At.mosphere

Category: Lounge, Fine Dining

Cuisine: International

Average Cost: Approx. 900 for two (with alcohol)

Location: Downtown Dubai

At.mosphere is the world’s highest restaurant located in Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest building. The twinkling lights of the bustling city, elegant splendour and 360-degree views all add to what is a very special dining experience. It is preposterously thrilling to savour your delicious meal 122 floors, 422 metres above the ground. An elevator travelling 33 feet per second takes you up there. Since January 2011, the restaurant is located only two levels below ‘At the Top, Burj Khalifa,’ the tower’s 828 metres-high observatory deck.

The 1,030-square-metre restaurant features a spacious arrival lobby, the main dining floor, private dining rooms and display cooking stations. It can seat 80 and includes a private dining room with a Chef’s Table for 12. An upscale lounge is also featured with a seating capacity of 135 and a private area for 35.

Tribes

Category: Casual Dining

Cuisine: African

Average Cost: Approx. Dh530 for two

Location: Al Barsha

In Tribes, an African-themed steak house in Mall of the Emirates on Sheikh Zayed Road, meat sizzles in an open kitchen while the mostly Kenyan staff hurry past in bright tribal patterns. While you enjoy the meals, staff burst into African song and dance to feverish drums.

Pierchic

Category: Fine Dining

Cuisine: Italian

Average Cost: Approx. Dh1,200 for two (without alcohol)

Location: Madinat Jumeirah

Pierchic in Madinat Jumeirah has a black warehouse-style façade suspended over the waves on wooden stilts, looking more like a mysterious Arabian beach house than a first-rate fish restaurant. To reach, one has to stroll along the long private pier or hop on to a golf cart to enjoy oysters, yellow-fin tuna, sea scallops and various fishy carpaccio.

Al Hadheerah

Category: Fine Dining

Cuisine: Middle Eastern

Average Cost: Approx. Dh900 for two (without alcohol)

Location: Al Qudra

At Al Hadheerah in Bab Al Shams Desert Resort & Spa, one can enjoy Emirati cuisine in a desert setting. Inside the walls of a traditional fort, the main event is the entertainment: falcons perch on handler’s mitts, Arabian horses parade with their tunic-swirling masters, local singers let rip and Tanoura dancers whirl. One can also watch and relish a whole lamb slow-cooked for six hours after lowering it into a charcoal pit.

Aprons & Hammers

Category: Casual Dining

Cuisine: Seafood, salad

Average Cost: Dh300 for 2 (without alcohol)

Location: Palm Jumeirah, JBR, Jumeirah 1

Aprons & Hammers is for enjoying fish, crabs and lobster on a revived traditional sailing vessel at Dubai International Marine Club in Mina Seyahi. The dining-on-a-dhow experience comes with tables shielded from the sun with fishing nets festooned with plastic crabs, starfish and lobster baskets.

BBQ Donut

Category: Casual Dining

Cuisine: Middle Eastern, Mexican, Seafood

Average Cost: Approx. Dh470 for 2

Location: Deira

At BBQ Donut at The Boardwalk in Dubai Creek Golf & Yacht Club in Deira, a doughnut-shaped dinghy is fixed with a central grilling station, and up to six of you can float off, armed with a cool box of ready-to-grill meats.

Enigma

Category: Fine Dining

Cuisine: Iranian

Average Cost: Approx. Dh550 for 2

Location: Al Jaddaf

Enigma at Palazzo Versace Dubai in Al Jaddaf changes the head chef every three months, each one being one of the world’s top 50, and each overhauling the dining room and menu at the cosy venue.

Taste of Fame

Category: Casual Dining

Cuisine: Asian, Italian, Arabian, Middle Eastern

Average Cost: Approx. Dh250 for 2

Location: Jumeirah 3

In the Taste of Fame restaurant in Jumeirah 3, it is a dining experience amidst a waxworks museum whose attractions include a sallow-featured Daniel Craig, a steely starred Amitabh Bachchan and a proportionally dubious George Clooney. This Hollywood-inspired American-Asian-Italian restaurant has a menu that ranges from pasta to sushi and a combination of American classics and signature dishes and its recommended Tuna salad.

Royal Express

Category: Fine Dining

Cuisine: Indian

Average Cost: Approx. Dh80 for 2

Location: Bur Dubai

The Royal Express in Admiral Plaza Hotel in Bur Dubai is themed on India’s Royal Express luxury train during the time of Maharajas. Designed to look like its motorised namesake, guests will hear instrumental music peppered with platform announcements in Hindi and train track noises while having spicy, quintessentially Indian fare.

Bateaux Dubai

Category: Casual Dining

Cuisine: European

Average Cost: Approx. Dh950 for 2 (without alcohol)

Location: Umm Hurair

Bateaux Dubai is a fancy floating restaurant that plies in Dubai Creek in the evenings. The huge glass vessel allows you to explore the city’s waterways over a two-and-a-half-hour cruise while you enjoy freshly prepared gourmet cuisine in air-conditioned comfort. With the panoramic views all around, you can savour a four-course à la carte culinary journey.

Noire

Category: Fine Dining

Cuisine: European

Average Cost: Approx. Dh950 for 2 (without alcohol)

Location: Trade Centre area

Noire in Fairmont Dubai runs on the concept of dining in the dark. This restaurant lets you dine in pitch-darkness with a three-course meal served by waiters hovering around in night vision goggles. The menu changes every week.

Ossiano

Category: Fine Dining

Cuisine: European, Mediterranean, French, Contemporary

Average Cost: Approx. Dh1,200 for 2 (without alcohol)

Location: Palm Jumeirah

If you desire to dine under the breath-taking sea, head to Ossiano at the Atlantis the Palm. One can have a scenic dinner, perched under shimmery chandeliers with more than 65,000 marine creatures swimming by the table. The restaurant stands out for its seafood. Lobster gazpacho, superior Sturia caviar and crispy monkfish are among the sophisticated seafood offerings.

Al Dawaar

Category: Fine Dining

Cuisine: Arabian, Middle Eastern, European

Average Cost: Approx. Dh400 for 2 (without alcohol)

Location: Naif

Al Dawaar is Dubai’s only revolving restaurant at the Hyatt Regency on Al Khaleej Road having brunch and dinner options. It has spectacular views of the blue Gulf waters, the Creek and the city. The restaurant offers 360⁰ views without one having to move from your seat. You do, however, need to move from your seat to take your share of the international buffet featuring dishes from Arabian, European and Middle Eastern cuisines.

Dinner in the Sky

Category: Casual Dining

Cuisine: Contemporary

Average Cost: Approx. Dh1,400 for 2

Location: Al Sufouh

At Dinner in the Sky in Skydive Dubai in Al Sufouh, it is a sky-high dining experience with tables and chairs suspended 50 meters in the air while savouring delicacies whipped by chefs from The Le Meridien and The Westin Mina Seyahi Marina. You and chefs will be safely tucked in with a belt while you are having a three-course luxurious meal. Each session lasts for one and a half hours.

Pai Thai

Category: Fine Dining

Cuisine: Thai

Average Cost: Approx. Dh450 for 2 (without alcohol)

Location: Madinat Jumeirah

At Pai Thai in Al Qasr Madinat Jumeirah, the dining experience begins with a delightful cruise on an Abra boat to enjoy mouth-watering Thai delights with live Thai soft tunes playing in the background.

Trèsind Studio

Category: Fine Dining

Cuisine: Indian, Contemporary

Average Cost: Approx. Dh800 for 2 (without alcohol)

Location: Trade Centre area

At Trèsind Studio in Voco Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road, space acts as a canvas for diners to experience a special sensory journey whilst a 16-course menu unfolds before them. Each course is carefully curated with great emphasis on presentation techniques and the elegant small-sized delicacies are guaranteed to satiate one’s appetite.

MusicHall Dubai

Category: Fine Dining, Lounge

Cuisine: International

Average Cost: Approx. Dh800 for 2 (with alcohol)

Location: Palm Jumeirah

Is it a theatre, is it a club or is it a restaurant? There’s no need to decide: it’s a three-in-one destination located on the tip of the Palm Jumeirah, in the luxurious Jumeirah Zabeel Saray hotel. The five-star twin of its elder, Beirut sibling, MusicHall Dubai promises you a fusion of art, cuisine and dance, all rolled into one evening. As you enjoy fusion (or finger) food at your table (or couch), you could indulge in guessing what the next act might be. It could be anything from folk singers from Russia to spoon players from Eastern Europe and Greek opera singers.

Al Mahara

Category: Fine Dining

Cuisine: Seafood

Average Cost: Approx. Dh1,255 for 2 (without alcohol)

Location: Umm Suqeim

Burj Al Arab’s premium seafood restaurant, Al Mahara is perfect for intimate dinners prepared by Michelin-starred chefs. Al Mahara means ‘Oyster Shell’ in Arabic, and one gets that feeling of being in an aquarium when you sink into the soft seats, surrounded by marine life staring at you. If the turquoise-and-gold elevator that takes you to the restaurant doesn’t stimulate your senses, a floor to ceiling aquarium inside the restaurant surely will.

Ostadi

Category: Fine Dining

Cuisine: Iranian, Kebab

Average Cost: Approx. Dh70 for 2

Location: Mankhool

It’s official name may be Al Ustad Special Kabab, but Ostadi is what everyone calls this little gem of an Iranian restaurant tucked away in a Mankhool bylane. It’s USP could easily be that it is a family-owned restaurant that offers the best kebabs in town. But you’ll forget that momentarily once you step into it and look around all those currency notes and coins under the glass tabletops. And that’s not all of it. There are dozens of baseball caps on the walls, scores of clocks showing different time zones on the walls, and hundreds of pictures on the walls. Not sure if the walls are actually there behind all that paraphernalia.

Avalanche Café

Category: Café

Cuisine: Café

Average Cost: Approx. Dh150 for 2

Location: Al Barsha

Technically, it isn’t a restaurant, but something that adds sizzle to the snow ought to be part of this list. The Avalanche Café at Ski Dubai in Mall of the Emirates offers a selection of soups, sandwiches, beverages and sweets for hungry skiers and boarders. The café also offers an outdoor terrace so you can watch the action on the slopes.