SIMPLY ABU DHABI
A desert-resort dining room with a real sense of place Al Badiya is the main restaurant at Aldhafra Resort, Vignette Collection by IHG, on the edge of the great desert landscape of Al Dhafra. That setting matters because the restaurant does not treat Arabian food as a token corner of an international buffet. Its current […]
The easy-going heart of Traders Hotel Afyä is the all-day restaurant at Traders Hotel, Qaryat Al Beri, and its appeal is tied closely to the hotel’s relaxed private-beach character. This is not the grander, occasion-led dining of neighbouring Shangri-La; Afyä is designed to carry a guest through the day. Breakfast can start early, lunch can […]
The lounge as a destination African Lounge is difficult to reduce to a standard restaurant category, and that is part of its charm. Within the Flamingo Collection at The Galleria Al Maryah Island, it sits alongside Flamingo Room by tashas and Collective Africa, creating a sequence of dining, design and retail rather than a single […]
A steakhouse that knows exactly what it is Acres Grill House does not bury its purpose under a complicated concept. Set within Yas Acres Golf & Country Club, it is an evening steakhouse built around fire, prime cuts and the green outlook of the golf course. The room is contemporary without being overly formal, which […]
A Spanish route to Japanese haute cuisine 99 Sushi Bar arrived in Abu Dhabi in 2017 as the brand’s first restaurant outside Spain, bringing a distinctly European idea of Japanese haute cuisine to Al Maryah Island. The dining room at The Galleria, beside Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi, remains deliberately polished: deep velvet, metallic details, […]
A café with a reason for its name 90 Centigrade is one of those hotel venues that makes more sense once you know the idea behind it. The name refers to the water temperature the café identifies as ideal for brewing espresso, and the concept grew from there into a home-grown Abu Dhabi café inside […]
The sequel that did not copy the original When 3Fils opened in Dubai in late 2016, its appeal came from an unusual combination: serious Japanese-influenced cooking delivered without the stiffness often attached to serious restaurants. Abu Dhabi, opened in July 2025, scales that idea up rather than turning it into a polished clone. The Al […]
Zayed International Airport is 31 kilometres from the door, around half an hour. From Al Bateen Executive Airport it is 12.3 kilometres, which for guests arriving privately is a short transfer by any standard. Either way the approach ends at Sheikh Rashid Bin Saeed Street in Al Manhal, in the middle of the island rather […]
A resort restaurant shaped by Hudayriyat 28 Degrees belongs to the slower, holiday-minded side of Abu Dhabi dining. Set within Bab Al Nojoum on Hudayriyat Island, it was conceived as the resort’s all-day restaurant rather than a formal destination dining room: breakfast after an early beach walk, a long lunch between activities, or an unfussy […]
The outdoor pool at Corniche Hotel Abu Dhabi carries a swim up bar. At a city hotel of this scale, six minutes on foot from the promenade and set inside the street grid rather than out on the waterfront, that is an unusual fitting. Loungers and full poolside service run alongside it, and the whole […]