Restaurants Near and Middle East cuisine Dubai

The restaurant's name is taken from the street that housed the chain's first restaurant in Beirut, and which is an institution in Lebanon. Located in the heart of Souk al Bahar, the restaurant offers one of the most beautiful terraces for admiring the dancing fountains and the laser show at the Burj Khalifa. It's best to book in advance to enjoy a few mezze between the various shows, as the restaurant is very popular and the Levant-inspired interior lacks the charm of the exterior. Good food and reasonable prices.

Protected by the Heritage Department, the building, which dates from 1935, was the first trading centre in the city, serving as the headquarters of the Gray-McKenzie trading company. The low-ceilinged rooms are decorated in the traditional style. In this fairly typical and cool setting, the kitchen served is simple and unpretentious, but appropriate. A good address when visiting the museum and the souk, especially since restaurants are rather rare in this part of town. The wide shaded pontoon over the water is very popular.

Are you looking for a local restaurant, local and no fuss? This is Al Hajarain! This restaurant with oriental and Indian accents is truly one of the best dining options in the town of Hatta. It's simple, copious, but tasty cuisine. You can just order a salad and a dish and share it like Makboos, a Biriyani or a Kebab. There is also a pizza and pasta menu for the diehards. As they don't serve alcohol in this place, you can still try one of their mochtails like the Mojito.

Located in the heart of the superb Wafi souk, it is a very lively open-air patio and often crowded on weekends. In the same spirit as the shopping mall, the architecture and the menu are of Arab inspiration, the waiters are in traditional costume. A mile-long menu of Egyptian, Persian and Lebanese specialties. The desserts and the Moroccan tea are also very famous. The atmosphere with hookahs, the music and the quality of the menu, as well as the clientele, willingly local, make it a very recommendable place in a decor of oriental soap opera.

Welcome to the house of Persian delights on the first floor of this hotel that is a legend! Known and frequented by many Iranian Emirati people, it is the den of quality Iranian dishes: fried aubergines, saffron rice, kebabs... Not forgetting the creamy ice creams. Live music except on Sundays, but keep away from the speakers so as not to leave your hearing. This is an address where you can go to dinner with your eyes closed. The service is attentive and the maitre d' has been there for more than 25 years.

It's difficult to choose the terrace, even though it is open onto the seigniorial swimming pool and the waters of the Palm, when you discover a room so beautiful, shiny, as if enchanted by the silver reflections, the nuptial white! Do according to the weather and your taste of the moment, but make sure you settle in, because the moment will be memorable: the menu is created by the starred chef Yannick Allieno. Let's set off on a trip to Asia, the Arab world and the shores of the Mediterranean. For dessert, you can choose between smoothies, milkshakes and fresh desserts.

In competition with the eastern garden of the Ritz gardens, Al Khaima is a very good table. We cross the tree park of the hotel, on a gentle slope to the beach, to stop "under the tent", in fact a charming terrace lined with palm trees. Photophores, sky of lavender, elegant plates, superb, taste the wide selection of mezze. In the appetizer, too.

Welcome to Baghdad! Established since 1973, this Iraqi family has earned an unshakeable reputation thanks to the quality of its preparations. Inside, a huge covered barbecue is used to prepare the great speciality of the house, the Iraqi style Maskouf: a large freshwater fish cooked on the barbecue, vertically for more than 45 minutes. If you want to taste it, you have to order it in advance. Otherwise, the kebabs are exceptional and tender thanks to the fat from the sheep's tail which has been added to the preparation: divine!

It is in the middle of the souk Naif, while strolling one evening that we found on a small square this bouiboui opened in 1988. It is placed there a few meters from the mosque and it offers only terrace tables. We are closer, moreover, to the street food than to the restaurant. A very hot shawarma, a karak, dishes to eat on the spot or to take away without fuss. A full restaurant all the time, especially in the evening. The ideal break when you have bags full in your hands, when you have walked for miles in this maze and between two negotiations!

Zaroob is translated into French as : "Small alley". And the idea is to recreate the small stalls found in the streets of Levantine countries, and all those small street vendors. In this theatrical atmosphere, with its trendy counter, its street art with metal sheets and tags, the restaurant offers a small menu with specialties from Lebanon, Syria, Jordan and Egypt: Pitas, falafels, shawarmas, hummus and crazy mezzes. A relaxed atmosphere with a regional touch: a good address for small budgets, and for the others!

Here is the Lebanese fast food chain, created more than 20 years ago and which has more than 20 outlets in the Emirates. It offers fresh and healthy products and it will especially avoid you to consume macglobalized trans fats. Phoenician wraps for the digital generation based on markouk cooked on the rounded saj. We like the decoration, the very contemporary and bold logo. It's quick and easy before leaving when you want to eat well and as quickly as possible. They are present everywhere in Dubai and especially in shopping malls.

The skewer is at its price, but what a frame! We are in the sumptuous garden of the hotel, right on the axis of the Burj Khalifa, on the edge of the lake. Arab tents welcome guests in the summer, blue swimming pool and hookahs available. A small treasure to be visited without hesitation even for a simple drink with tapas. Outside, it's at the nearby Argentinean restaurant Asado that you can trust to manage the grill area where succulent pieces of meat are served, and don't forget to keep a small place to try the desserts.

This restaurant offers Emirati and Middle Eastern specialities, with most of the produce used grown organically and produced locally. The décor plunges you into a Middle Eastern atmosphere, with the 7 arches symbolically representing the 7 emirates. Poems by the ruler of Dubai decorate the walls. The atmosphere is subdued, and the quality of the dishes impeccable. An outdoor terrace offers a partial view of the fountains. A fine local address for a break just a few steps from Dubai Mall.

The setting, in an Arab-contemporary style, is a tribute to this warm and mysterious Orient that is so good at catalyzing fantasy. It is beautiful! Located in the heart of the Grand Mercure Airport, the brand new place is an ode to the local culinary heritage, which is best discovered by opting for dishes to share, such as the Saloona, a very aromatic local stew. For dessert, you'll love the date crumble served with saffron milk for digestion.

Somewhat removed from the tourist sites of old Dubai, this Jordanian restaurant, which has been established since the 1960s, is well worth the detour. The speciality not to be missed on the savoury side is the falafel mahshi: a large falafel filled with a spicy paste, sumac and onions and don't hesitate to take it as a sandwich. On the sweet side, it is the kunafa, this typically Arab pastry made with cheese and angel hair, dipped in syrup and perfumed with rose water. A hearty menu at a small price that will suit even vegetarians.

On the corner of a busy street, in the district of tailors and cloth merchants, Al Mallah has been delighting passers-by for almost forty years. It all started with a modest juice bar until it became a reference in this neighborhood. Today, the Lebanese restaurant serves classic dishes such as falafel, manakish, grilled meats and mezze, but it's the shawarma that has made it famous and for which it's most popular. According to Time Out Dubai magazine, it is one of the best in the emirate!

Sitting comfortably on a terrace in the very noisy street of Rigga or hardly any quieter at the mezzanine in the fumes of the hookah, here is an address where Westerners don't hurry, but where the whole Middle East is flocking to... a real guarantee of quality. All the dishes are delicious on this mile-long menu, especially the vine leaves, which are neither bitter nor acidic. Don't hesitate to share as the quantities are so generous. Very fast and efficient service. No alcohol. The restaurant is located in the historic district of Deira.

The restaurant is often fully booked at lunchtime and in the evening. If dozens of Syrian families go there every day, it is not for the decoration which reminds them of a big canteen, but for the quality and the delicacy of the dishes that are served there. A family atmosphere on the first floor, a shisha bar on the first floor, and the assurance of a hearty lunch or dinner for a very reasonable price. It is a truly "Futé" address where no tourists hang out. A confidential and unpretentious address! Reservation recommended.