7 of Dubai’s trendiest restaurants

Coya
At Coya, the Latin-American restaurant in the Four Seasons, they have taken the new season to heart – or away from the heart, to be precise – with the addition of new menu items designed to help you uphold your healthy New Year’s resolutions.
New seafood dishes include the langosta al josper (lobster marinated in chimichurri sauce with cucumbers and avocado salad) and the cangrejo tacos (crab tacos with cucumber and avocado), both of which are light, fresh but surprisingly filling.
It is, though, the vegetarian dishes that catch the eye, including the maki roll de aguacate y sesamo negro (avocado maki roll with shiitake mushrooms, aji lemon, quinoa and black sesame) and, pictured, alcachofa ceviche (artichoke ceviche with peppers, avocado and aji lemon), which is as beautiful as it is delicious.
There is more guilt-laden stuff to try, of course, like the suckling lamb shoulder with chilli butter, or the wagyu beef rib with field mushrooms. But it would be wrong of us to mention it. You know, it being January and all.
Where: Coya, Four Seasons Resort Dubai, Jumeirah Beach Road
Contact: +9714 316 9600

Flooka
Food trends come and go. Pulses, berries, quinoa, things eaten in the Amazon by lost tribes of female warriors… you know the thing. More often than not, they’re underpinned by some miracle health-giving property that, once consumed, means the trainers can be ditched for good. Only they can’t. But it was good for sales while the myth lasted.
Some trends do have staying power, though, like the Paleo diet and it’s more modern and accessible offspring, the Mediterranean diet. The basic principle with both is to stick to locally grown produce that has endured as little processing as possible – fish, poultry, nuts, grains, fruits and vegetables, which contain goodies like vitamins, protein and omega-3 fatty acids.
Lebanese restaurant Flooka, with branches in Dubai and Abu Dhabi, is hoping to be at the heart of your New Year’s resolutions by championing both diets. Like the fish shawarma, sprinkled with cholesterol-free, high-fibre pine-nuts, or the eggplant-based mouttabal, rocket and thyme salad or fish steamed in rock salt.
“These diets encourage consuming vitamins, nutrients and antioxidants that are required to maintain health and prevent disease,” says chef Ibrahim. Which seems a good way to start 2016.
Where: Flooka, Dubai Marine Hotel, Jumeirah
Contact: +9714 346 1111

The Maine Oyster Bar & Grill
It’s refreshing to hear that the new restaurant in the DoubleTree by Hilton in Dubai’s Jumeirah Beach Residences doesn’t promise a raft of gimmicks, concepts or culinary journeys. Just good food, cooked well.
Self-evidently inspired by the kind of restaurant you can find up and down the North-East Coast of America, it’s perhaps little surprise that the man behind it, Joey Ghazal, was educated in Montreal.
“I always felt that this style of restaurant was sorely missing in Dubai and would perfectly suit the city’s more relaxed diners in search of something simple, accessible and delicious,” he says.
The menu is a comforting collection of seafood – applewood-smoked mussels, freshly shucked oysters, fish grilled on live charcoal, classic clam chowders – and steak, whether a rib-eye for two or the classic tartare. Desserts of maple pudding, rocky road brownie or key lime pie will have you dreaming of autumnal leaves and boat trips over crystalline lakes.
Where: The Maine Oyster Bar & Grill, DoubleTree by Hilton, JBR
Contact: +9714 457 6719