Studio Frantzén Dubai review: Is this Dubai’s best new a la carte?

Bjorn to be wild…

“Choice overload” is a real thing. Multiple studies by marketing companies have shown that, when confronted with too many options, people panic. It’s the old Aristotelian paradox, having too much of a good thing (freedom of choice). The optimal number of options, in case you were wondering, for a cosmetic-level choice (such as where to eat, or what pair of pants to put on in the morning) is between six and nine.

Given that the number of new F&B openings in Dubai over a particularly frenetic 2024 Q4 is something approaching the star count of the observable universe (permit me a slight exaggeration), restaurant choice overload is painfully real for many. But if it’s an incredible meal you’re after, in a new and exciting space, I can save you considerable consternation. Go to Studio Frantzén.

From the culinary stable of Björn Frantzén (who runs a pair of three Michelin Star restaurants, Frantzén in Stockholm and Zén in Singapore), Studio Frantzén occupies the former home of Nobu at Atlantis, The Palm. At the deliberately stark, crimson entrance there’s a giant tattooed bear’s head staking out the reservations desk. Nothing to do with the TV series, the Björn of Björn Frantzen translates from Swedish as ‘bear’. But like the fictional restaurant in FX show, The Bear, there’s a lot on the line – along with the sister concept, FZN (also at Atlantis, The Palm) this team are shooting for the Michelin Stars.

After stepping into the Björn cave you emerge into the umbral dim of a quirky cocktail lounge. It’s a little kitsch, arguably cutesy, and comes with a weighty mixology collection. But we’re here for the food, so into the main dining salon, we push. The eclectic design theme pervades, and looking at the menu, it’s an allegory for the cuisine – gloriously eccentric, Asian, French, with a soupcon of Scandinavia. It’s very much a bit of Dubai.

If you’re opting for oysters, they charge by the piece. We’ve ordered several of their signature grilled derivations (Dhs55) – with smoked butter, herring caviar and dirty seaweed oil. They’re a terrarium on a half-shell, brimming with synaesthesial relish, Warhole colour splashes you can taste. From now on, I make a note, all of my seaweed oil shall be dirty.

The seabass ceviche (Dhs95) comes in a trenchcoat of root veneers, inside sits a potent mix of ponzu strawberries, myoga and tiger’s milk. It’s one of my favourite dishes of 2024. A violent gang of individuals, that banded together, make sweet citrusy jazz.

Studio Frantzén’s king crab gunkan (Dhs65 per piece) is a clever refrain – sweet, sour and lightly spicy sushi. The excellent Scandinavian sashimi (salmon, lobster, hamachi, scallop, Dhs175) comes with a horseradish emulsion, a sort of Shenghan zone, soft-rock wasabi that’s another addition to the night’s welcome discoveries.

Our main course selections, Black Angus beef ribeye (Dhs395) and a lamb rack (Dhs225), might sound like pure Euro brasserie orthodoxy, but the lamb comes with a sublime umami-enhancing wasabi and mint raita. And the beef, charred and curvy, rolls over the tongue in the velvety fermented kampot pepper cream sauce.

I have to make a fourth-wall-breaking aside to talk about the sides though. The Brussels sprouts (Dhs50) come dressed in something that feels like an XO or maybe even a miso sauce. I don’t know, and I don’t think it matters, sometimes you just have to strap in and enjoy the ride. Getting all evangelical and misty-eyed about pygmy cabbages was not on my Frantzén bingo card, but here we are. Spectacular. The charred broccolini (Dhs50) with sweet soy, mint and Thai basil was also a poetic piece of fusion.

We pay a visit to the sweet room for afters, where you’re invited to play an actual (man)child in a candy shop. Pick your poison – cakes, bakes or sugar-sprinkled penny sweets. I’ve got raging choice overload, so I’m sitting this course out on the bench. But my dining date swears the cheesecake was, and I quote, “magnificent”.

Studio Frantzén is brilliant, easily one of the brightest of Dubai’s new crop. Whilst I’m passion-biased to the homegrown, in joining the scene, Studio helps raise it, introducing new and worthy talent onto the Dubai stage. And that’s a very good thing.

Verdict: Is Studio Frantzén one of Dubai’s best new restaurants? Does a wild Björn source from a forest?

Studio Frantzén, Atlantis, The Palm, Palm Jumeirah, daily 6pm to 1am. @studiofrantzendubai

Images: Provided