\What hits your senses right away is light. It’s blue. Not the artificial blue of a softly lit restaurant dining area or carefully colored chandelier, but the real, changing blue of the water above, beside, and around you. You’re practically swimming through an aquarium… except you’re the one getting the meal.
Ossiano at Atlantis The Palm, in Dubai, may be one of the most stunning restaurant experiences you could ever have. But what makes it stay relevant internationally for almost 20 years is not the aquarium. It’s everything that surrounds it.
A Restaurant That Opened with a Statement
Ossiano opened in 2008 as part of the initial phase of the Atlantis The Palm property on Crescent Road, Palm Jumeirah. From its first day, Ossiano established itself as the top fine-dining restaurant in a resort that already had famous chefs Nobu, Hakkasan, and Gordon Ramsay’s Bread Street Kitchen. Where others competed based on prestige and food quality, Ossiano set itself apart in a unique way: by providing the perfect environment.
To start with, guests can access Ossiano via a majestic marble staircase leading into the depths of the hotel. Ossiano’s dining room can be found 10 meters below the Ambassador Lagoon, which houses up to 65,000 marine species, making it one of the largest aquariums in the world. Sharks swim past while stingrays glide right next to diners’ eyes. As stated in the Michelin Guide, “you will find yourself totally captivated and immersed” as soon as you enter Ossiano.
With only 54 seats, the restaurant is very cozy and intimate. Table windows overlooking the aquarium glass are some of the most popular tables to book in Dubai.
The Berger Era: A Menu Written Like a Book
For most of Ossiano’s celebrated run, the kitchen was led by Gregoire Berger, a chef who grew up in Brittany on the northwest coast of France. Berger joined Ossiano and built something that went beyond technically accomplished fine dining. He described his menu as “a romanticization of my own life, like chapters of a book,” and every season brought a new set of chapters.
They would take the guests on a voyage across the Atlantic Ocean – coastlines, fisher communities, oil spillage, and the nostalgic recollections of the man whose life had been formed by the sea. Every dish had a tale to tell. Food was completed right before their eyes, in addition to that element of showmanship. White chocolate-coated foie gras was crafted into candles, while serving vessels were fashioned from molds of his very hands.
The accolades came without fail. Ossiano earned a Michelin star, which it has maintained. The venue made its debut on the Middle East and North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants in 2023, ranking at number 4 and earning the honor of the Highest New Entry Award in that same year. The chef himself received the prestigious Chef of the Year Award from Gault and Millau in 2022, in addition to four toques from the guide for Ossiano. Three years later, Ossiano received the Art of Hospitality Award from the MENA 50 Best Restaurants, which praised its team for its goal “of making you leave with memories for life.”
Berger departed Ossiano at the end of 2024 to spend time with his family and begin new projects.
A New Chapter Under Remy Marquignon
Ossiano has undergone many changes in recent years. However, the arrival of Executive Chef Remy Marquignon in 2025 and 2026 marked a new era for the restaurant, as Marquignon, a Frenchman, whose culinary style emphasizes working with ingredients and being highly technical. The current tasting menu consists of nine dishes and costs AED 1,250 per person.
The menu includes a dish made with local tomatoes, then features a king crab dish presented as a lobster chawanmushi that is raised with den miso and gochujang sauce. The subsequent dishes feature different seafood, all prepared well, representing Ossiano’s legacy. According to the Gault and Millau, which reviewed the restaurant at the beginning of 2026, the chef “showcases the seafood dishes with utmost care and attention, the sauces carry conviction of one who knows how to deal with the fishmonger.” It is possible to pair drinks with meals. The restaurant serves dinner from Wednesday through Monday.
What Makes It Last
Dubai has accumulated more Michelin stars and 50 Best entries in recent years than almost anywhere else in the region. It is a city where new fine dining concepts open constantly, each one bigger, louder, or more concept-driven than the last.
Ossiano has lasted because it does something none of them can copy: it puts you inside the ocean and then asks you to focus on the plate. The tension between the wildness of the aquarium and the precision of the food on the table is not incidental. It is the whole point.
The sharks outside are not impressed. The cooking inside has to be good enough on its own terms, and it is.
