Restaurant of Turkmen Chef in Dubai Has Been Awarded a Michelin Star
Birch, the Dubai restaurant of Turkmen chef Arslan Berdiev, has been awarded one Michelin star in the latest edition of the Michelin Guide Dubai 2026. The restaurant received the distinction on October 6 at the fifth Michelin Guide Dubai ceremony held in Dubai. The new edition features 122 restaurants, with Birch among two new establishments awarded one star.
For Arslan Berdiev, the recognition marks another milestone in the international expansion of a project whose story began in St. Petersburg. Birch opened in Dubai in February 2025 in the DIFC district, at The Ritz-Carlton hotel.
Today, the restaurant offers contemporary signature cuisine that combines diverse gastronomic traditions with elements of the chef’s Turkmen heritage. Michelin specifically highlighted Berdiev’s Turkmen roots, his travels, and his work with high-quality ingredients.
Arslan Berdiev is originally from Dashoguz, in northern Turkmenistan. His journey into professional gastronomy began unusually early and not in a restaurant. At the age of 17, he joined the army, where he served for two years and found himself working in the kitchen during his military service. According to his recollections, this was where his interest in cooking first emerged.
One of the dishes the chef associates with his years in the military is traditional Turkmen pilaf. Berdiev has said that he prepared it for fellow servicemen and officers. According to him, officers would sometimes wait for an opportunity to taste his pilaf before heading home.
His military experience later developed into a professional career. After completing his service, Berdiev moved to St. Petersburg, where he began working in a kitchen and gradually progressed from an assistant to a head chef. In 2017, he and his team opened Birch, which eventually became one of St. Petersburg’s notable restaurant projects. In 2021, the establishment was named Russia’s best restaurant by the national WHERETOEAT restaurant awards.
However, Berdiev’s approach is not based on using exclusively expensive or rare ingredients. What matters more to him is technique, cooking time, and the ability to bring out the character of even the simplest ingredient.
Beetroot from Al Ain, which the chef uses in his cuisine, is a good example of this approach. An ordinary-looking vegetable becomes a distinctive gastronomic creation through cooking techniques and attention to detail. This reflects one of the defining features of Birch’s cuisine: focusing less on the ostentatious luxury of an ingredient and more on its potential.
At the Dubai restaurant, this philosophy is combined with contemporary European, Asian, and Middle Eastern influences. Among the dishes highlighted by Michelin are bluefin tuna with Uzbek tomatoes, marbled beef with beetroot and ponzu sauce, and pumpkin ravioli. The open kitchen is also an important part of the concept, allowing guests to watch the team at work.
Today, Birch is one of 14 restaurants in Dubai awarded one Michelin star in the 2026 guide.
