Jason Atherton is an accomplished chef with over three decades of experience in the culinary industry. He is known to have worked with renowned chefs around the globe. He is known for running several restaurants in various parts of the globe, including London, New York, Shanghai, and Dubai. He is a former owner of Michelin-starred restaurants, created cooking brigades, and trained other chefs.
And then came the time in September 2023 when Jason Atherton opened his restaurant in Grosvenor House, Dubai Marina, located on the 45th floor of the hotel.
The place is only designed to accommodate 22 people. That is all that matters.
What the Name Actually Means
Row on 45 is not named after a street, or a table number, or a vague concept designed to sound meaningful. The ROW is an acronym: Refinement of Work. The 45 is the floor. The name is, as Gault and Millau described it, “an accurate description. It’s a room in which to eat and revel in the talents of the kitchen.”
Atherton described his vision for the space at launch as something he had imagined for years: “a boutique yet luxurious 22-seater restaurant, crafted around a state-of-the-art kitchen,” where he could “present an opulent tasting menu, with some of the finest ingredients on the planet, served alongside hand-chosen crockery, cutlery, and the finest glassware.”
It was also supposed to be comfortable, like the penthouse of his London friend whose food is amazing. His idea comes through in this design: warm, thoughtful, personal. There’s a lamp in the form of a Dalmatian. There are Michelin guides from olden days lined up on shelves. There’s sixties rock on his carefully crafted playlist. It’s luxurious but not intimidating.
Three Acts, One Evening
The dinner at Row on 45 is a three-act production, each act held in a different part of the venue.
The first act, The Finest Welcome, is performed in the Champagne Lounge. This act begins as soon as guests arrive for their aperitifs and the first course in an intimate lounge that is meant to relax them before entering the kitchen.
The second act, The Pinnacle, is held in the main restaurant area, where the kitchen will turn into a theatre. The chefs prepare each individual course in front of the table. Each course comes with a wine pairing. Every course is explained to guests by the very people who made it.
The last act is The Grand Finale and is performed in the Chef’s Library, with digestifs and petit fours, followed by conversation in the intimacy of a small room where only 22 can comfortably fit.
The current menu runs to 12 courses. The philosophy, as the restaurant’s own website describes it, begins with Britain: “its fields, shores, seasons, and centuries-old traditions.” From that foundation, it reaches outward: Japanese clarity of flavor enriches the seafood; Mediterranean lightness lifts the hearth cooking; Asian aromatics bring depth to familiar British ingredients. Nothing is borrowed without a reason.
The Kitchen
Row On 45’s executive chef is none other than Daniel Birk, who takes charge of the kitchen on a daily basis. Prior to becoming an executive chef, Birk completed three years of engineering studies before realizing he could never stop thinking about food, which led him to spend more than two decades working professionally in the kitchen, including 17 years in Michelin-starred restaurants.
The ingredients do the talking, and they speak clearly. Gault and Millau, reviewing the restaurant, described the experience as “plate after plate of exquisite, expert cooking,” noting that it “focuses the most on ingredients and flavors over showmanship or storytelling.”
The Accolades
Row on 45 was launched in September 2023, and in its first year, the restaurant earned more accolades than any other restaurant in Dubai’s history. It was selected by Gault and Millau as the “Breakthrough Restaurant of the Year” in its very first year. In the subsequent year, Row on 45 was named the “Restaurant of the Year” by Gault and Millau, along with Daniel Birk as Chef of the Year.
“While Row on 45 is still relatively new to the Dubai restaurant scene,” Gault and Millau wrote, “its climb has been nothing short of astonishing, growing more confident with each new menu reveal and establishing a new, moveable, immersive experience for the country’s most discerning epicureanists.”
In a city teeming with exceptional restaurants, such a wave cannot just come by chance. It comes because twenty-two individuals sit around and are served something exceptional, and the place is such that everything has been thought of in every detail.
A deposit is required to secure the reservation costs, AED 500 per individual. The restaurant requires elegant attire from its visitors. The operating days include Tuesday through Saturday, and reservations are strictly required, especially for the chef’s table.
Thirty-seven years of culinary practice have found its right-sized place. It has turned out that the room had to be very small indeed.
