Verified in 2 cities.
Balaleet is sweet vermicelli scented with cardamom, rose water and saffron, topped with a thin omelette; in United Arab Emirates we have verified places to eat it in Abu Dhabi and Dubai.
Balaleet is sweet vermicelli scented with cardamom, rose water and saffron, topped with a thin omelette. It is an Emirati breakfast and the first meal of Eid.
Balaleet is a traditional dish of Eastern Arabian cuisine, made of vermicelli sweetened with sugar and flavoured with cardamom, rose water and saffron, then covered with an egg omelette. It is a popular breakfast and is frequently served on Eid al-Fitr as the first meal of the day. Accounts of Emirati cuisine link its arrival to the traders who brought pasta to the Gulf. Meylas serves it at AED 35 on its 2026 menu.
Where to eat in Abu Dhabi:
Where to eat Balaleet in Abu Dhabi: the editor picks
Balaleet is the Emirati breakfast of sweet cardamom and saffron vermicelli laid under a thin savoury omelette, the salt and sugar eaten together in one spoonful.
Balaleet reached the Gulf with the vermicelli trade out of the Indian subcontinent and became the UAE's canonical breakfast, cooked the same way in Bahrain, Kuwait and Qatar. Fine sha'ariya noodles are boiled, drained and fried in butter with sugar, cardamom, saffron and often rose water, then a plain egg omelette is set on top as a lid. Eaten together the dish sits on the line between dessert and breakfast, which is exactly the point, and in Ramadan it doubles as a suhoor dish because it holds well. Emirati households disagree loudly about whether the omelette is folded over the noodles or laid flat.
Where to eat in Dubai:
Where to eat Balaleet in Dubai: the editor picks
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