Qatar Food Guide

The short version

Two things are going on at once. There is Qatari home cooking, which is a Gulf cuisine of spiced rice, slow-cooked meat and fish from the same waters the pearling boats used. And there is a restaurant scene shaped by the fact that most people living in Qatar came from somewhere else, which makes it one of the easier places in the world to eat South Asian, Levantine, Iranian or Filipino food extremely well.

What to eat

Machboos is the dish to start with: spiced rice cooked with meat or fish, loomi, the dried lime that gives Gulf cooking its sour edge, and a warm spice mix. Harees, wheat and meat cooked down for hours into something between a porridge and a stew, appears especially during Ramadan. Balaleet, sweet vermicelli under a savoury omelette, is breakfast and is stranger and better than it sounds.

Fish is the thing not to skip. Hammour is the one on every menu, grilled simply and eaten with rice and lime.

Coffee and dates, and why they come first

Gahwa, cardamom coffee, poured from a long-spouted pot into a small cup, with dates alongside. It arrives before anything else happens, in homes, in shops and at the end of meals. Accept the first cup. Shake the cup gently side to side when you have had enough, which is the signal; setting it down does not stop the pouring.

Practicalities

Restaurants run late, because the heat shifts the whole day. Alcohol is served only in licensed hotels, restaurants and bars; elsewhere the default is fresh juice, mint lemonade and tea, which the country does extremely well. During Ramadan, daytime eating and drinking in public is restricted and the evening meal becomes the event of the day.

Verify Before You Travel

The alcohol licensing rules are set out on the FCDO safety and security page. Next: culture and etiquette and festivals and celebrations.

Sources

• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Qatar safety and security: the alcohol licensing rules, the drugs position, photography consent and the law on relationships outside marriage. Accessed 15 September 2026.
• UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office: Qatar travel advice: the FCDO issues no advisory against travel to any part of Qatar. Accessed 15 September 2026.