Food · Hotel Dining
For all the theatre that defines a Japanese steakhouse, with straw fire grills at 900°C, sushi assembled with surgical precision and a choreographed sense of ceremony, Netsu is choosing this season to ease off. Two new menus arrive at Ross Shonhan’s restaurant inside Mandarin Oriental Jumeira: a Wagyu burger meant to be eaten with the hands, and a returning Hands On menu where the chopsticks come off the table entirely.
The Burger
A wagyu burger, plated like a steak
The Netsu Burger Experience opens with a trio of nigiri before moving to the main event: a grilled wagyu burger served with fries. The patty is shaped by Warayaki, the straw fire technique that runs at over 900°C and gives the meat a deep, smoky char that ordinary grilling cannot reach. A sesame Monaka closes the meal with restraint.
The price is AED 200 per person, available Tuesday through Sunday from 6:30pm to 11:30pm.
The Angle
A steakhouse choosing to relax
Japanese fine dining in Dubai has trended in one direction for years: more precise, more reverent, more committed to the ceremony. Netsu has been part of that arc since opening in 2019. These two new menus push in the other direction.
Both lean into the tactile rather than the formal. The burger asks to be picked up. The Hands On menu asks the chopsticks be set aside. That is not a small move for a kitchen built around technique. It is a kitchen choosing to be less precious.
The Hands On Menu
Osaka and Tokyo, by hand
Head Chef Roberto draws on the street food of Osaka and Tokyo for the Hands On Menu, reimagining Japanese classics through the Warayaki lens. Edamame opens the meal. A three-piece nigiri set follows, then a tableside temaki of akami tuna and koshihikari rice. Wagyu tartare ‘Monaka’, prawn and vegetable kakiage, and yakitori carry the table through to the centrepiece: Wagyu Short Rib ‘Bo Ssam’ with butter lettuce, kimchi and pickled daikon. A wagyu sando on milk bread with truffle spread arrives just before dessert.
Mochi ice cream and a sesame and date Monaka close the menu. Priced from AED 250 per person, served Tuesday through Sunday.
For Boujeez
Dubai’s Japanese dining scene has matured to the point where ceremony is no longer a differentiator on its own. Netsu’s move toward the relaxed and the tactile is the kind of editorial choice a confident kitchen makes when it has nothing left to prove. Both menus run alongside the regular Netsu service, sharing the same Warayaki kitchen and the same dining room atmosphere, just with the formality dialed down a notch.