Dubai restaurants took six of the top 10 spots in the second year of the regional list from World’s 50 Best.
(Bloomberg) — Orfali Bros. Bistro, a homegrown restaurant in Dubai opened by three Syrian brothers, was named the best restaurant in the Middle East and North Africa Monday by the World’s 50 Best organization.
It’s the second year that the group has published rankings for the region. Once again, Dubai took the most spots on the list with 15, followed by Tel Aviv with six and Amman, Jordan, with five.
“We opened the restaurant not to be No. 1,” Orfali Bros Chef Mohammad Orfali said during the ceremony in Abu Dhabi, thanking the voters. “We opened it just for fun.”
Dubai’s culinary scene is on a hot streak. Once seen as a place where chefs would copy-and-paste successful concepts from other cities, the emirate’s homegrown concepts are finding success — and investors to back them. The city’s tourism agency sponsored its first Michelin star awards last year and published a gastronomy report boasting about its 13,000 food and beverage outlets.
The regional 50 Best accolades are yet another way for chefs to get attention. The restaurants that make the 50 Best lists are often more progressive than those that receive Michelin stars, and there’s not a lot of overlap between the two groups.
The list has been heavy on Asian and other non-Arabic restaurants, something that chefs said they’d like to see change.
“I don’t know what’s enough Arabic restaurants,” said Qais Malhas, an owner of Shams El Balad, a restaurant, shop and grocery in Jordan that took No. 29. “Is it 50?”
The brothers behind Orfali Bros. — Omar, Mohammed and Wassim — are from Aleppo, Syria, but they hesitate to classify their food under any particular label. “We represent the new Dubai cuisine,” Mohammed Orfali said in an interview with Bloomberg just after the ceremony.
Like some of the best restaurants in Dubai, Orfali Bros. isn’t licensed to serve alcohol. Orfali said he was inspired by Noma, the famous Copenhagen restaurant, in working on a juice pairing.
Only three restaurants from Lebanon made the list, down from five last year, perhaps a reflection of the economic crisis in the country. Anissa Helou, a food writer, says that the privileged few are acting as if nothing has happened even as some butchers run short of essentials such as lamb. “I was there two or three months ago, and the people who have money have not changed their way of life, it’s incredible.” said Helou, who won an icon award on Monday. “But what’s interesting is that the quality is dropping noticeably everywhere.
The World’s 50 Best platform has continued to expand since it started in the UK in 2002, adding lists of regional restaurants and best bars. Next year, the organization will publish a list of the world’s best hotels.
A group of 250 food writers, chefs, foodie influencers and restaurateurs across the Middle East and North Africa region vote for the winners. The voters — who are meant to be anonymous — pick seven restaurants, including at least two outside their own country. Among the rules: They can’t vote for a restaurant in which they have a financial interest. This year, about 35% of regional voters are different than last year’s panel, said William Drew, director of content for World’s 50 Best.
Opa, a restaurant in Tel Aviv, was named “One to Watch.”
Chefs and owners say they experience a boom in business after making one of these lists.
Here is the full list of 2023 winners:
- Orfali Bros Bistro, Dubai, UAE
- Trèsind Studio, Dubai, UAE
- Fusions by Tala, Manama, Bahrain
- Ossiano, Dubai, UAE
- 3 Fils, Dubai, UAE
- George & John, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Kinoya, Dubai, UAE
- Fakhreldin, Amman, Jordan
- Zooba (Zamalek), Cairo, Egypt
- Moonrise, Dubai, UAE
- Reif Kushiyaki, Dubai, UAE
- Kazoku, Cairo, Egypt
- Zuma, Dubai, UAE
- OCD Restaurant, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Lowe, Dubai, UAE
- Baron, Beirut, Lebanon
- Gaia, Dubai, UAE
- Myazu, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Tawlet Mar Mikhael, Beirut, Lebanon
- Em Sherif, Beirut, Lebanon
- LPM Dubai, Dubai, UAE
- Sachi Giza, Giza, Egypt
- Marble, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- a, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Cut by Wolfgang Puck, Manama, Bahrain
- Hoseki, Dubai, UAE
- La Grande Table Marocaine, Marrakech, Morocco
- Coya Dubai, Dubai, UAE
- Shams El Balad, Amman, Jordan
- Sachi, Cairo, Egypt
- Masso, Manama, Bahrain
- Animar, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Coya Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
- La Closerie, Tunis, Tunisia
- 11 Woodfire, Dubai, UAE
- Sufra, Amman, Jordan
- Iloli, Casablanca, Morocco
- LPM Riyadh, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
- Sesamo, Marrakech, Morocco
- Milgo & Milbar, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Alee, Amman, Jordan
- White Robata, Kuwait City, Kuwait
- Zuma Abu Dhabi, Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Jun’s, Dubai, UAE
- Reif Kushiyaki, Cairo, Egypt
- +61, Marrakech, Morocco
- 13C Bar in the Back, Amman, Jordan
- HaBasta, Tel Aviv, Israel
- Hakkasan, Abu Dhabi, UAE
- Bonjiri, Salmiya, Kuwait
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