Centurion United Kingdom Winter 2023

Henna is an important

Henna is an important part of so many cultures in the region, and even people not from here find it beautiful and inspiring, and they want to share that joy with us M THE HENNA ARTIST DR AZRA KHAMISSA y henna designs started as an expression of how I feel,” says Azra Khamissa, a Canadian-South African with Indian heritage who moved to Dubai when she was 11. “I tend to move between different styles, sometimes more feminine, sometimes boyish and sportier, and my henna designs reflect that.” They’ve certainly resonated with a creative, fashion-focused audience. Khamissa – who is also a trained chiropractor – currently has 172,000 followers on her @dr.azra Instagram account, and has worked on collaborations with big-name brands like Adidas, Bulgari and Ebel. In 2020, she launched her own range of non-toxic henna cones to make it easier and safer to apply the product at home, with stencils to follow for those without the confidence to go freehand. Khamissa also uses her henna as a canvas for serious conversation and debate. “I’ve received mostly a good reception, but, of course, there are some who feel that the henna culture is being erased,” she says. “You can’t win everybody’s hearts.” Dubai is a source of constant inspiration for Khamissa – and a great connector. “The city is such a melting pot of different nationalities, and it has inspired so much of what I do,” she says. “Henna is an important part of so many cultures in the region, and even people not from here find it beautiful and inspiring, and they want to share that joy with us.” PHOTO NATALIE LINES; STYLING BY SEHER KHAN; ASSISTANCE BY @ZAHRWHO 90 CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM

THE CHEF HIMANSHU SAINI S uccess was never a given for the Delhi-born chef. His restaurant, Trèsind Studio, currently sits at eleventh place on the World’s 50 Best Restaurants list and was awarded two Michelin stars earlier this year, but when Saini opened the 20-seat chef ’s table back in 2018, he wasn’t convinced it would work. “This kind of restaurant had never done well here, so we went into it with some scepticism,” says the 37-year-old. The concept of tasting menus wasn’t familiar in Dubai, and few diners were willing to pre-pay, or to spend twoand-a-half hours in a dining room. Initially, Trèsind Studio attracted a small but loyal following of regulars with its Indian cuisine that seems to push the realms of culinary possibility. When Saini and his team were sure they had “fed them all”, they would change the menu. On some evenings, the restaurant had zero bookings. “It was quite disheartening,” he recalls. But along came Covid, and everything changed. Dubai’s handling of the pandemic, with an approach Saini describes as both “brave and cautious”, allowed the city and its restaurants to open up considerably earlier than others around the world. While much of the world was still locked down, Saini invited culinary stars like Ana Roš of Hiša Franko in Slovenia to come and cook with him, drawing a new audience of appreciative diners. Saini also credits the 2022 arrival of three food guides – Michelin Guide, MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants and Gault&Millau – with making the local restaurant landscape more creative and competitive, yet more collaborative at the same time. His exquisite tasting menus soon caught notice for his imaginative explorations of modern Indian cuisine focusing on different regions of the Subcontinent. Flavours are complex, delicate and perfectly balanced, showcased in dishes like buttermilk curry sorbet with pickled pepper, ghee-roasted crab served in a curl of cinnamon bark, and lamb kebab with green plum korma and mountain greens – dishes that are often accented with fresh flowers plucked from the restaurant’s garden or little butterfly-shaped crisps. “Amazing cheap eats and small hidden restaurants were always here, but they lived in the shadow of the international restaurants,” he says. The awards and lists are giving Dubai’s homegrown concepts more visibility on a global level. “These restaurants want to stand out, and they’re becoming more adventurous and pushing boundaries. Now the international ones are pitching in and pushing the envelope together.” All of this has impacted Saini, too. “Trèsind Studio is a product of Dubai that couldn’t exist anywhere else in the world,” he says. “I have no intention to replicate it elsewhere. Trèsind Studio will always be in Dubai.” PHOTO © TRESIND STUDIO CENTURION-MAGAZINE.COM 91