Berenjak

The story

Berenjak Dubai: Persian Kababs & Sharing Plates with Michelin Bib Gourmand

The Story Behind Berenjak

Berenjak takes its name from the brightly coloured, toasted rice snack sold at Persian funfairs. Founder Kian Samyani grew up in London, where his childhood memories revolved around family dinner tables. “Every Persian will tell you that their mum’s cooking is the best!” he says. With Berenjak, he wanted to evoke those feelings and reinterpret signature dishes using seasonal produce. The first restaurant opened in London’s Soho in 2018, reimagining the hole-in-the-wall kabab houses that line the streets of Tehran. In the UAE, Berenjak has two locations: Dar Wasl in Dubai and Aljada in Sharjah. Unlike the Soho original, these take inspiration from the rural townhouses of the Alborz Mountains in northern Iran.

The Food & Drink

The menu focuses on Persian cuisine, specialising in small mazeh-style sharing plates and charcoal-grilled kababs. Spices, dips, pickles, and handfuls of herbs define the flavours—the tastes of Samyani’s childhood. The drinks offering mirrors the social spirit of the restaurant, with traditional sharbats and homemade doogh. This straightforward, flavour-driven cooking earned Berenjak a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2026, recognising good quality, good value food. It’s the kind of place where you sit elbow-to-elbow, sharing dishes until every scrap is gone.