MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026

#1 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Within the perimeter of the Giza Pyramid Complex and with an immediate and unobstructed view of the last remaining ancient wonders of the world, Khufu's offers its guests a millennial take on a cuisine that stretches back millennia.

#2 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. It all started with chef Neha Misra's love of traditional Japanese ramen. The love evolved into a supper club – A Story of Food was the constantly-sold-out experience she ran from her home in Dubai for several years.

#3 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Learning his trade at lauded New Delhi dining institution Indian Accent before moving to Dubai, chef Himanshu Saini has become the standard-bearer of modern Indian gastronomy in the UAE.

#4 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Storytelling, nostalgia and innovation helmed by Syrian-born siblings

#5 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Lebanese staples, thoughtfully reimagined in a stunning setting

#6 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Part of the well-established Leylati Group, Kuuru has rapidly established itself on the Saudi culinary scene.

#7 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. The sister restaurant of Bait Maryam, Sufret Maryam translates as 'Maryam's dining table' – and it's a name befitting of what this forward-thinking yet heritage-led restaurant stands for

#8 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Kelvin Cheung moved to the UAE in 2021 after a 10-year-long stint in India to open Jun's.

#9 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. After studying culinary arts in the UK, Indian-born, Dubai-raised chef Abhiraj Khatwani ventured to Thailand to hone his craft in working kitchens – and that's where his passion for Thai flavours was born.

#10 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Moonrise is arguably the hottest reservation ticket in a city replete with exciting new restaurants.

#11 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Chef Fayçal Bettioui trained at New York's Per Se before embarking on a glittering decade-long career in the US and Germany with his former restaurant, Zur Krone.

#12 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Marble began life as a makeshift wooden stall on Prince Turki Road in 2018. Owners Abdulrahman Alsowailem and Meshal Alakeel built enough of a loyal following that they opened their own restaurant two years later – and have been serving solid dishes ever since.

#13 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. As the quintessential Lebanese dining experience, Em Sherif offers guests a taste of traditional home cooking in a truly opulent setting designed to make you feel like you could be eating food served at the chef's own kitchen table.

#14 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Fire is the theme of this concept, where diners are likely to find dishes infused with the scents of hickory or pine.

#15 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. The passion project of American chefs Patrick Pham and Daniel Lee, the original Kokoro was born in Houston, Texas, with an intriguing aim: to turn sushi on its head.

#16 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. A pizzeria that isn’t New York or Napoli-inspired, Marmellata Bakery is 100 per cent Abu Dhabi in its DNA.

#17 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. 3 Fils was the first-ever venue to be bestowed the title of The Best Restaurant in Middle East & North Africa back in 2022.

#18 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Approachable yet refined, Cantina is the latest project from one of Kuwait’s most distinguished culinary talents: chef Basmah Marouf, who earned her stripes as executive chef at Madison & Heig.

#19 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Before the Royal Mansour, Moroccan fine dining rarely stretched beyond much-loved but ubiquitous fare – the same cooked salads, tagines

#20 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Cairo’s Reif Kushiyaki is the first franchise of the Dubai-born, Japanese-inspired outlet for skewered grills.

#21 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Le Petit Cornichon masterfully blends the effervescent charm of a bistro with the artistry of high gastronomy.

#22 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Swedish chef, restaurateur and culinary icon Björn Frantzén is currently the only person on the planet with three separate restaurants each holding three Michelin stars – and FZN is one of them.

#23 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Probably the closest you’ll get to a true Japanese experience without leaving the UAE, TakaHisa is located at the Banyan Tree Dubai.

#24 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Globally renowned chef Massimiliano Alajmo brings the culinary delights of Italy to beguiling Marrakech with his restaurant, Sesamo. Both local ingredients and imported Italian delicacies are spun into gold by chef Riccardo Barni.

#25 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Located in the upscale neighbourhood of New Cairo, east of the Nile, Kazuko offers delicately prepared contemporary Japanese cuisine.

#26 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Shams El Balad started as a small flower shop focused on design and sustainability. Over the course of a few years, it evolved into something quite unique: a family-run cultural space, concept store and charming restaurant serving food that is creative, seasonal and homey.

#27 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. LPM is a grande dame of the Dubai culinary scene, having first opened its doors more than a decade ago.

#28 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Chef Ali Ghzawi’s story begins in his mother’s home with a deep love for her cooking.

#29 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Founded by Mohamad, Wassim and Omar Orfali, the Syrian brothers behind Orfali Bros (named The Best Restaurant in the Middle East & North Africa in 2023, 2024 and 2025), this little restaurant is big on character – in fact, it has so much personality that it’s hard to define.

#30 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Set in a lovingly restored villa in the heart of Amman, Dara Dining by Sara Aqel offers its guests Mediterranean flavours and wines from regional producers with community-driven values. The light-filled space comprises both a wine shop and a restaurant surrounded by a lush garden.

#31 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Cassandra Karinsky and Sebastian de Gzell bring a dash of Sydney-style, casual dining to the Red City’s Gueliz neighbourhood.

#32 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. : Back in 2012, when the world was at the precipice of a street food revolution, nobody was talking about Egypt. For Egyptian-American businessman Chris Khalifa, it was essential to bring his home country into the conversation.

#33 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Launched by well-known Dubai-based chef Izu Ani in 2018, Gaia is frequented by many a celebrity – from sheikhs to film stars and more. With a buzzing atmosphere no matter what day of the week, the restaurant oozes a relaxed Mediterranean mood.

#34 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Where Japanese cuisine typically shows restraint, Zuma offers excess. The restaurant essentially takes the technique and study associated with Japanese food and adds a serious dose of glitz.

#35 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Located at the Four Seasons Dubai Jumeirah Beach Restaurant Village, Mimi Kakushi is a sleek, stylish space serving contemporary Japanese food.

#36 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. The dining experience, accommodating only 22 people at a time, is broken into three acts and enjoyed across three different spaces in the restaurant.

#37 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Named after his children, Ayman Baky opened the original Sachi – which translates as ‘child of joy’ – in 2014.

#38 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Founded by Imad Obeid in 2021, homegrown Japanese restaurant Niri offers cuisine, service and design that is kept clean and seemingly simple.

#39 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Buco’s brilliance lies in its simplicity: a portmanteau of ‘burgers’ and ‘cocktails’, its ethos is comfort food, done right.

#40 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. With a French slang name that translates into English as ‘at mine’, Chez Wam nails its colours to the mast from the get-go.

#41 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Founded in 2014 and headed by restaurateur and sustainability thought-leader Omar Shihab, Boca is a homegrown, DIFC-based restaurant.

#42 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. One of the UAE’s most celebrated dining concepts, the original 3 Fils opened in Dubai in 2016 – and in 2025, it spawned a long-awaited second location in The Abu Dhabi Edition hotel overlooking the city’s yacht-strewn Al Bateen marina.

#43 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Trained at the Culinary Institute of Barcelona and Copenhagen’s MAD Academy, chef Gabriela Chamorro’s route to gastronomic renown was forged by a passion for global flavours sparked while travelling the world as an Emirates flight attendant.

#44 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Perched on the fifth floor of Doha’s iconic Museum of Islamic Art (MIA), Idam is a meeting of minds between two titans of their respective fields: legendary chef Alain Ducasse and visionary designer Philippe Starck.

#45 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Myazu marries traditional techniques with contemporary culinary creativity to bring dishes full of texture, aroma and vibrant flavours to the table.

#46 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Le Golfe opened in 1955 in the coastal town of La Marsa, around 30 minutes from Tunisia’s capital.

#47 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Founded in London in 2007 as La Petite Maison, LPM has since converted its refined interpretation of French-Mediterranean cuisine and aesthetics into a global brand, consistently delivering crowd-pleasing classics in a convivial, laid-back ambience.

#48 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. The lyre is a Greek symbol of creativity, harmony and culture – Lyra, named for the musical instrument, is a restaurant that exudes each of these attributes, serving up a sumptuous slice of Greek heritage in each of its expertly crafted dishes.

#49 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Since it descended on a renovated Art Deco gallery in the city’s vibrant Guéliz neighbourhood in September 2024, Farmers has quickly become one of Marrakech’s most desirable fine-dining locations, winning acclaim for sophisticated dishes made with the finest seasonal ingredients.

#50 on MENA's 50 Best Restaurants 2026. Occupying a buzzy location in Kuwait’s largest and most dazzling mall, The Avenues, Matbakhi isn’t just a stopping-off point for bag-laden shoppers – it’s a premium dining destination in its own right.