Kendall Jenner, Liam Payne and Farhan Akhtar attend Nobu opening in Dubai

Chef Nobu Matsuhisa launches new spot at Atlantis, The Palm, his largest restaurant in the world

Kendall Jenner, centre left, and Nobu Matsuhisa, centre right, at the opening of Nobu Dubai at Atlantis, The Palm on Friday. All photos: Getty Images

Jonathan Cheban, Kendall Jenner and Simon Huck at the launch

Jenner at the world's largest Nobu

Liam Payne at Nobu Dubai

Ronan Keating and Payne

From left, Farah Khan, Farhan Akhtar and Shibani Dandekar

Jonathan Cheban

Mona Kattan and Hassan Elamin

Nell Tiger Free and Isaac Carew

Brett Armitage, left, and Phillipe Zuber, right, with a guest

American fencer Ibtihaj Muhammad, right

From left, Greg Mallett, Lady Amelia Spencer, Lady Eliza Spencer and Michael Lewis

Former footballer Robbie Keane

Hugh Evans and Katie Hill

Farhana Bodi

Rochelle and Marvin Humes

Nader Al Atat

Fatema Alawadhi

Alanoud Badr

The restaurant has a new home at Atlantis, The Palm

The ever-gracious Nobu Matsuhisa was all smiles and blushes when I bumped into him at the entrance of Atlantis The Royal on Friday afternoon, where I wished him good luck for the launch of his namesake restaurant later that night.

Little did I know that the Japanese chef would partake in a 15th-century ritual that invokes good fortune smack bang in the middle of the Royal Bridge Suite at Atlantis, The Palm, which is now home to the largest Nobu restaurant in the world.

Surrounded by VIPs, including Kendall Jenner, Liam Payne and Jonathan Cheban, Matsuhisa and Nobu co-founder Meir Teper initiated the kagami biraki ceremony, which involves the breaking and opening of an enormous barrel of sake.

The duo brandished wooden mallets and cracked open the enormous lid, then passed around the fermented rice beverage in traditional masu cups, even as Japanese Taiko drummers set a celebratory tone.

Jenner was the shining star of the evening, with chef Matsuhisa even paying ode to her in his opening speech, much to the crowd’s delight. “Thank you for coming. I like to share Japanese traditions and cultures the world over, which is why tonight we have the sake ceremony. We always do this to open every Nobu. The ceremony means ‘happy day’, and today is a very happy day as we have Kendall Jenner here to help us launch the new Nobu at Atlantis Dubai. Enjoy the party,” Matsuhisa said.

Guests mingled over cocktails; canapes, including Nobu’s signature black cod with miso, spicy salmon miso tacos and tuna sashimi; and mini pavlova, mochi and chocolate spring rolls for dessert.

The restaurant will open to the public from Monday, but good luck getting a table this month.

For reservations, call 04 426 0760; www.atlantis.com/dubai/dining/nobu