Ranked by TableJourney editorial score.
Machboos is the Emirati rice dish at the centre of every Dubai family lunch: long grain rice cooked in the stock of the meat, stained with loomi and bezar spice.
Machboos belongs to the wider Khaleeji family of spiced rice dishes that reached the Gulf coast on the same dhow routes that carried Indian pepper and Persian rice into the creek. The Emirati version is defined by two ingredients: bezar, a house blend of cumin, coriander, turmeric, cinnamon and dried chilli, and loomi, the black dried lime whose sourness cuts the fat of the lamb. Pearl divers ate it out of a shared platter because one pot fed a boat crew, and the communal tray is still how it arrives in Dubai's heritage restaurants.
2 editor picks for Machboos in Dubai, ranked by editorial score. All Dubai signature dishes · Machboos across every city.
Also in: Abu Dhabi.
Al Khayma Heritage Restaurant & Cafe seats diners under a tree in a covered courtyard in Al Fahidi, a Bib Gourmand kitchen cooking rustic Emirati food.
OrderMachboos rice with dango chickpea soup and a plate of luqaimat.
TipBread is baked in view of the courtyard tables, and live music plays in the evening.
Al Fanar Restaurant & Cafe on the Al Seef waterfront serves Emirati seafood and heritage recipes for a brand founded in 2011, and is in the Michelin Guide.
OrderGrilled seafood, Traditional Emirati bread
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