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The Best International Restaurants in Doha, Qatar

Business district skyline, Doha, Qatar
Business district skyline, Doha, Qatar | © Jon Arnold Images Ltd / Alamy Stock Photo

Qatar might be tiny, but there’s a huge culinary offering in its buzzing capital. There’s something here to suit all tastes and cravings, serving international and Middle Eastern cuisine. Culture Trip gives you the chance to discover the best places to chow down.

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The Cellar

The Cellar has mastered the Spanish art of tapas, with a selection of delectable Mediterranean bites to while away a balmy evening. There’s an extensive selection of standard fare in full portions for those wanting a square meal on one plate, but it is the tapas selection that makes the Cellar really stand out, with choices such as bite-size whoopie pie, chicken liver pâté with caramelised pear, saffron and parmesan arancini, grilled asparagus with cheese fondue, and grilled salmon with fennel and orange.

Ruby Wu’s

This mini Chinatown, at the Doha Radisson Blu Hotel, serves sizzling beef, moreish dumplings and spicy snapper. Located near the Ramada bars, Ruby Wu’s is the perfect restaurant to sample fine food before enjoying the nightlife. Traditional Chinese dishes are tamed to suit international tastes, so everybody can find something they love. Similar to many other restaurants within international hotels, the quality of food here is of a very high standard, and the licensed bar is well stocked.

Ric’s Kountry Kitchen

Ric’s Kountry Kitchen Doha, Doha

From its name you might think his place is located somewhere rural, but it’s actually bang in the heart of downtown Doha. Not much country about that – but Ric’s does remain faithful to the image and ideals of quality diners so beloved in the United States. What does allow Ric’s to qualify as “country”, perhaps, is the homemade food and a genuinely friendly welcome by the American owners. So if you’re in search of pancakes, T-bone steaks or pillow-soft hamburger buns, you’ve come to the right place.

Mykonos Doha

Mykonos, Doha

This Greek retreat, perched near West Bay in the Intercontinental Hotel, can whisk you away in your imagination to the Greek islands in the time it takes to be handed a menu. Mykonos serves authentic Greek cuisine right on the waterfront, next to the swimming pool, with the sea just a few hundred meters beyond. Here you can enjoy such culinary classics as pittas, moussaka and spinach pastries, as well as sizzling kebabs served with a creamy tzatziki dip.

L’Wzaar Seafood Market

L’wzaar Sea Food Restaurant, Doha

L’Wzaar, on the waterfront in central Doha, allows you to choose your own fresh fish and seafood, which is sold by weight. You can choose to dine at a table overlooking the Persian Gulf, or watch the chefs prepare your meal in the open kitchen. There’s a great range of flavours and cooking styles on offer, and the menu includes fish and chips as well as sushi.

Layali

Often voted Doha’s best Lebanese restaurant in travel reviews, Layali is a delightful cacophony of hummus eating and shisha-smoking in a magical Arabian Nights setting. There’s traditional Lebanese cuisine on offer with live tarab music, complete with oud player. (Tarab, which doesn’t really translate, is the emotion you experience listening to Arabic music.) The dining space is vast, and you are guaranteed a great meal – with the gentle notes of live music complementing the powerful flavours of the cuisine.

Spice Market

Chef Jean-Georges Vongerichten of Spice Market brings Southeast Asia to Doha, with no qualms about flitting between countries, social origins or style of cuisine. From sushi to Thai noodles, Mongolian lamb to salmon tartare, all sorts of Asian delicacies can be found on the menu. Spice Market also offers a brunch menu and themed nights and events on a regular basis.

About the author

After four years of studying French and Hispanic literature in Northern England, the natural move for Claire was to live and work in Paris and put her language skills to good use. She now tends more towards Facebook than Flaubert, and logistics than Latin American poetry, working in community management and awareness-raising for a disability not-for-profit whilst continuing to explore her adoptive city through its bike lanes, running circuits and artistic activities (often of a literally underground nature). Her Anglo-French upbringing and long-term links and loves with Mexico and Kenya means that there is usually food on her mind, and a cake or well-spiced on standby. Whilst her French heritage isn't so obvious in her name, her pastry-fanaticism is, and her insistence on this fact is proof of her first love: puns.

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