Eating in Dubai: A Food Guide That Goes Beyond the Obvious

Dubai is a genuinely extraordinary food city, though you could spend a week here eating at international chains and never discover this. The real depth of the food scene sits in less obvious places. Start with Emirati food at a restaurant like Logma or Al Fanar, where dishes like harees, slow-cooked wheat with lamb, and machboos, a spiced rice with slow-cooked meat, give you the taste of the culture that built this place. The Indian food in Dubai is superb and comes in many registers — from Keralan seafood joints in Karama and Bur Dubai to refined north Indian cuisine at fine dining restaurants. The workers who built the towers brought their food traditions with them. Shawarma from a Lebanese counter in Al Karama is a near-religious experience for regulars. Filipino restaurants around Discovery Gardens feed the largest single expat community in the city. Iranian bakeries scattered throughout Deira produce bread and pastries of genuine quality. The brunch culture is also real — Friday brunch is a Dubai institution, where hotels put on elaborate spreads of everything from sushi to pasta to barbecue, accompanied by unlimited drinks packages. Prices range from 200 to 600 AED per person. It is excess, obviously, but the best ones are genuinely impressive. Budget dining is plentiful if you venture to residential neighbourhoods — eat where people who actually live here eat and you will spend 20 to 40 AED for a full meal.