Trèsind co-founder reveals secret behind 3 Michelin star success in Dubai that made Indian history

Dubai: “My food should speak for itself,” says Sakshi Nath, co-founder of Trèsind, the world’s first Indian restaurant to bag three coveted Michelin stars—and yes, it happened right here in Dubai.

There’s something almost poetic about the world’s first three-Michelin-star Indian restaurant sprouting not in Mumbai, Delhi, or London, but in Dubai—a city that has mastered the art of reinvention.

Trèsind Studio, perched inside The St. Regis on Palm Jumeirah, has now made global culinary history, placing Indian food squarely on a pedestal and Dubai firmly at the center of the fine-dining galaxy.

Sakshi Nath, the stylish co-founder of Trèsind, still can’t believe it.

“This year when they told us it’s three stars, I was in shock. Two was already huge. Three? That had never happened for Indian cuisine in the 125-year history of Michelin. I was overwhelmed,” she tells me, still soaking in it all in.

Dubai, she insists, deserves equal credit. “This place has given us so much love, recognition and these awards. It is home. People say Dubai is lucky for us, but I always say—it was hard work too. We hustled for every bit of this.”

The Dubai Dream

Her story reads like a classic Dubai rags-to-riches tale. She met and married her husband in India, followed him to Lagos (“I would have followed him anywhere—we were in that honeymoon phase”), built a fashion boutique there, raised kids, and in 2008 moved to Dubai for one reason: safety and a better life for her children.

“It felt like heaven after Lagos,” she laughs.

And then came a pivot that Dubai has a way of inspiring. Her husband’s dream? Open an Indian restaurant that was unlike anything else. Her dream? Do it without ever diluting the essence of Indian food.

Thus Trèsind was born in 2014 at One&Only Royal Mirage.

“We wanted to do modern Indian food, not fusion. There’s a difference,” Sakshi explains firmly.

“Flavours and taste remain authentic—it just looks different. And we were the first to bring molecular gastronomy to Indian cuisine a decade ago. Now everyone does it, but we were first.”

Khichdi and a map of India

It’s that purist streak that has made dishes like Trèsind’s iconic khichdi a cult favourite.

“We serve it on a map of India, with ingredients from different states. Everyone eats khichdi in India, but we made it our signature. People come just for that.”

And she isn’t kidding. I tell her I’ve had it, and nearly cried into my pillow afterwards. Call it gastronomic heavenly moment.

Over the years, Dubai diners—and then the world—came flocking. Trèsind became a byword for experience-driven dining that wasn’t pretentious. Slowly, eight brands blossomed under the Trèsind umbrella, six of which now feature in the Michelin Guide. And this year, Trèsind Studio leapt from two stars to three—a leap no Indian restaurant has ever made before.

The secret? No shortcuts

Ask her how a restaurant empire survives in a city where F&B trends flare up and fizzle out overnight, and she’s blunt: “Consistency. Quality. Service. That’s it. You can’t open a restaurant and move on to the next. We have 600 people now and every single one of them is invested in keeping standards high. They are our heroes, not us. We just own the place. They make it what it is.”

Her husband leads the restaurant operations while she runs her other passion project, Queen’s Beauty Lounge, but this is a family affair through and through.

Both their sons have now joined the business: one working on global expansion into Europe and the US, the other experimenting with quick-service brands.

So how do you draw boundaries when your boardroom is also your living room? “We don’t interfere in each other’s work,” she says with a shrug. “He doesn’t interfere in my salons, and I don’t interfere in the kitchen. But we all look at Tresind as our baby.”

Dubai: The safe bet that paid off

Sakshi is candid about what it takes to weather a storm.

“COVID taught us resilience. You need a strong shock absorber in business. If you don’t have the financial cushion, you sink. We didn’t shut a single brand because my husband had complete faith in Dubai and in what we were building here. This city gives you opportunities if you’re willing to hustle.”

It helped that the Nath family didn’t take shortcuts with investors or celebrity endorsements.

“We’ve never used a star to launch a restaurant. My husband always said, ‘My food should speak for itself.’ And it has.”

Big names from Bollywood and sports still come—often quietly—but the restaurant has never chased them.

Going global

Now, the three stars have unlocked a new ambition: global domination. “It’s high time Trèsind goes global,” she says. “We’re in Mumbai already, but Europe and the US are next. People love Indian food; they crave it after three days abroad. We’re going to bring authentic flavours, just plated differently.”

She is adamant about one thing: “If I serve butter chicken in New York, it will taste like butter chicken. You can’t change the soul of Indian food.”

Family, Food, and the Future

It all circles back to family for Sakshi. From a boutique in Lagos to a Michelin powerhouse in Dubai, the thread that ties her journey together is her partnership with her husband.

“I pat him on the back and say, ‘You did well.’ He’s the one who works 24/7 now. But yes, we started it together. He is the heart, I am the creative. And our kids? They are the future.”

As I leave Trèsind Studio, I realise this is more than a restaurant story. It’s a Dubai story. A city that took a family with a dream, gave them the stage, and watched them turn Indian comfort food into a global phenomenon—without compromise.

And as Sakshi says, “This is just the beginning. Wait till you see what we do next.”