13 places
Big plates of Emirati home cooking, salona, machboos and khameer with cheese and date syrup, plus a karak made to a grandmother's recipe.
An Emirati breakfast or machboos in Al Ain, where proper sit-down Emirati restaurants are few.
A Michelin Bib Gourmand serving Emirati and Kuwaiti classics such as madhrouba, thareed and machboos, with majlis seating and private cabins.
Emirati recipes reworked with modern technique, such as margooga ravioli and bzar-marinated short rib, next to the city's oldest building.
A Michelin-listed Emirati kitchen with a long menu of home-style dishes and a strong dessert list.
Order the fwala tray, Gerbou's take on an Emirati afternoon spread, or the chicken machboos; one of the Orfali brothers' picks for its habbat al hamra dessert.
Emirati breakfast and snack food, harees, khabeesa, chebab and luqaimat with date syrup, made to order in an Al Ain neighbourhood.
Chef Mariam Almansoori cooks Emirati women's family recipes, such as grilled jeder (lamb shank with tamarind) and chicken maragooga; it was named the Gulf's best Emirati restaurant at the 2025 BBC Good Food ME awards.
Lamb machboos, harees and balaleet eaten on cushions in a courtyard tent, with a Michelin Bib Gourmand behind it.
Shared seafood trays over spiced rice and jesheed (shredded shark with loomi and onion), on the creek.
Machboos, khabees and harees by the sea on RAK's old corniche.
Slow-cooked meats and home-style Emirati food in generous portions in the fishing town of Al Rams.
Gahwa with fresh luqaimat in a small heritage-style café by the old souq.