concept, and then took us through the daily ‘fish market’. This was presented in a handai (traditional Japanese wooden bowl) and showcased a host of rare and delicious sea-born delights, including caviar, a whole squid, and lobster tails, among others. We proceeded to choose the lobster tail to be cooked on the robata grill for later in the meal.
To start, we indulged in the fresh hamachi carpaccio, served atop a spicy, citrusy, buttery cream sauce and topped with a vast amount of finely chopped chives. Both simple and flavourful, this was an elegant start to an elegant meal. We also enjoyed the tempura shishito peppers, topped with a perfectly light shiso leaf. The fresh raw fish against the lightly battered peppers bounced off one another in a playful dance of flavours.
From the dishes that followed, some of our favourites included the A5 wagyu, cooked to a perfect rare temperature on the fiery grill and served with togarashi seasoning. In true surf-and-turf fashion, this was served at the same time as the Hokkaido scallops. These were true stars — sat in a zesty cream and topped with chive oil and salmon roe, they embodied everything one would look for in such a dish: salty, sweet, and acidic.
Following our main courses, the desserts continued to uphold the same level of flavour and impressiveness. The matcha cheesecake was rich and creamy, with gentle notes of high-grade matcha and not a hint of bitterness in sight. Overall, this restaurant offers diners a true sense of zen and can only be described as a minimalist haven that whispers tradition in every dish.
Hero dish: The Hokkaido scallops were the perfect indulgence – 9/10
Senses: The low-lit, effortlessly refined venue stirred happiness and pleasure in all — 8/10
Menu curation: As serene and precision-led as every other aspect of the venue — 8/10
Service: Truly fantastic. The staff was passionate and made us feel incredibly welcome — 8/10
Overall score: 8.5/10
Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab, Dubai, 800 323232