The back story
Emirati Food
Gahwa from the dallah, dates, machbous and grilled hammour: the Emirati table and where to taste it.
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © Abdulla Al Muhairi · CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia CommonsEmirati cooking grew, like the culture, from the desert and the sea. You will be welcomed almost everywhere with gahwa, spiced Arabic coffee (Visit Abu Dhabi).
Emirati culture grew from the desert, the sea and Islam: desert traditions inland, pearling and fishing on the coast (Visit Abu Dhabi). The cooking followed the same lines, and it is still the first thing a visitor is offered.
Gahwa and dates
Gahwa, the spiced Arabic coffee, is poured in small cups from the dallah and offered almost everywhere you go, with dates beside it (Visit Abu Dhabi).
Rice and the pot
Machbous is spiced rice cooked with meat, chicken or fish; chicken machbous is on the menu at Villa Mamas, Roaya Saleh’s Khaleeji restaurant in Al Rawdah (MICHELIN).
From the sea
The coast has always fed the city. At ryba, beside the fish market at Zayed Port, the locally caught hammour from the charcoal grill is the dish to order (MICHELIN).
In Abu Dhabi, hospitality begins with a small cup of coffee.
Where to taste it
Erth, beside Qasr Al Hosn, holds one MICHELIN star for modern cooking anchored in Emirati flavours, cookware and ingredients; Al Mrzab on Airport Road, a Bib Gourmand, serves traditional Emirati and Kuwaiti dishes; Meylas, in Al Muneera, began as two sisters’ food truck (the MICHELIN Guide Abu Dhabi, November 2026).
Our advice: start with breakfast at Meylas and end the day at Erth, and accept every cup of gahwa you are offered.
Why it's on our list
- Gahwa and dates
- Rice and the pot
- From the sea
- Where to taste it
- Our advice
Location
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More in depth
The back storyAbu Dhabi at the table: stars, the souk and the Emirati kitchenThree MICHELIN stars, Lebanese mezze by the sea, the fish of Al Mina and Emirati breakfasts.
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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.