Opening a restaurant wasn’t Neha Misra’s plan. She started cooking ramen in her apartment in Dubai for her friends, then for the friends of her friends, and for those who came to eat at her place after hearing about it from friends of friends. Her supper club, by the name of A Story of Food, always sold out, always. For many years, Dubai couldn’t secure a seat at her table until she gave one to Dubai at a bigger table.
Now, this table has been rated No. 2 in the Middle East and North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants for 2026 and has its own outlet at Harrods.
How It Started
Knowledge of Japanese cuisine in Misra’s case is all self-education. According to the discovery listing in The World’s 50 Best, “It comes from ‘tasting experiences around the country and extensive reading.’ For Misra, Japan is the classroom, her palate is the instrument.” After many years of studying, experimenting, and cooking in her own kitchen in Dubai, she created a ramen that became an obsession for people who know their way around food in such a place.
Shio paitan, a rich and creamy chicken broth ramen, is her first creation, which she began producing once she started doing it. It is still on the menu, and the World’s 50 Best calls it the signature dish.
When Kinoya opened in April 2021 at The Greens, the queue for booking was the story. As Time Out Dubai put it, “The kind of noise usually associated with the opening of a behemoth global brand heralded the first few seatings at a small Japanese restaurant.” Misra had virtually nothing on marketing. The food did the trick.
The Space
Currently, Kinoya is housed in The Onyx Tower 2 in The Greens, Dubai. The space has been designed with the various types of experiences that people seek while dining – the ramen counter for individual diners looking at the kitchen at work; the dining area, the chef’s table, and two tatami private dining rooms for group dining. The Michelin Guide mentions “buzzing atmosphere at this authentic izakaya” with “good quality ingredients, careful cooking, low prices, and delicious flavors.”
The concept, according to Kinoya’s own website, revolves around two themes – izakaya and ramen. Izakaya is the relaxed Japanese culture of meeting colleagues after work to eat and drink, enjoying each other’s company. Ramen is an everyday Japanese food that requires every ingredient to be perfectly selected and cooked to make something extraordinary.
The Menu
The menu centers around eight types of ramen dishes, with specials. Shio paitan is the starter and the benchmark for everything else. Supporting: wagyu tantanmen, smoked duck soba, smoked salmon shoyu. Besides ramen, the izakaya menu includes wagyu tsukune prepared in the robata grill style, kinoko mushroom tempura, karaage, gyoza, nigiri, sashimi, and burnt scallops in butter sauce, as mentioned by Gault and Millau UAE in their description of Kinoya as the restaurant offering “some of the best Japanese food in town like crispy katsu sando sandwiches and smoky robata-grilled meats.”
The noodles are hand-made. The broths are prepared in-house. Recipes are top secret. Jason Atherton, the Michelin-star chef behind Row on 45, quoted on the Michelin Guide website, says: “Kinoya is such an easy place to eat, with something on the menu for everyone. It’s such an amazing homegrown story, just a fantastic addition to Dubai’s dining scene.”
MENA’s Best and Harrods Too
In 2023, Kinoya opened a new branch at the famous department store Harrods in London, one of the most luxurious and elite stores in the world. In 2026, the Dubai restaurant was named the Best Restaurant in the UAE on the MENA 50 Best Restaurants list, ranking second overall. It was awarded a Bib Gourmand from Michelin for the excellence of food served at a price that remains affordable, which, in itself, means a lot for a restaurant of such caliber in such a place.
Misra no longer resides in Dubai permanently, being split between the two cities. “The team in Dubai capably guides the guests through the menu and provides excellent recommendations,” says Gault and Millau UAE. This means that the kitchen is much more than just Misra. What started in one woman’s apartment became something else.
Not all restaurants have ideas. Kinoya had a bowl. Everything else followed after that.
