Sheikh Hamdan bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, the Crown Prince of Dubai, dropped in uninvited to a 34-seater restaurant named 3Fils at Jumeirah Fishing Harbour on a pleasant evening in 2017. There was no prior booking, since 3Fils doesn’t accept any. As Khaleej Times reported, the restaurant had drawn his attention long before everyone else’s interest in its cuisine began to pique.
The Three Fils and What the Name Means
In late November 2016, Emirati entrepreneurs Ahmed Abdulhakim and Adnan Al Ali, along with Singaporean chef Akmal Anuar, formed 3Fils. The National notes he has since moved on to 11 Woodfire. As Ahmed Abdulhakim told Yalla Dubai in an on-record interview: “The name 3 Fils is a homegrown take on the English idiomatic expression, two cents’ worth of opinion.” Three people have come up with their two fils on what food in Dubai is supposed to be. The restaurant’s website says the concept behind the establishment was “a diehard daringness to be different, to offer a story akin to the two cents’ worth of opinion of dining in Dubai, with every bite.”
The three original founders maintained, as The National News reported, that the restaurant has always been about “making complex simple. “It is not marketing, but architecture. It is everything decided about the space, menu, and the whole experience.
A Harbour That Smells Like the Food Before You See It
The restaurant occupies Shop 02 at Jumeirah Fishing Harbour, a working harbour that, as Abdulhakim told Yalla Dubai, “is a real working harbour rich in history. The sea became our inspiration when designing the interiors of the restaurant.”The building was erected before the restaurant opened and is associated with the UAE’s history of spear-fishing. Wooden ships hang on the water outside. The air smells of both salt and charcoal. “My guests often tell me they can smell the restaurant from down the path before they enter,” Abdulhakim said in the same interview.
The room seats 34 covers. A terrace sits by the water. No reservations are accepted. There is no dress code enforced. People queue up; they wait, and the philosophy is clear: come as you are, and the food will be well worth it.
The Food and the Kitchen
3Fils serves modern Asian cuisine with Japanese influence, described on the official website as “premium Asian dishes with a Japanese twist as its focus.” Fresh fish is flown in from Japan weekly, making Wednesdays an event featuring specials for each week’s arrival. The menu is broad enough to include different sharing items while staying coherent. The signature dish of 3Fils seems to be the wagyu burger. The chef takes sushi and sashimi as seriously as the other dishes on the menu. 3Fils’ head chef is Jhovani Manalo, a Filipino chef who started his career as a kitchen steward. As the official website says, he “runs the kitchen with quiet confidence and serious edge; balancing creativity with precision, and instinct with discipline.”
No Bookings. No Dress Code. No. 1 in MENA.
In 2022, the MENA 50 Best Restaurants List was revealed. 3Fils was chosen as Number 1, becoming the first restaurant to win such an accolade. As stated by The National News, a decade into its operation, this was “a shock to many, but not those in the know.” The Michelin Guide awarded the restaurant the Bib Gourmand in 2023, and it has received the recognition year after year since. In 2025, 3Fils opened its second outlet at the Abu Dhabi EDITION Hotel located in the Al Bateen marina district. “Expanding to Abu Dhabi is a natural progression for us,” Abdulhakim told the Michelin Guide at the time of the announcement. The Jumeirah Fishing Harbour original remains exactly what it was: walk-ins only, noon to midnight, every day.
