2026 MENA's 50 Best Restaurants: The Complete Ranking

Within the Giza Pyramid Complex, Khufus makes a case for modern Egyptian cuisine as a serious fine-dining proposition. Chef Mostafa Seif's kitchen ranked fourth in the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 and scored 78 points on La Liste 2026, placing it at the top of Egypt's formal dining tier. The Pier 88 group property carries a 4.3 rating across more than 2,800 reviews.

Kinoya is an izakaya in Dubai's Greens neighbourhood, awarded a Michelin Bib Gourmand in 2025 and ranked third in the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA list for 2024. Five ramen varieties anchor a menu that extends to sushi, sashimi, robata, and tempura. Counter seats offer a direct view of the kitchen and should be reserved in advance.

Trèsind Studio holds three Michelin stars and ranked #13 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants in 2024, placing it at the apex of modern Indian fine dining in the Middle East. Housed on The Palm Jumeirah with just 20 seats, its 'Rising India' tasting menu maps India's culinary geography across courses, pairing immersive, scene-shifting theatre with technique that draws on both subcontinent tradition and global precision.

Orfali Bros has held the top position in the Middle East & North Africa's 50 Best Restaurants ranking for three consecutive years (2023, 2024, 2025) and re-entered the World's 50 Best at number 46 before climbing to 64, all while operating as a neighbourhood bistro on Al Wasl Road. Three Syrian-born brothers run the kitchen across two floors: savoury below, pastry above, with a Michelin star awarded in both 2024 and 2025.

Beihouse occupies a palatial space on Pasteur Street in Beirut, rebuilt after sustaining damage in the 2020 port explosion. Under Chef Tarek Alameldine, the kitchen works through Lebanese staples with a considered, modern approach. The setting carries the weight of that history visibly, making it one of the more charged dining rooms in a city that has learned to cook through difficulty.

Ranked 30th at the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024, Kuuru brings Nikkei cuisine to Jeddah's Al Khalidiyyah district under the Leylati Group banner. The restaurant draws a direct line between Japanese technique and Peruvian ingredient tradition, a pairing that finds unexpected resonance in a city shaped by generations of migrant communities. It is one of the more considered entries in Saudi Arabia's accelerating fine-dining scene.

The sister restaurant of Bait Maryam, Sufret Maryam brings Levantine home cooking into a Michelin Bib Gourmand-recognised format at Jumeirah's Wasl 51. Under Chef Salam Daqqaq, local ingredients meet considered technique in a room that reads more like a family dining table than a restaurant. At a single dollar-sign price point, it occupies a rare position in Dubai's Middle Eastern dining scene.

Jun's sits on Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard in Downtown Dubai, where Kelvin Cheung — a third-generation Chinese-Canadian chef with formative years in Hong Kong, North America, and India — runs a kitchen that refuses easy categorisation. Ranked seventh in the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA list for 2024 and recognised with a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025, Jun's has established itself as one of the more credentialed addresses in Dubai's Asian dining scene.

Manāo brings a Michelin-starred Thai contemporary kitchen to Jumeirah 1, where an India-born, Dubai-raised chef channels years spent in Thai working kitchens into a menu framed around Emirati context. The result is one of Dubai's most considered Southeast Asian addresses, earning its first Michelin star in 2025 and rated 4.9 on Google across early reviews.

Twelve seats, twice nightly, in a converted Al Satwa address that holds a Michelin star and a top-ten MENA ranking from the World's 50 Best. Chef Solemann Haddad's 12-course creative menu is plated at the counter in full view of every diner. The format is closer to a private kitchen than a conventional restaurant, and the reservation list reflects that scarcity.

Opened in June 2024 on Avenue de la Côte d'Emeraude, Table 3 marks chef Fayçal Bettioui's return to Casablanca after training at New York's Per Se and a decade-long career across the US and Germany. The restaurant applies French technique and Japanese restraint to Moroccan ingredients, positioning itself at the intersection of rigorous classical training and deeply local sourcing in a city still defining its fine-dining identity.

Marble started as a wooden roadside stall on Prince Turki Road in 2018 before its founders opened a full restaurant two years later. The gamble paid off: the venue landed at number 16 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA list for 2024, placing it among a small tier of Riyadh addresses that now shape regional dining conversation. Google reviewers back the ranking with a 4.3 from nearly 4,800 ratings.

Ranked ninth in the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 list, Em Sherif translates the logic of Lebanese home cooking into a formal dining setting without flattening what makes it compelling. The room layers chandeliers, deep pink and blue textiles, and live Arabic music against a menu built from endemic Lebanese produce. It occupies the upper tier of Beirut's restaurant scene and prices accordingly.

A Michelin-starred wood-fire kitchen operating out of a Jumeirah villa, 11 Woodfire ranks #28 in the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 and carries a Opinionated About Dining placement for 2025. Chef Brando Moros builds his menu across meat, seafood, and vegetables, treating each with the same precision over oak, hickory, and hay coals. Dinner service runs from 6 pm on Mondays; Tuesday through Sunday opens at noon.

Born in Houston and transplanted to Dubai's Al Serkal Avenue arts district in 2024, Kokoro reimagines sushi through an American lens without abandoning the craft that makes the format worth reimagining. The team behind FiyaIYA, Pinza, and Bake My Day brought the concept to Al Quoz, where its playful approach to Japanese technique has earned a committed local following in a short time.

Ranked 29th at the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024, Marmellata Bakery operates outside every familiar pizza reference point — no New York slice shops, no Neapolitan tradition. Located at Abu Dhabi's waterfront Souk Al Mina, it draws queues hours before opening and holds a 4.7 Google rating across more than 1,100 reviews. This is the city's own answer to the pizza question.

Few restaurants in Dubai have rewritten expectations as decisively as 3Fils, the unlicensed, cash-casual Japanese contemporary spot at Jumeirah Fishing Harbour. Ranked 14th at the World's 50 Best MENA 2024 and twice awarded the Michelin Bib Gourmand, it proved that serious cooking and stripped-back surroundings are not in contradiction — and that the MENA region's most sought-after table doesn't need a dress code or a cocktail list to earn its place.

Opened in November 2023 in Kuwait City's Shuwaikh Industrial district, Cantina brings Mediterranean cooking with an Italian focus to a dining scene hungry for it. The project comes from chef Basmah Marouf, whose tenure as executive chef at Madison Heig established her credentials at the sharper end of the city's restaurant circuit. The result is a room that reads as warm and considered rather than showy.

La Grande Table Marocaine at Royal Mansour holds a place in the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 (ranked 22nd) and earned 97 points on La Liste 2025, alongside a Les Grandes Tables du Monde award. Under executive chef Karim Ben Baba, the kitchen reframes Moroccan cooking around vegetables, aromatics, and slow-cooked proteins rather than the familiar procession of tagines and cooked salads that defines most of the city's fine dining.

Cairo's first outpost of the Dubai-born kushiyaki format, Reif Kushiyaki in New Cairo ranked #47 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA list for 2024. The format centres on Japanese skewer traditions adapted for a regional audience, with a 4.3 Google rating across 302 reviews confirming consistent execution. It sits in New Cairo's By The Waterway development, at a remove from the city's older dining districts.

On a quiet lane in Marrakech's medina, Le Petit Cornichon draws on the city's market produce to deliver a menu that sits between French bistro ease and high-gastronomy precision. The kitchen's commitment to seasonal, locally sourced ingredients places it in a small tier of Marrakech restaurants where the supply chain is as considered as the cooking.

FZN by Björn Frantzén holds three Michelin stars at Atlantis, The Palm, placing it among Dubai's most formally recognised fine-dining addresses. Led by chef Torsten Vildgaard, the restaurant runs a nine-course tasting menu that draws on modern European technique with Japanese influences. La Liste ranked it at 97 points in 2026, and its wine program has maintained a top-15 position on Star Wine List throughout 2025.

TakaHisa at Banyan Tree Dubai on Bluewaters Island holds a Michelin Plate (2025), a Star Wine List White Star, and a ranking of 41st in the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024. The kitchen is led by wagyu specialist Chef Hisao Ueda alongside sushi master Takashi Namekata, a two-chef model that positions this as one of the more seriously composed Japanese addresses in the UAE.

Sesamo brings the Italian kitchen of Massimiliano Alajmo into the Royal Mansour, Marrakesh's most architecturally ambitious hotel. Chef Riccardo Barni works local Moroccan produce alongside imported Italian ingredients, framed by a dining room and sunset patio that rank among the medina-edge's most considered settings. La Liste places it at 89 points (2026), and it holds a Les Grandes Tables du Monde award and a World's 50 Best MENA ranking of #32 (2024).

Ranked 24th on the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 list, Kazoku brings contemporary Japanese cooking to the Swan Lake compound in New Cairo, reached via a winding path through gardens and tennis courts. With a Google rating of 4.6 across more than 2,600 reviews, it occupies the top tier of Cairo's fine dining circuit and offers a measured, technique-driven alternative to the city's louder dining formats.

Ranked #8 in the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024, Shams El Balad began as a flower shop on Mu'Ath Bin Jabal Street and evolved into one of Amman's most quietly purposeful dining destinations. The menu reads seasonal and homey, grounded in Levantine tradition rather than spectacle. A family-run cultural space, concept store, and restaurant occupying the same address, it represents a particular kind of Jordanian hospitality that has found international recognition without chasing it.

A fixture in Dubai's financial district for more than a decade, La Petite Maison (LPM) at DIFC has built a reputation that most restaurants in the city never reach: consistent enough to stay perpetually hard to book. With a Michelin Plate, recognition from La Liste and Opinionated About Dining, and a 470-label wine list weighted toward France, it sits at the serious end of Mediterranean dining in the Gulf.

On First Circle in Jabal Amman, Alee translates the domestic cooking of Jordan into a structured restaurant format. Chef Ali Ghzawi's reference point is the family kitchen, and his menu channels the everyday recipes of that tradition into a more considered dining setting. The address places it alongside several of Amman's more serious independent tables.

Founded by Mohamad Wassim and Omar Orfali, the Syrian brothers behind three-time MENA Best Restaurant winner Orfali Bros, Three Bros operates in Jumeirah as a deliberately smaller, more informal sibling. The menu careers across Japan, Spain, Syria, and France with enough confidence to make the eclecticism feel earned rather than scattered. In a Dubai dining scene that rewards ambition, this is where the brothers experiment without the formal stakes.

Dara Dining by Sara Aqel in Amman offers Contemporary Levantine cuisine across a chef-led tasting format. Must-try plates include the Seasonal Tasting Menu, Charred Amman Lamb with za'atar and preserved lemon, and the Date & Tahini Tart. Chef Sara Aqel emphasizes locally foraged ingredients, slow-cooked techniques, and balanced spice profiles. The restaurant earned global recognition as World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 — Rank #18. Expect layered textures, bright citrus notes, and warm bread pulled at the table. Dara Dining delivers a carefully paced gastronomic experience that highlights Jordanian ingredients through modern technique and exacting presentation, ideal for celebratory dinners and curious food travelers.

A Sydney-inflected all-day dining room in Marrakesh's Gueliz neighbourhood, +61 landed at #35 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 list — a signal that its casual, produce-led format has found real traction beyond the expat crowd. With a Google rating of 4.7 across nearly 800 reviews, it occupies a distinct position in a city where most celebrated tables default to Moroccan tradition or French formality.

Ranked #21 on the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA list in 2024, Zooba in Zamalek has spent over a decade making the case for Egyptian street food as a serious dining category. The Zamalek branch sits on 26 July Street, where the menu's architecture around traditional ful, ta'meya, and koshary formats signals something more considered than casual fast food. With 4.2 stars across nearly 6,000 Google reviews, the crowd verdict has long kept pace with the critical one.

Ranked 25th at the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 and holding a Star Wine List White Star, Gaia occupies the eighth floor of DIFC's Gate Village 10 with a Mediterranean format that has drawn a consistent celebrity following since 2018. Among Dubai's upper tier of internationally recognised dining rooms, it remains one of the most booked addresses in the financial district.

Zuma sits in DIFC's Gate Village as the Dubai outpost of a global Japanese contemporary group, holding a Michelin Plate (2025) and ranked 19th in the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA list for 2024. The shared-format menu draws from robata, sushi, and izakaya traditions, while the bar programme — sake, shochu, and Japanese whisky — is woven into the meal rather than treated as an afterthought. Weekend DJs, a large terrace, and an island bar make this one of DIFC's more animated dining rooms.

At the Four Seasons Dubai Jumeirah Beach, Mimi Kakushi draws its references from 1920s Osaka, pairing an era of Japanese cultural flourishing with a contemporary kitchen that applies global technique to quality-sourced ingredients. Ranked 37th at the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024, it sits at the sharper end of Dubai's Japanese dining tier, where atmosphere and culinary craft are expected to operate at the same level.

Row on 45 holds two Michelin stars (2024–2025) and a World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 rank of #17, operating from the 45th floor of Grosvenor House Dubai. The 17-course tasting menu unfolds across three distinct spaces for a maximum of 22 covers per sitting, with wine pairing programmes overseen by head sommelier Lorenzo Abussi. Reservations are required; business casual dress applies.

Sachi Cairo in Cairo delivers contemporary Mediterranean fine dining driven by seasonal Egyptian produce and a tasting-menu focus. Notable dishes include Seasonal Tasting Menu, Charred Local Fish, and Slow-Cooked Lamb Shoulder, each tempered with bright citrus, roasted vegetables and house-made sauces. The kitchen emphasizes live plating and precise technique, offering vegetarian and pescatarian tasting options alongside a curated regional wine and arak list. Recognized in World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 at #27, Sachi Cairo pairs confident flavors with warm service, textured plates, and crisp, mineral-driven wines for a striking, appetite-focused evening in Egypt's capital.

On Saadiyat Island, NIRI brings a restrained Japanese contemporary sensibility to Abu Dhabi's dining scene. Holding a Michelin Plate (2025) and ranked 50th on the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 list, the mid-price restaurant pairs clean design with ingredient-led cooking at an accessible price point that few recognized Japanese kitchens in the Gulf can match.

Opened in December 2023 on Gouraud Street, Buco is a modern gastro bar that treats the burger as a serious culinary subject. Launched by Noma alumnus Tarek Alameddine alongside his sisters, it operates at the intersection of premium casual and craft cocktail culture — a format that has found a clear lane in Beirut's post-recovery dining scene.

Set inside the St Regis Gardens on Palm Jumeirah, Chez Wam trades formal dining conventions for the loose energy of a good house party. A contemporary menu runs alongside a chilled-out disco soundtrack, and the French slang name — roughly translating as 'at mine' — signals the tone from the start. This is Palm Jumeirah dining with its collar undone.

A homegrown DIFC fixture since 2014, Boca has built one of Dubai's more considered cases for modern Spanish-Mediterranean cooking outside Europe. Ranked 12th in the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 and awarded a Michelin Plate in both 2024 and 2025, it draws a loyal weekday crowd from the financial district alongside weekend diners who treat it as a reliable calibration point for the city's broader Mediterranean scene.

The Abu Dhabi outpost of one of the UAE's most celebrated modern Asian concepts, 3 Fils arrived at The Abu Dhabi Edition in 2025, trading the Dubai original's energy for a waterfront perch above Al Bateen marina. The same community-style format and pan-Asian framework carry over, joined by a short list of Abu Dhabi-exclusive dishes that give the capital location its own identity.

Girl & the Goose in Dubai presents contemporary Central American cuisine from Chef Gabriela Chamorro. Must-try plates include Coffee & Orange Duck, street-style tacos and bright ceviches. As the UAE’s first pan-Central American restaurant, it translates Mesoamerican recipes into shared plates with modern technique. Expect warm, inviting service, inventive cocktails, and vegan tasting options described as "world class." The dining room pairs bold citrus, roasted coffee, and fire-kissed proteins to create lively textures and clean, spicy finishes that make each course memorable.

IDAM by Alain Ducasse holds a Michelin star and sits on the fifth floor of Doha's Museum of Islamic Art, pairing contemporary French tasting menus with views across the bay. Seasonal menus are finished tableside, and the room carries Philippe Starck's design signature. Operating Tuesday through Thursday and Sunday for lunch and dinner, it sits at the top of Doha's fine dining price tier.

Ranked 49th on the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024 list, Myazu brings a pan-Asian culinary approach to the As Sulimaniyah district of Riyadh, guided by Scottish chef Ian Pengelley. With a Google rating of 4.4 across more than 9,000 reviews, it occupies a clear position at the upper tier of the Saudi capital's international dining scene. Expect technique-led cooking that draws on texture and aroma as structural principles.

Open since 1955, Le Golfe is one of La Marsa's most enduring addresses, ranked 44th at the World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024. The restaurant sits against a panorama of the Gulf of Tunis, serving Mediterranean plates that draw on the coastal larder directly outside its door. Seventy years of continuous operation in the same seaside town is itself a form of critical credential.

LPM Abu Dhabi in Abu Dhabi presents French Mediterranean cuisine rooted in Niçoise tradition. Must-try dishes include Niçoise-style Salad, Whole Grilled Sea Bass and Herb-Crusted Rack of Lamb. The kitchen highlights market-fresh seafood, seasonal produce and simple, bright preparations that let ingredients sing. A recent accolade—World's 50 Best Restaurants MENA 2024, Rank #38—underscores the restaurant's regional standing. Expect warm service, an extensive French and Mediterranean wine list, and plating that emphasizes color, texture and clean flavors. The overall experience is lively yet polished, with fragrant olives, caramelized crusts and citrus brightness on every plate.

Lyra brings structured Greek Mediterranean cooking to Diyar Al Muharraq under the Amriya Group banner, the Bahrain hospitality group behind Masso, The Orangery, and Circa. Chef Ilias Tasioulas shapes a menu around balanced flavours and refined Mediterranean technique, making Lyra one of the few dedicated Greek dining addresses in Manama's restaurant scene.

Open since spring 2024, Matbakhi has established itself as a serious dining address inside The Avenues, Kuwait's largest mall. The menu centers on Palestinian and Levantine cooking, moving from traditional breakfast dishes through charcoal grills, mezze, and meat-filled pastries. It draws a devoted local following that has little to do with the surrounding retail.