The best vegetarian restaurants in Dubai might not be what you are expecting. In fact they’re nearly the same as the top restaurants in Dubai overall. Think La Serre and Zuma, for example.
At least those are two of the favourites of former lawyer Sumati Menda, a lifelong vegetarian and founder of vegetarian restaurant rating site veggiebuzz.com.
If you’re a food blogger hoping to turn your site into a review platform, sorry: Menda has beaten you to the punch. In the ever-growing space dedicated to discussion of food online, she has found a slot advising would-be vegetarian diners and encouraging them to advise others.
“I love to travel, and have eaten at a variety of restaurants the world over, from Michelin-starred restaurants to hole-in-the-wall joints, and just about everything in between. My top priority has always been to seek out delicious vegetarian food, without being limited to vegetarian-only restaurants,” she says.
After starting a blog on her favourite vegetarian options for dining out, and adding recipes, she opened it up to other users in October, listing all veggie-friendly restaurants in Dubai and Abu Dhabi and their most popular veggie options and vegetarian menus.
Similar to other options such as Zomato, users “can post their own reviews, ratings, favourite veggie dishes at a restaurant, and recipes”. Restaurants can also update and submit listings. Menda says her team screens users, while review content is checked and verified before publishing on the site, to ensure it’s authentic.
For fine dining, Menda recommends La Serre Bistro & Boulangerie’s tomato and mozzarella tortelli; the spinach, chestnut and date gyoza at Zuma; and the Italian beef tomato with burrata (a super-creamy mozzarella-style cheese) at Marina Social.
At the other end of the scale, “I regularly frequent Al Halab for Lebanese food. I love a falafel sandwich at Al Mallah and a veggie burger at The Counter. Another one of my favourites is Busaba [Eathai] at The Beach Dubai.”
“A good restaurant should have enough vegetarian options to create a substantial meal for one person,” she says. “However, if there is enough delicious variety for at least three vegetarians dining together, then we consider that to be a really veggie-friendly restaurant.”
