Located at: Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard, Downtown Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Visited on: 19th May, 2023

If you’re around Downtown Dubai and are looking for a spot to indulge in some fine dining with friends, definitely check out Jun’s. Despite their fancy menu, the dim-lit interior is quite relaxed, creating an ambience that is sophisticated yet unpretentious. Jun’s is one of 15 restaurants added to The World’s 50 Best Restaurants in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) list in 2023, and came highly recommended. A short while into tasting the food, it was obvious why.

One of our picks from their ‘cold littles’ on the dinner menu was the Edamame Hummus (AED 55). This was refreshingly good, arriving in the form of a smooth, bright green dip with root vegetable crisps to enjoy the hummus with. Subtly refreshing and very pleasing on the palate.

Next was the Lobster Pani Puri (AED 120), a scaled-up version of the much-loved Indian street food that was finished at the table with its liquid element. The individual elements were not distinctly recognisable as you first broke into it in your mouth, but the more you munched on and let it bathe your palate, the more alive the flavours became. It was vibrant and joyful to devour.

The Bread & Hot Honey Butter (AED 35) from the ‘hot littles’ was interestingly good. The menu description mentioned hot honey chilli butter and fermented black garlic with Vietnamese banh mi, and the taste of the butter mix was undeniably as interestingly unique as described. What made it so good was that all the flavours came through in subtle amounts, not trying to overpower one another or make the butter too cluttered or harsh on the palate. The bread, too, was wonderful. Warm and golden, a perfect vehicle for the butter mix.

From the ‘grill’, we tried Jun’s Macanese Mushroom & Mantou (AED 75), which was charred oyster mushroom, Madras curry, parmesan and mantou. I wasn’t quite sure what to expect with this, but what arrived was a delicious dish that was full of different levels of silky-smooth textures from the mushrooms to the cheesy sauce. Quite novel, and certainly very satisfying.

We also ordered a portion of Brown Butter Prawn Salsa Macha (AED 145), which was fantastic. Pretty much a brown prawn curry, but a very good one that was full of flavour and was excellent to have with the perfectly done, crispy, flaky paratha that came with the dish. The prawns were well seasoned and the gravy was top-notch. I think we all licked our plates clean with this one!

From their dessert menu, we tried the seemingly popular Textures of Chocolate (AED 65), which was a mix of velouté, pudding, mousse, chocolate soil and chocolate rocks. The dessert arrived with its fair share of liquid nitrogen theatrics. And it’s certainly not something for the faint-hearted. If you’re someone who prefers sweet, chocolatey desserts, this might not be up your alley. For it is strongly cocoa-based, with barely any sweetness to it. This dish, as its name suggests, is all about a myriad of textures that are created from chocolate by itself.

Finally, we also gave their Boba Crème Brulée (AED 55) a shot, which comprised of ginger scented custard, coconut tapioca boba and burnt caramel. The crusty burnt caramel lay atop the dish like a cover, waiting to be cracked open, while the tapioca pearls and custard sat at the bottom, patiently waiting to be discovered. The custard, as promised, had a ginger-y flavour in taste and scent. A wonderfully presented dessert that was equally interesting to dive into.

All in all, Jun’s proved to be truly worthy of its new spot on The World’s 50 Best Restaurants (MENA).

Yummy Rating: 4.5 / 5.0

All photo credits for this post go to my fellow foodie, pun pro, restaurant recommender (in Dubai) and dear friend, Mehak Butaney.