It is the ultimate gastronomic accolade. And yet when it came it took much of the global foodie community by surprise. On Thursday night, Tresind Studio, an Indian restaurant in Dubai, was awarded three stars by the Michelin guide.

This makes Tresind Studio the only Indian restaurant in the world to hold three stars. It is also the only restaurant in West Asia, across all cuisines, to have won this culinary accolade.

Michelin stars are highly valued by chefs because of the incorruptibility, expertise and credibility of the guide. One star means that a restaurant is very good. Two stars make it one of the finest in the region. Three stars are only given to restaurants regarded as being among the best in the world.

Tresind Studio’s success is even more remarkable because its chef Himanshu Saini is under 40 and because it was widely expected that the first restaurant in Dubai to win three stars would be one of the many hyper-expensive places that are run by famous European chefs. Very few people believed that an Indian restaurant had any hope of competing with the biggest names in the world.

Michelin clearly did not see it that way. Gwendal Poullennec, the head of Michelin, believes that the “time is right for the recognition of Indian food on the world stage.” In recent years Michelin has broken with tradition and awarded stars to Indian restaurants all over the world. But three stars seemed like an impossibility till now. Though the guide covers over 50 global destinations and includes thousands of restaurants there are only 151 three star restaurants in the world.

Poullennec made a special trip to Dubai for the announcement and two days before Tresind Studio’s success was revealed , he went in secret to tell Saini and his team that they had made culinary history. They were sworn to silence and signed Non Disclosure Agreements so the official announcement took the culinary world by surprise.

Saini seemed stunned and a little numb when Poullennec told him about the three stars but members of his team whooped, then wept openly and hugged each other in joy. Saini held it together long enough to make a short speech (“this is a big moment for our country, one that will inspire generations “) and then as the enormity of the achievement sunk in, he burst into tears as well.

Though Tresind Studio is located in Dubai, its roots are firmly Indian. Saini trained at Delhi’s Indian Accent and still credits that restaurant’s legendary chef Manish Mehrotra with teaching him everything he knows about food. Bhupender Nath, the owner, is a self made man from a small town in Bihar who made a fortune in the global fisheries business and opened Tresind as a labour of love, backing and encouraging the then unknown Saini.

Though Tresind Studio is the group’s flagship, there is also a Tresind in Mumbai. Before the third star was announced Saini had promised to spend more time in the Mumbai restaurant.

It remains to be seen if he will stick to that resolution now that he is the most successful Indian chef in the world and a member of that tiny international club of chefs who run three star restaurants.