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in Al Ain

Dining in Al Ain

Al Ain dines for the Garden City. The UAE's inland fourth-largest city — population 800,000, ninety minutes east of Abu Dhabi — is the country's heritage-and-oasis destination, with the UNESCO World Heritage-listed Al Ain Oasis (the 1,200-hectare working palm-grove that has been continuously farmed for over 4,000 years), the Jebel Hafeet (the 1,249-metre limestone mountain on the Oman border that is the UAE's second-highest peak), and the Sheikh Zayed-birthplace heritage-district that anchors the city's tourism identity. The dining scene is hotel-anchored: the Al Ain Rotana, the Hili Rayhaan by Rotana, the Ayla Hotel, and the Al Ain Palace Hotel hold the upscale fine-dining flagships, while the city's neighbourhood-restaurant scene leans Indian-and-Pakistani-South Asian.

The cuisine spread is the UAE-cosmopolitan: international steakhouse and Polynesian fusion at Trader Vic's Al Ain Rotana (the Al Ain branch of the worldwide Trader Vic's chain that pioneered the tiki-bar format), the Lebanese live-music venues at the Hili Rayhaan, the Italian-Continental at Cellini at the Al Ain Rotana, and the Sunday-Friday brunch programmes at the international all-day-dining venues across the hotel cluster. The city carries the UAE-standard alcohol-licensed-hotel policy: the licensed venues are inside the international-hotel properties only.

The dining map clusters around the hotel cluster between the Al Ain Mall and the Hili Mall — five-to-ten minutes from the city centre. The Al Ain Rotana on Khaleej Al Arabi Street holds Trader Vic's, Min Zaman, Cellini, and Mawal. The Hili Rayhaan by Rotana at the Hili intersection holds Hili Majlis, the all-day Elements buffet, and Min Zaman. The Anantara Qasr Al Sarab (the Empty Quarter desert-resort, ninety minutes south-west of Al Ain) holds Suhail and Al Falaj — these are the proposal-and-honeymoon-tier destinations.

Pair the dinner with one of the post-meal Al Ain set-pieces: the Jebel Hafeet summit drive (the 12-kilometre ascent of the limestone mountain to the 1,249-metre summit; the panoramic UAE-Oman view at sunset is the conventional pre-dinner anchor), the Al Ain Oasis evening walk (the 1,200-hectare working palm-grove with the falaj-irrigation channels), the Al Jahili Fort (the 19th-century Sheikh Zayed-the-First fortification, lit until 10pm), or the Al Ain Camel Market (the world's last-remaining traditional camel-trading souq, open until 9pm). Note the UAE-standard dress code (smart-casual minimum at the hotel-flagships; long pants for men, shoulders-covered-and-knee-length for women), and the alcohol-licence policy (hotel-restaurant only).

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