What to eat Dubai? culinary specialties and gastronomy

The hours depend on the neighborhood: in Old Dubai, restaurants are open from very early in the morning to very late at night. In general, nothing opens before noon and lunch is usually around 1pm, dinner around 9pm. It is very rare that restaurants close during the week and the rush is at its peak between Wednesday evening and Sunday noon.

To eat on a budget, head to the Deira, Bur Dubai, Satwa and Al Quoz areas. Otherwise, in the pedestrian areas of La Mer, City Walk, Kite Beach, The Beach, Bluewaters, the Point and even Dubai Mall to find some food trucks and restaurants not too expensive. The best plan is to have a meal without alcohol, because with the average price can double. But in Dubai, restaurants can be very expensive, sometimes reaching stratospheric prices.

Normally all menus indicate at the bottom of the page a 5% tax surcharge on all meals and tips are optional and at the discretion of the customer. There are no water carafes in the Emirates, so water is usually charged, but bread is not.

They always ask you when you sit down if you want sparkling or still water, cold or room temperature, with lemon or without. They are not always generous when it comes to serving drinks, so don't hesitate to ask if you want more.

If you take Arabic coffee, take it with your right hand and not with your left. The left hand is considered impure. If you are not happy with the service or the quality, avoid raising your voice at all costs. Insults are not acceptable in the country.

Children are king in Dubai and are generally welcomed with open arms. However, some of the more upscale bars and restaurants may not allow children even up to the age of 21.

Smoking and non-smoking areas are generally available in the vast majority of restaurants and smoking is permitted on the terrace and outside.

There are few tourist catchers in the emirates and if sometimes the touts are in the middle of the street, they never insist much. On the other hand, the cruise ships generally offer buffets whose quality is more than average for Dubai.

In Dubai, the schedules are very extensible, but let's say that the day really starts only from 10 am and the cafes do not empty all day long. Here, the key word is to take your time, no one seems really stressed. You won't see anyone running around let alone the Emirati population. They often linger and chat as if time was stretched out, whether it's during the week or on the weekend. If there are no "aperitif" traditions, it is mostly in the late evening, after dinner and quite late that groups of friends meet again for tea and sometimes a shisha. The men are often with the men and the women together too. As for the expatriate population, they go out in the many hotel bars, quite late at night, and usually from Wednesday to Saturday included. During Ramadan, the hours change. During the day, the establishments are not very busy and most of the places open after sunset and all night long.

Dubai is expensive, even for a coffee. Hotel bars are particularly expensive, as the taxes on alcohol are very high. Everywhere you can pay with a credit card and you can leave a tip of about 5-10%, although this is not obligatory.

Alcohol can only be consumed from the age of 21, and the legislation is very strict. It is difficult to enter bars under this age. Please note, however, that it is forbidden to consume alcohol on the public highway or in public spaces that are not regulated for it.

In the middle of the afternoon, one can find in all the neighborhood cafes, hotel lobbies and shopping malls, Emirati friends and families who come to have tea, coffee and especially to eat some pastries. It is also very popular to smoke a shisha as soon as the sun goes down. It is not uncommon to drink coffee until very late in the evening, because we do not go to bed early in this city and remember that a large part of the population does not drink alcohol. You should definitely try the mentholated lemonades, the best of which can be found in historic Dubai.

Although children are king in Dubai, they are not allowed in the bars and there will be no exceptions.

Smoking is allowed outside and in certain dedicated areas.

There are recruiters, but they will leave you alone fairly quickly if you do not show them any sign of interest.