The back story
Abu Dhabi at the table: stars, the souk and the Emirati kitchen
Three MICHELIN stars, Lebanese mezze by the sea, the fish of Al Mina and Emirati breakfasts.
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © Darthjipsu · CC BY-SA 4.0 via Wikimedia CommonsAbu Dhabi has had its own MICHELIN Guide since 2023. Its three starred kitchens tell the city’s story in miniature: Hakkasan and Talea by Antonio Guida inside the palace hotel on the Corniche, and Erth, whose name means legacy, beside Qasr Al Hosn, cooking modern dishes anchored in Emirati flavours.
Around them is a city that eats Lebanese mezze on beach terraces, buys hammour at the Zayed Port fish market, and queues at Al Mrzab on Airport Road for Emirati and Kuwaiti dishes.
The starred tables
MICHELIN awards one star each to Erth, Hakkasan Abu Dhabi and Talea by Antonio Guida (the MICHELIN Guide Abu Dhabi, November 2026). Erth stands on the Qasr Al Hosn cultural site, all polished concrete and modern majlis; Hakkasan serves its Peking duck and, on Saturday lunchtimes, its dim sum in Emirates Palace; Talea is chef Antonio Guida’s family-style Italian, also in the palace.
The Emirati kitchen
Meylas, in Al Muneera, began as a food truck run by two sisters; Al Mrzab, on Airport Road, hangs old photographs of Abu Dhabi on its walls and seats you in private cabins, majlis or at tables; Villa Mamas brings the Khaleeji cooking of Bahraini chef Roaya Saleh to Al Rawdah. Al Mrzab is a Bib Gourmand.
Lebanese, by the sea
Beirut Sur Mer, on Soul Beach at Mamsha Al Saadiyat, and Almayass, in The Galleria, are both Bib Gourmands; Li Beirut looks over the harbour from the Conrad, Byblos Sur Mer over the InterContinental’s marina.
Book the starred tables two or three weeks ahead; Al Mrzab and Meylas take no time at all to love, but expect a queue.
Al Maryah’s big rooms
The Galleria and the two hotels beside it hold Coya, Zuma, LPM, Butcher & Still, Café Milano and Dai Pai Dong.
Our advice: on a first visit, lunch at Erth or Al Mrzab before you dine in the palace: the city’s own cooking first.
Why it's on our list
- The starred tables
- The Emirati kitchen
- Lebanese, by the sea
- Al Maryah’s big rooms
- Bib Gourmand
Location
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More in depth
The back storyEmirati FoodGahwa from the dallah, dates, machbous and grilled hammour: the Emirati table and where to taste it.
The back storyWhere Abu Dhabi sleeps: the palace, the islands and the creekEmirates Palace, the Saadiyat resorts, Al Maryah’s towers and the creek facing the Grand Mosque.
The back storyThe white city on the water: reading Abu Dhabi’s great sightsThe Grand Mosque, the Louvre’s dome, a fort of the 1760s and the islands: how to read Abu Dhabi.