Food and dining

Dubai has become a food destination in its own right: the Michelin Guide has covered the city since 2022, and its fifth edition, published in October 2026, lists 122 establishments, including 20 starred restaurants and 22 Bib Gourmands, the guide's award for good food at moderate prices. A food-loving traveller can pick a hotel for its restaurant, then spend an evening in the souks or at a neighbourhood terrace. In Morocco and Egypt, the experience is more intimate: chefs in palaces and guesthouses, and cookery classes to take a few recipes home.

Dubai: the 2026 Michelin list

Four starred restaurants are temporarily closed "due to the current circumstances", according to the guide: Al Muntaha, Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, Ossiano and Smoked Room. Its inspectors will reassess them when they reopen. Sabaro checks each restaurant at the time of booking.

The four new Bib Gourmands for 2026 are Middle Child, S.E.A Bistrot, Three Bros, from the Orfali brothers, and Yubi.

Choosing a hotel for its restaurant

Several hotels in Sabaro's selection house restaurants from the list:

• Bvlgari Resort Dubai, on Jumeira Bay island: two starred restaurants, Il Ristorante – Niko Romito with two stars and Hōseki with one.
• One&Only The Palm: STAY by Yannick Alléno, two stars, and a second restaurant by the same chef, Casea 101.
• Mandarin Oriental Jumeira: Tasca by José Avillez, one star.
• Atlantis The Royal: 17 restaurants and bars, 8 of them by celebrity chefs, among them Ariana's Persian Kitchen, Estiatorio Milos and La Mar; Dinner by Heston Blumenthal, one star, is temporarily closed.
• Atlantis The Palm: Hakkasan, one star, and Ossiano, one star but temporarily closed, among 34 restaurants.

Elsewhere in the selection, The Lana in Business Bay has handed two of its restaurants to chefs Martín Berasategui and Jean Imbert: Jara and Riviera.

Emirati cuisine

Emirati cuisine blends three heritages, according to Visit Dubai, the city's tourist board: desert resourcefulness, coastal fishing and the spice routes to India, Persia and East Africa. It is built on rice, fish, meat, breads, dates and coffee. A few dishes to look out for:

• lamb ghouzi, slow-cooked lamb on spiced rice, served on a large platter with saffron, nuts and raisins;
• muhammar, sweet rice cooked with date molasses, served warm with fish;
• regag, a wafer-thin flatbread, plain or filled with egg or cheese;
• luqaimat, golden dough balls coated in date syrup, the favourite dessert at celebrations.

Qahwa, a lightly roasted coffee with cardamom, is the Emirati gesture of welcome, recognised by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage. It is served with dates. The tourist board publishes a free downloadable book of Emirati recipes, Salt & Sand.

Eating around the city

The souks. Frying Pan Adventures runs a 3 h 30 food walk through the souks and along the Creek, for AED 425 (UAE dirhams) per person. In Deira's Spice Souk, you can taste before you buy dates, saffron, teas and dried fruit; our Old Dubai page describes the district.

On the water. A dinner cruise aboard a dhow, the traditional wooden boat, on the Creek lasts about 2 hours, from around €45 per person.

In the desert. The evening safari ends with a barbecue dinner at a Bedouin-style camp; our Dubai desert page lists the options.

In the neighbourhoods. Alserkal Avenue, the Al Quoz gallery district, has its own cafés and local spots: a hand-roll sushi bar, wood-fired Mexican cooking, an experimental bakery and a coffee roaster.

Good to know at the table

• Alcohol is served to non-Muslims aged over 21 in licensed hotels, restaurants and bars; public drunkenness is prohibited. Our guide Alcohol and rules of conduct covers the details.
• Ramadan, expected to begin around 8 February 2027, means no eating or drinking in public during the day; in Dubai, many restaurants stay open for those who are not fasting. Our guide Ramadan in Dubai explains the rhythm of the month.

Morocco: palaces, chefs and cookery classes

In Morocco, the great table is often at the hotel. In Marrakesh, La Mamounia serves chef Rachid Agouray's cooking at Le Marocain, a three-storey riad in the gardens, with lobster pastilla or spiny lobster tagine; chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten runs L'Asiatique. At Selman Marrakech, chef Jean-François Piège has led the kitchens since 2024, with SABO, the fine-dining restaurant opened in spring 2025.

Cookery classes are the other way into Moroccan food:

• at Heure Bleue Palais in Essaouira, chef Ahmed Handour teaches Moroccan and Souiri cooking, the cuisine of Essaouira: you prepare two dishes, then dine on them;
• at Kasbah Tamadot, at the foot of the High Atlas, three hours for six people at most, booked the day before;
• at La Sultana Marrakech, on the roof facing the Atlas, at 10 am.

In Fez, Sabaro suggests ending the day with a meal at a family home or a cookery class; our Fez page plans the stay.

Egypt

On the Red Sea, La Maison Bleue in El Gouna, a Relais & Châteaux member awarded one Michelin Key in 2026, has its own table: that of French chef Vincent Guillou, who has lived in Egypt for some twenty years and blends French and Egyptian flavours with vegetables from the house greenhouse.

Oman: Muscat's tables and shuwa

In Oman, the great tables are in the hotels, especially in Muscat. The St. Regis Al Mouj is the city's foodie address: thirteen restaurants and bars, including international names such as Hakkasan, COYA, Em Sherif and Nozomi, and Karibu, its Omani restaurant. The Chedi, awarded a Michelin Key, the guide's distinction for hotels, has six restaurants and lounges, including The Restaurant with its four open kitchens, Western, Asian, Middle Eastern and Indian, and The Beach Restaurant, for fish facing the Gulf of Oman. The W Muscat is the place for an evening out, with the Siddharta Lounge by Buddha-Bar on the roof and wood-fired Mediterranean cooking at The Terrace; at the Mandarin Oriental, Rawya follows the Silk Road, from the Mediterranean to Asia.

In the mountains, you nearly always dine at the hotel. On the Jebel Akhdar, the Anantara has several venues, including Al Qalaa, which served shuwa, Omani slow-cooked lamb, two evenings a week but was closed in October 2026; Alila Jabal Akhdar grows some of its own vegetables and runs cookery classes. In the Wahiba Sands, the restaurant at the Desert Nights Camp serves Omani food and shuwa.

Beyond the hotels, the food is in the souks: Nizwa's has its date and spice sections, and the souk of Ibra, on the edge of the desert, is known for halwa, the spiced Omani sweet. Alcohol is served only to over-21s in licensed venues such as hotel bars; during Ramadan, expected in Oman from about 8 February to 8 March 2027, restaurants outside hotels close during the day, as the guide Travelling in Oman during Ramadan explains.

In Tunisia: hotel restaurants and medina cooking

On the coast, the best table is in the hotel. In Hammamet, the kitchen at La Badira, for guests over 16, is led by chef Ramzi Bouguila: two restaurants, Kamilah and Adra, and a beach grill from June to September. In Gammarth, near Carthage, the Four Seasons has three restaurants, including BLU Seafood Kitchen & Bar, devoted to fish and seafood, and offers cooking classes.

In the medinas, the cooking is Tunisian. In Tunis, Dar El Jeld has a Tunisian restaurant, closed on Sundays, and a roof terrace overlooking the medina. In Sousse, La Table at Dar Antonia is run by chef Michel Mehdi, who serves signature cuisine, by reservation. In Kairouan, the Palais Harran serves its guests Kairouan cooking. Ramadan 2027 is expected from 8 February to 9 March: the guide Ramadan and public holidays 2027 in Tunisia explains what changes.

In Turkey: the tables of Cappadocia, the Bosphorus and the Aegean

In Cappadocia, Revithia, at Kayakapı Premium Caves in Ürgüp, received the region's first Michelin star. Lil'a, the restaurant of the Museum Hotel in Uçhisar, is listed in the Michelin Guide, and Moniq, at Taşkonaklar, serves Cappadocian cooking from recipes handed down by women of the region.

In Istanbul, the great tables are by the water: AQUA, the seafood restaurant of the Four Seasons at the Bosphorus, Novikov and Olea at the Mandarin Oriental Bosphorus, and GALLADA on the roof of The Peninsula in Karaköy.

On the Aegean, Urla has its wine route: KeyUrla, a Relais & Châteaux member, puts its guests up in 24 villas among 15,000 m² of vines. In Alaçatı, KestelINN cooks with produce from the family farm at Ovacık, and Sota, the seafood restaurant of the Viento, is listed in the Michelin Guide. In Bodrum, bistro4 at 4reasons looks out over the sea at sunset. Ramadan 2027 runs from 8 February to 8 March: the guide Ramadan and holidays 2027 in Turkey explains what changes.