Inside Awani: Dubai's Most Celebrated Middle Eastern Dining Experience

Most Middle Eastern dining and restaurants give you food. Awani takes you somewhere.

Dubai has more Middle Eastern restaurants than any city should need and somehow still not enough good ones. The category is enormous, the competition is relentless, and the diners who care most about it - the ones who grew up eating this food and know immediately when something is off - are also the hardest to impress.

Awani impresses them.

Described simply and accurately as a Middle Eastern journey, Awani pays homage to the rich culinary heritage of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine - four countries whose food traditions have shaped how an entire region eats, and whose flavours most Dubai residents either grew up with or fell in love with after arriving here. Every dish is crafted daily from fresh, high-quality ingredients. The interiors are warm, considered, and beautiful. The atmosphere is the kind that makes a Tuesday dinner feel like an occasion.

With locations across Dubai, Abu Dhabi, and Saudi Arabia, and a menu that reads like a love letter to the Levant, Awani has become one of the UAE's most respected homegrown Middle Eastern dining destinations - and one of the most consistently worth visiting regardless of which location you choose.

Awani is part of the Kitopi family - the UAE-born hospitality group dedicated to building homegrown brands from the region, for the region.

What is Awani?

Awani is a distinguished Middle Eastern restaurant concept celebrating the authentic cuisine of the Levant - drawing specifically from the culinary traditions of Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, and Palestine. The menu spans mezze, grills, slow-cooked heritage dishes, modern Levantine creations, shawarma, manakish, and breakfast - all prepared daily from fresh ingredients, with a kitchen that takes both tradition and craft seriously.

The brand calls itself a journey, and the menu earns that description. Sitting at an Awani table, you move between dishes rooted in Jordanian celebration cooking, Syrian home kitchens, Lebanese street food, Palestinian heritage recipes, and Gulf classics - all presented with the kind of care that makes the cultural breadth feel coherent rather than scattered.

Where flavour meets tradition. Every visit, at every location.

What to order at Awani

Wagyu Shawarma Beetroot Rice - beef tenderloin shawarma served over vivid beetroot-stained rice. The dish that stops the table mid-conversation when it arrives -visually striking, deeply flavoured, and a perfect example of what Awani does better than almost anyone else: take a beloved regional format and make it feel entirely new.

Jordanian Mansaf - slow-cooked lamb on turmeric rice with dry fermented yoghurt. One of the most culturally significant dishes in Levantine cuisine, and one that most restaurants don't attempt because doing it properly is hard. Awani does it properly. If you want to understand what "paying homage to culinary heritage" actually means at this restaurant, order this.

Kebab Iskander - Awani's signature grilled kebab laid on layers of crispy bread, covered with yoghurt and the chef's special tomato sauce. A classic that Awani makes entirely its own - rich, layered, and the kind of dish that makes you eat slowly because finishing feels like a loss.

Awani Ravioli - spinach ravioli filled with minced meat and pine nuts in a warm creamy yoghurt sauce. The dish that surprises people most on first visit and becomes a signature order on every visit after. Modern technique, deeply regional flavour. One of the most talked-about items on the menu.

Ras Asfour Pesto - baby veal with sautéed mushrooms in creamy pesto finished with Parmesan and pine nuts. The alternative for anyone who wants the same quality of protein with a different flavour direction - and proof that Awani's kitchen moves between traditions without losing its identity.

Romaniyye - lentil stew with eggplant, pomegranate juice, dill, and cumin, finished with crispy onions and pomegranate seeds. One of the most underrated dishes on the menu and one of the most deeply rooted in Levantine home cooking. The pomegranate-and-cumin combination is the flavour you'll still be thinking about the next day.

Fish Siyadieh - marinated roasted fish over spiced rice with caramelised onions and lemon. A Levantine coastal classic, presented with care.

The settings: five Dubai locations and beyond

Awani doesn't have one home —-it has several, each with its own energy and its own reason to visit.

JBR The Jumeirah Beach Residence waterfront, the late afternoon light, the energy of the walk - the location adds a dimension that the food would be excellent without, and exceptional with.

Dubai Hills Mall brings Awani's warm interiors and considered menu to one of Dubai's most active residential communities - the neighbourhood restaurant that happens to be one of the city's best Middle Eastern dining destinations.

Marina Mall puts Awani at the heart of one of Dubai's most iconic waterfront destinations - another setting where the surroundings amplify what the kitchen already delivers.

Dubai Mall brings Awani to the city's most visited destination - accessible, central, and the right answer for visitors and residents alike who want the best of Levantine dining without leaving the world's most famous mall. Espically with the Dubai Fountains view

Meadows Souk - a community-focused format for one of Dubai's most established residential neighbourhoods.

Marsa Al Bateen, Abu Dhabi - Awani's Abu Dhabi presence, bringing the same quality and ethos to the capital.