Restaurants recommended in Dubai

The following are based on staff recommendations and are listed in alphabetical order in categories only.

Chinese

China Garden

Chinese Pavilion Phone 3444432 or 3491177

Here also are a few genuine Chinese restaurants, mostly in Deira. all recommended.

�Old� Spring Bamboo, across from MashreqBank behind Al Ghurair Center

China 2000, down the street from Spice Island, same building as Fakieh Chicken � top quality food, nice d�cor, decent prices

China Gate, 2nd floor of old building near Clock Tower, next to UAE fisheries and Agriculture building

Chongqing Hotpot, down the street, towards the Fish Roundabout, opposite Marco Polo Hotel (no English sign), don�t expect a nice d�cor.

Spring Bamboo near Lamcy Plaza, between Nasr roundabout and Lamcy in Bur Dubai

Chinese Hotpot in Al Attar Center, first Floor (ground floor for Brits) , Karama

General

Al Dowar at The Hyatt Regency

is a revolving restaurant . It spins at a rate of one complete turn every two hours - usually, when it rains it doesn't! You get a great view of the airport and the town as well as the port and the sea. A humungous buffet menu allows you to choose from a really wide selection of food from salads to quail and lobster; and if you're greedy like me, repeats are the order of the day. The longest I stayed there, was for four hours and I waddled out with my belt undone. For a price of 150/- each it is well worth the money, but watch out for the cost of drinks!

Aviation Club

Regarding restaurants I would recommend the Aviation Club restaurants in Garhoud. It's a small village with about 6 or 7 restaurants. You can either eat indoors or eat outdoors and enjoy the nice weather and a beautiful view. I have been to the Chinese restaurant, their food is excellent (everybody enjoyed the food) & in my opinion their prices are reasonable for the quality of food and the experience.

Billy Blues

Boardwalk Cafe Dubai Creek Golf Club (opp. City Centre)

Chili's

Jumeira , City Centre and Garhoud

We have been to the Chili's on Jumeira Road and we enjoyed it. My children sometimes long to do something "American" so eating in a chain like Chili's sort of comforts them. The service was great, the food was as we expected. (sometimes in chains we are surprised!)

Coco's

Sheikh Zayed Road, Al Attar Centre, 3326333 (there's also one in Deira City Centre above Ikea - I personally don't like it as well, probably the location). Food is "California", trendy. Main course - Dhs 50

Nice ambiance, great desserts, pleasant service. I've had mixed reports here, judge for yourselves....Leigh

French Connection

Coffee shop/cafe on Sheikh Zayed Road near Interchage 1 opposite Dusit Hotel also in the bottom of the Centrepoint Building in Bur Dubai have very good croissants , pastries and good casual atmosphere.

Fudruckers

IKEA Restaurant, Deira City Centre,

Mazaj

Lebanese restaurant in Century village - Near Irish village.
excellent food quality.

Indian

The Pavilion in Spinneys (Jumeira) Phone 3941483 Fax 3941559

Good and reasonable restaurants, where to start? In any non-hotel-based
restaurant, two people can eat for Dhs.80 and certainly no
more than Dhs.150. The Pavilion in Spinneys (Jumeira) is particularly
superb.

Italian

BICE at the Hilton Dubai Jumeira

Telephone 3991111 Fantastic Italian food, We went as a group of four and everyone thought their meals were great. The food, service and ambiance is excellent. . Drinks are expensive

Davinci's Italian Bistro Airport Hotel Phone 7039123/4 or 2823464 opposite Al Bustan Rotana

Italian connection (Karama) Phone 3353001

La Moda 2nd floor Intercontinental Hotel Deira Phone 2227171

A typical Bistro. Good consistent food at ok prices. Drinks are expensive. Gets noisy and much much busier later in the night. Booking is essential.

Pizzeria Uno, City Centre

Great pizzas ( especially the Deep Pan Pizzas), Steak and Pasta , kids welcome, Huge servings (Order sparingly the first time you go).

Al Reef restaurants all around city. Good value, probably better than the Automatic.

Reem al Bawadi on Beach Road Jumeira 3 . Fantastic atmosphere and food. More expensive than the two above, but worth it. Don't get ripped off by ordering lots of dishes on suggestion from the waiters. I did.

Mexican

Cactus Cantina

The Alamo

Vegetarian Food Availability

There is a reasonable range of vegetarian food in Dubai, and most of the supermarkets are pretty well stocked.

We usually do most of our fruit and vegetable shopping in the Carrefour Hypermarket at the Deira City-Centre Mall. It is the largest supermarket and is pretty well stocked. You will find Soy milk and Tofu there. Another good place for staples is Union Co-op. It is cheaper than most of the other supermarkets, but you will need to shop else-where for anything fancy.

There are branches of Choitrams and Spinneys supermarkets all over the city.
They stock the staples and also carry frozen vegetarian food such as Linda Macartney, Quorn, Morning Fresh Farms from the US and Amy's Vegan foods.

Spinneys also sell Vegetarian food from the UK supermarket TESCO.
These supermarkets can be expensive however, and prices can be widely different from one supermarket to another. It pays to shop around.

There is now an organic supermarket near Satwa which stocks a range of vegetarian and non-vegetarian foods.

Be warned! Stocks of veggie foods do run-out in the shops sometimes, and although there is always a good supply of vegetables, sometimes you cannot get hold of 'treats' It's worth keeping a stock in your home freezer!

If you need vitamin supplements or specialist vegan foods (rice milk etc) then try Holland and Barrett (http://www.hollandandbarrett.com/) in the Town Centre Mall on Jumeira Beach Road.

There are tons of restaurants at all levels serving veggie food, from Indian and Chinese and fast food to luxury restaurants in hotels.

For a full restaurant guide, I'd recommend the Dubai Explorer handbook.

Small Local Restaurants Indian or Pakistani

We have been to several small local-type restaurants and they are good for take out. I do not usually like to eat in at local restaurant though because I can not relax. They are usually cramped and the family area is usually upstairs with a low ceilings with tables next to the wall with the chair of the person behind me touching my chair, etc. So we do take out food especially when the unexpected company arrives.

Karachi Darbar located all around Dubai

Really tasty Indian/Pakistani /Chinese food at bargain prices and with a sense of eating where the "normal" people eat.

For those lean days as payday approaches and you rashly changed your dirhams into southern roubles or northern pesos and are suffering liquidity problems don't despair, you needn't starve. Dubai has a myriad of cheap eating places where you can fill yourself to the point of discomfort for less than D10 .

Karachi Darbar is all over Dubai and while not the best is usually the easiest to locate.

In Bur Dubai India House is one of many southern Indian vegetarian restaurants, with its outstanding feature being the chicory flavoured coffee. Try a tahli if you're hungry (D7) as they will keep filling up your dishes. Dosa marsala, rava marsala, idli or uttaphan are all great light meals and you'll have change from D5.

Venus Restaurant in Karama is also excellent, a wee bit more up market but the food is better. You may have to pay D1 more per dish than India House and the coffee isn't as idiosyncratic either.

Taheera Restaurant on the Mustafawi intersection in Bur Dubai does a great dahl fry, chicken buriani and the usual range of tikkas etc. Once again plenty of change from D10 here.

Shawarmas off the street are great, only available after dark and a great felafel sandwich is from Al Mallah in Satwa (an outdoor restaurant on the main street look for green).

The "Eat and Drink" Restaurants - in Karama and on Al Wasl Road near United Co Op

The Automatic Restaurant chain offers healthy value Lebanese meals in the Dhs 25 per person range.

Johnny Rocket's on Beach Road and in Mall of the Emirates is a "must" for the best American Cheese Burger in town.

The Al Malla Lebanese restaurant chain, on Al Diyafa Street in Satwa and on Al Wadah Road in Sharjah, offer great budget meals.

The Dubai International Marine Spa near Palm Court on Beach Road has good value in its Friday brunch