Orfali Bros

The story

Crafted with passion, served with love

Three Brothers, One Kitchen, No Rules

Mohammad, Wassim and Omar Orfali grew up in Aleppo, Syria, and brought everything that shaped them — memory, tradition, restlessness — to a casual two-storey bistro in Dubai's Wasl 51 neighbourhood. Since opening in 2021, Orfali Bros has moved with unusual speed from local favourite to global landmark, ranking at the top of the Middle East & North Africa's 50 Best Restaurants for three consecutive years before re-entering The World's 50 Best Restaurants list in 2025 at number 37.

The People Behind the Plates

The division of labour here is as distinctive as the food itself. Mohammad, the eldest, leads the savoury kitchen. An established television cook and restaurant chef across the Middle East, he draws on Syrian staples, pan-regional Arabic traditions, European technique and Asian ingredients to produce a menu that genuinely resists categorisation. One floor above, younger brothers Wassim and Omar operate their own pastry world. Both trained as classical French pâtissiers, yet their approaches diverge — a productive tension that yields an exceptional range of pastries, buns, éclairs and desserts woven throughout the menu.

A Menu That Bends Its Own Rules

"Rules are meant to be bent and broken, with respect to our tradition" is the team's stated mantra, and the menu reflects it honestly. Arabic cuisine here is not a fixed point but a living conversation — Syrian comfort food sits alongside pan-regional favourites, while European and Asian influences arrive not as ornament but as genuine ingredients in the story. The result is food that feels both deeply rooted and entirely contemporary.

The Space

The room is open and unpretentious, dominated by the two-storey kitchen that diners look directly into. There is no attempt at theatrical distance between cook and guest. The atmosphere is neighbourhood bistro rather than destination restaurant — which makes the international recognition all the more striking, and all the more deserved.