A long overdue restaurant crawl in Abu Dhabi, which I planned around my birthday earlier this month. Three days. Six diverse restaurant concepts. Six different cuisines. Thanks to my love for diligent research, as well as recommendations from you lovely lot, every meal was a triumph 😋

So here’s a round-up for your next visit - or - as I know some of you are residents, hopefully one or two you may not have tried. All are affordable concepts, and as we know, booze prices in the capital are more wallet-friendly than Dubai 😜

Have a read through the link in profile/ stories, which landed in inboxes yesterday 📧 Swipe to the last photo for a rare personal snap of 52-year old me with my favourite dining partner 🙏🏼

Any other haunts of yours worth seeking out in the capital? 🇦🇪

@ryba.ae @uae_restaurant
@marmellatalove
@kopitiambychandys
@craft_by_sidehustle @trotskie
@daipaidongad
@niriabudhabi
#UAERestaurantsUnite #foodiva #InAbuDhabi Abu Dhabi Restaurants ...

From when I first started reviewing, 14 years ago, I have always insisted that Dubai needs modern Emirati restaurants for the dining scene to be taken seriously on the global culinary map. More recently, international awards by Michelin and 50 Best feed into the bucket lists of visitors, and we want these guests to seek out Emirati cuisine as their first port of call - as should we, as residents. Traditional concepts like Al Fanar and Arabian Tea House, as wonderful as these are, are not enough.

Well we now have one such restaurant. @gerbou

The PR is quick to point out in an email: “While it is not authentic Emirati cuisine, the food served reimagines Emirati-inspired cuisine through a modern lens and while embracing global influences and celebrating local craftsmanship.”

To me and you, that’s short form for “modern Emirati cuisine.”

Having dined at Gerbou exactly six weeks after opening (escaping any recognition), the menu is much broader, spanning Khaleeji dishes, as well as influences from across the Arab world - entwined into both classics and contemporary fare.

In fact, the consultant chef and a poster child for Emirati cooks, the talent that is Sahar Parham Al Awadhi @saharyp did explain in an interview for my Conde Nast Traveler USA, UK & Middle East feature end of last year that the menu weaves in “Indian, Levantine and Mediterranean flavours” which she grew up with. Indeed it does.

And that’s all perfectly fine and necessary to maximise the appeal to a global palate. However, some have vocalised publicly online, and in private to me, the lack of cuisine authenticity. There’s a lesson here in managing expectations better with the right communication on Gerbou’s website and social channels, as well as by the front-of-house team. Now you know 😜

Gerbou is a collaboration between restaurateurs @atelierhousehospitality most well known for 11 Woodfire - and @tashkeelstudio Dubai’s art and design incubator.

The name translates to “welcome to our humble abode.” But there’s nothing humble about the grandest of entrances.

Link in bio/ story for the review.

Would you seek out Emirati food in Dubai? 🇦🇪 ...

Where does @morganegauvinduhamel - the co-founder of @odeondubai dine out? 😋 Firstly though, the hero photo shows my go-to dish at this French restaurant and deli, Royans Ravioles. IYKYK - and if you don’t, go now and thank me later.

For this month’s ‘Where Restaurateurs Eat’ column, I asked this super woman to share her five favourite restaurants encompassing:

🔪 Three in the UAE.
🔪 One in her home country.
🔪 One located elsewhere internationally.

Click link in bio and stories for her top picks 🔗 Her passion for these restaurants shines through in her responses 💖 This post landed in email inboxes yesterday. Feel free to subscribe, if not already.

Nominations for female restaurateur-entrepreneurs are always welcome. They might not be on my radar, and could land themselves a feature here 🙏🏼

[ #WhereRestaurateursEat #UAERestaurantsUnite #foodiva Dubai Restaurants ] ...

I struggle with many tasting menus, especially in Dubai. Why?

Sky-high price points. For one imported concept here, the exact same menu is AED400 more expensive than its home country.

Three to four hours (and sometimes more) of my life that I will never get back, thanks to snail-pace dining.

Long-winded storytelling for every single, bloody dish. I really don’t care if the chef’s grandma, or a jaunt to an obscure corner of the world have inspired the cooking. I can read about all that, and more, on the website. I just want to eat my food. In peace. And preferably warm. Unless we’re feasting on sushi and sashimi. But even then, the tale must be kept to a minimum. There’s only so much inane chatter I can stomach.

Good food should speak for itself.

And then along comes @manao_dubai An affordable, by Dubai standards, of AED450 for an 11-course tasting menu. Served in one and a half hours. A printed menu on the table, from arrival. Something several of these concepts don’t give you until, dare I say, the bitter end. A succession of different staff members explained the dishes, succinctly in seconds. The chef only popped out once to briefly present a dish, swiftly scuttering back to the open-plan kitchen. You wouldn’t even know he was the chef, unless you had stalked his good looks on Instagram.

Chef @abhiraj_khatwani is the [handsome] Indian chef whose cooking expertise was honed in north-east Thailand before opening The Yellow Monkey, a casual Thai gem at JBR that I used to frequent years ago until Covid shut its doors. @m.orfali of @orfalibros_bistro fame, the Midas touch chef has backed him to open a 34-seat restaurant in Wasl Vita, solely dedicated to a Thai-inspired tasting menu.

So how does Manao fare? 🔗 Link in bio/ stories for my review which scored a five out of five knife rating. The first restaurant in my 14 years of reviewing where I have dished out this pinnacle of a rating.

Is Manao the most affordable tasting menu in Dubai? Are you a fan of tasting menus? Or do you prefer à la carte dining?

#UAERestaurantsUnite #Foodiva Dubai Restaurants ...

Where does Fay Economides @fayoula - executive managing director of M Management Company that owns @mythosdubai @noladubai and @kilikiobymythos dine out? 😋

In this month’s ‘Where Restaurateurs Eat’ column, I asked this super woman to share her five favourite restaurants encompassing:

🔪 Three in the UAE.
🔪 One in her home country.
🔪 One located elsewhere internationally.

Click link in bio and stories for her top picks 🔗 This post landed in email inboxes yesterday. Feel free to subscribe, if not already.

🔪 As always, nominations for female restaurateur-entrepreneurs are always welcome. They might not be on my radar, and could land themselves a feature here 🙏🏼

#WhereRestaurateursEat #UAERestaurantsUnite #foodiva Dubai Restaurants ...

Orfali Bros Bistro has topped the Middle East & North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants 2025 list for the THIRD year in a trot - revealed on Tuesday evening in Abu Dhabi, the destination sponsor 👏🏼 I couldn’t be prouder of this Dubai homegrown gem, owned and very significantly operated by three Syrian chef brothers on the pass daily, turning out playful, modern Middle Eastern dishes.

Their diligent, day and night hustle to deliver consistency continues to pay off. @orfalibros_bistro is my “if you’re in Dubai for one meal only, where should you go” restaurant - and also included in my annual Dubai restaurant guide, since its opening in 2021 💖

BUT this triumph does beg an important question.

The global @theworlds50best list moves restaurants crowned number one into a ‘Best of the Best’ hall of fame category, making them ineligible for subsequent voting and number one rankings - but this strategy does not apply to the regional lists, like MENA.

So why does 50 Best not apply the same mechanics to the regional lists? And are plans afoot to change this policy?

In my opinion piece (link in stories & profile 🔗), you’ll find what William Drew, director of content for 50 Best had to say when I posed these questions to him - along with my musings. Plus my analysis and opinion on the record 22 UAE restaurants in the 2025 ranking. Oh and a poll! Bravo to all the listed restaurants. You’re shining a light on our beloved regional dining scene 👏🏼

Do you think a hall of fame category makes sense? Do you use MENA 50 Best to inspire your dining decisions? Which of your favourite restaurants would you have liked to make the cut? Would love to know 🙏🏼💙

#MENAs50Best #worlds50best #UAERestaurantsUnite #foodiva Dubai Restaurants UAE Restaurants @m.orfali @omar.orfali @wassim_orfali @abudhabiculinary @claudebrito ...

Where does @panchalimahendra - the CEO of @atelierhousehospitality behind 11 Woodfire, Mohalla & soon-to-open Gerbou amongst other restaurant concepts, dine out? 😋

In this month’s ‘Where Restaurateurs Eat’ column, I asked this super woman to share her five favourite restaurants encompassing:

🔪 Three in the UAE. She might have sneaked in four 😜
🔪 One in her home country.
🔪 One located elsewhere internationally.

Click link in bio and stories for her top picks 🔗 My newsletter tribe received this post in their inbox yesterday. Feel free to subscribe, if not already.

🔪 As always, nominations for female restaurateurs here leading their own businesses are always welcome. You never know, they might not be on my radar - and could land themselves a feature here 🙏🏼

#WhereRestaurateursEat #UAERestaurantsUnite #foodiva DubaiRestaurants UAERestaurantsUnite ...