Cosmopolitan and bustling, Abu Dhabi has an excellent and ever increasing variety of restaurants. From Morrocan to Mexican, Indian to Italian and everything in between, there really is something to suit every palate and budget. Most places open early in the evening at around 19:00, but generally aren't busy until about 21:00.

In addition to dining out, dining in with a takeaway is also very popular to the extent that you may wonder if anyone in Abu Dhabi even knows hot to cook!

Most of Abu Dhabi's popular restraunts are in hotels and these are pretty much the only outlets that can serve alcohol with your meal. However, there are quite a number of unlicensed independant restraunts throughout town, which are superb so, shouldn't be ignored. The food in some of these places could pleasantly surpass your expectations. Options are diverse, from a choice of Emirati food in an authentic, ancient village setting, to seafood on a traditional floating dhow or a more upmarket yacht.

Quite a few resteraunts specialise in more than one style of cuisine, for instance, an Indian resteraunt may also server Thai and Chinese food. In addition, many places promote theme nights with different types of cuisine or ingredients, such as Italian or seafood, allowing you to sample some truly international cuisine. This way, the choice of what you can eat dramatically increases. Many resteraunts have weekly buffet nights where you can eat as much as you like for an all inclusive price providing good value for money.