With the launch of the fourth edition of the MICHELIN Guide Abu Dhabi 2026 comes a new round of dishes that stood out to the MICHELIN Guide Inspectors.
From tasty starters to delightful desserts, spanning a variety of cuisines, our Inspectors have highlighted some of their favorites from the new selection of MICHELIN-recommended restaurants around the capital.
Read to discover which dishes made the cut this year.
SIMILAR: All the highlights from the MICHELIN Guide Abu Dhabi 2026
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Kombu-cured Hokkaido scallops
Sand & Koal
MICHELIN-Selected, MICHELIN Guide Abu Dhabi 2026
Inspector’s notes: Gosh, this was a generous offer! Three super fresh XL scallops that are sliced in half; they taste sweet and melt in your mouth. The quality is great, and they are served in quite a rich, rather punchy, horseradish, green apple, spring onion buttermilk with compressed cucumber and a little caviar to top it off.
Um Ali
ťazal
Bib Gourmand, MICHELIN Guide Abu Dhabi 2026
Inspector’s notes: Generous is an understatement here. The base is a flaked croissant with a soft inner filled with poached fruits sat in a very light brûléed anglaise. It has delicious hints of honey, cinnamon and vanilla.
Prawn toast
Strawfire by Ross Shonhan
MICHELIN-Selected, MICHELIN Guide Abu Dhabi 2026
Inspector’s notes: As soon as it arrived, I could see it was special. A base of fried, crispy Japanese milk loaf, topped with succulent and lightly minced prawns. They are bound with a luscious umami-packed seaweed and okonomiyaki sauce, all veiled in copious amounts of shimmering bonito flakes. This dish had both texture and depth, a considerable level of sophistication.
Itch salad and hummus
Almayass
Bib Gourmand, MICHELIN Guide Abu Dhabi 2026
Inspector’s notes: Two lovely dishes that go great with bread. The well-seasoned itch salad is authentic – it has a base of soft bulgur wheat and is cut with tomato and fresh herbs. The texture here is just right, it’s a good side dish. As for the hummus, it’s creamy and well-seasoned, with a faint garlic note and it was so easy to eat. Really well made, topped with fresh chickpeas as well, which broke the texture up and goes so well with the warm fresh pita.
Orecchiette with rabbit and broccoli
Novikov Abu Dhabi
MICHELIN-Selected, MICHELIN Guide Abu Dhabi 2026
Inspector’s notes: Such a tasty dish! Prepared with a fine orecchiette pasta threaded with a host of soft tender and braised rabbit leg meat. It is served in a light creamy base sauce, which really worked well with the fresh herbs and well-cooked broccoli. The portion and balance of flavor is just right for an afternoon meal.
