by Alexandra Mansilla
From Dubai Newcomer To Michelin Star. Interview With Dmitry Blinov, DUO Gastrobar
21 Jul 2024
On July 4th, at the 3rd edition of the MICHELIN Guide Ceremony Dubai, the new selection of restaurants for The MICHELIN Guide Dubai 2024 was unveiled. Among the honorees was DUO, a restaurant that opened less than a year ago in August 2023, which received the Bib Gourmand award. Dmitry Blinov, a restaurateur and chef from St. Petersburg and co-founder of the Duoband restaurant group, launched DUO. He did it all from scratch, in entirely new conditions, and with barely any English. We spoke to Dmitry to find out how he made it happen.
— Dmitry, in your post about DUO's inclusion in the Michelin Guide, you mentioned that you stopped drinking a year and a half ago. Can you tell us more about that?
— I used to love drinking, and I was pretty good at it; anyone who has been to a restaurant awards ceremony with me knows what I mean. But, first, I am getting older. Plus, the stress and workload from opening DUO in Dubai made it clear that I needed to conserve my energy. Most importantly, I needed to boost my brainpower and stay super focused.
Honestly, I didn’t plan to go full-on healthy; I just wanted a break before the restaurant opened. But then I realised I liked not drinking. I quit, and now I honestly don’t see the point in it anymore.
— So, DUO in Dubai started when you came here in July 2022 to open a restaurant. The streets were scorching, the land was parched, and you were unsure if opening a place was the right move, but in the end…
— In the end, I decided that this was precisely why it was time to open. The streets were indeed empty, and it seemed like the city was dead. But people were still in good restaurants. Even though many people went on vacation at that time, a significant number stayed and continued to work. And they also want to eat — in July and August. So I realised that opening a restaurant was necessary.
I started researching. For about a month and a half, I visited all the restaurants in the city, checking out two places every day. Initially, I thought of opening Harvest, but there were plenty of similar places in Dubai. The problem that made me realise I needed to open DUO was that there was nowhere for me to have lunch during the day. Just a place to meet someone, pop in, and have lunch without the frills and white tablecloths. I couldn't find such places.
— How did you find a location for DUO? What areas did you consider?
— Mainly the areas where everyone wants to open restaurants: Downtown and DIFC. But I couldn't find the right place there. Then I learned about Dubai Hills, visited, and liked it.
— Why didn't it work out in Downtown and DIFC?
— There just wasn’t anything decent on offer. None of the locations felt right for opening a restaurant.
At the same time, I noticed the Dubai market was similar to what St. Petersburg used to be like. In Dubai, a good restaurant often means an expensive restaurant. It was the same in St. Petersburg ten years ago, which is why DUO was created: to offer a good restaurant that was affordable for everyone.
The same thing applies to Dubai: I couldn’t find places with great food that were also affordable and suitable for everyday dining, so I decided to open one myself. Most of the places I saw were run-down with prices that were reasonable by Dubai standards but not appealing at all.
Eventually, I found some interesting and great spots for everyday dining, but they are still rare for Dubai, which has thousands of establishments. So, it was the perfect time to open DUO. We signed the lease on November 2.
— I would like to ask about the good places you found. Once, you said, "There are a few restaurants in the DIFC area where people truly know what they are doing." Can you name these places?
— I will mention the obvious, which everyone knows — both the local Dubai audience and the Russian-speaking audience: the restaurants by Evgeny Kuzin. These are world-class restaurants. Tashas Group also creates undoubtedly great restaurants.
And I really like Kinoya — they do a high-quality authentic Japanese place in their style and don't try to mimic anyone. It is one of those places where the food is good, and the prices are reasonable. They also received a Bib Gourmand.
— Did you have to adapt the menu for the local audience? Did you cater to local tastes?
— Not at all. I didn't know the local tastes, so I couldn't adapt to them. One of my main motivations for going to Dubai was to prove to myself that we knew how to do our job. Our restaurants were loved by people in St. Petersburg, not by chance but because we really know how to create a great restaurant.
— And you started learning English right when you began working on the restaurant, right?
— Yes, in August, and we signed the lease in November. So, three months of learning English from scratch — and straight into legal texts. It was a kind of recklessness and bravery. Have you watched the cartoon "Chip 'n Dale"?
— Yes, of course!
— Well, I am probably one of them.
— Or both. Can you please tell us what the challenges were besides not knowing English and having to read contracts and do everything in English?
— It was an enormous global stress. A different country, different realities. According to the contract, we had to open the restaurant within six months, or else we had to pay a fine of 5000 dirhams a day.
Did we open the restaurant in six months? No, we only started construction. Nothing was ready. No designers, builders, or established processes. We needed to go through about 60 approvals with government agencies, the landlord, and developers. And you don't understand anything at all.
Now, with the second DUO, it is much easier. I roughly understand how construction works, how to organise and manage it, what is necessary and what isn't, and I am just better at asking questions and understanding the answers.
For example, there is a tradition here — to make custom furniture. Everyone does it, but honestly, they do it poorly. But you are convinced it is mandatory, and you believe it because you are new and don't know the rules. But it is not necessary at all.
DUO in Dubai was a constant 24/7 stress that I just wasn't prepared for. Plus, I was alone most of the time. Of course, I have partners who helped with banks, translations, and accounts — without them, I wouldn't have managed at all. But I was alone in Dubai. The team joined only when the restaurant was built.
— Okay, did you consider opening a restaurant somewhere other than Dubai?
— I don't think so. It is pointless for us to try anything in Europe right now, and we just didn't want to do it in the CIS countries. As for other countries, honestly, I know very little about them. For example, Singapore or Hong Kong. I know nothing about them, hand I ave never been there, and they seem like a completely different world to me. I don't even know exactly how to get there — by plane or submarine.
At least I had been to Dubai. I managed to learn how things work here — as much as possible because you still learn most things in the process — and I thought this suited me. There didn't seem to be any obstacles.
— And you opened in August 2023. How did people start finding out about you?
— It is hard to imagine, honestly. We were very fortunate: we have a brand in Russia that people know. So, at the time of opening, most of our audience was Russian-speaking. Now it is 70% Russian-speaking and 30% locals. How did locals find out about us? Mostly by word of mouth.
— Do you remember the first day you opened?
— Actually, no. I remember very well the day DUO opened in St. Petersburg: goosebumps; it was scary. But in Dubai, I don't remember at all — I was probably so exhausted that I had no energy left.
— You once said a great phrase: "I don't want to rust." What does that mean?
— I don't want to become complacent. I want to stay alive and hungry for goals and achievements. I don't want to forget what I dreamed of when I was younger. For example, I once wanted Michelin, then decided to let it go, and at some point, I just got used to not having Michelin. You know, the restaurants were working fine, everything was stable. But I don't want to get used to it; Ialways want to strive for something.
I don't want to get lazy and stop developing. I don't want to be left behind, living on some old, familiar foundation. I don't want the answer to the question "What do you do?" to be: "Well, I run restaurants. I was popular 10 years ago,; nowI just make money." I want to always have the energy to create something new and develop what already exists.
Opening DUO in Dubai gave us a good shake. It was a powerful step out of our comfort zone, affecting the whole team and our way of life. No matter how stressful it was, it was cool. It was a powerful leap. You know, I remember opening my first restaurant, and it led to significant changes in my perception of people, myself, work, business, and so on. Now, probably for the first time in 10 years, something similar has happened.
— Why do you think you were included in the Michelin Guide?
— It is hard to answer. I have this imposter syndrome, so it is hard to assess myself objectively.
DUO is indeed the only restaurant with Russian roots in the guide. Why? I don't know. Sometimes, I look at other restaurants and get scared; I just don't understand how we got there. I am very happy that our approach and professionalism were appreciated, and they really noticed that it stands out in the city. Because that was our goal — to create something different from everything in Dubai, but at the same time, it had to be a restaurant for every day, something simple.
The Bib Gourmand description mentions "outstanding food at reasonable prices." That is the idea we pushed, the one we opened with, the one I instilled in DUO 10 years ago. And probably the most pleasant thing is that we were awarded for it — it means we are doing everything right. We make great food accessible to a large number of people.
DUO Gastrobar
— The new DUO is opening in November, right?
— Yes, we are scaling up. We really want more people to know about the brand. It is opening in an area that is perfect for DUO — Dubai Creek Harbour.
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