The 22 Best Bars in the United Arab Emirates

Mimi Kakushi

Mimi Kakushi opened in March 2021 in the Restaurant Village of the Four Seasons Resort on Jumeirah Beach Road, a Japanese restaurant and bar that draws on 1920s Osaka, the Mavo movement and the Japanese avant-garde. Its name, which translates as covering ears, comes from a bob hairstyle introduced in 1922. The signature Nara Nara Martini is batched, frozen inside a block of ice, carved out at the table and poured at minus 20°C. It is No. 42 on The 50 Best Bars 2026 and The Best Bar in the Middle East 2026, after No. 40 on The World's 50 Best Bars in 2023 and 2024 and No. 36 in 2025.

LPM Dubai

LPM Dubai sits in Gate Village 08 in DIFC, reached past olive trees and lavender onto a terrace lined with bougainvillea, and its bar runs along nearly a whole wall of the restaurant. The mood is the Côte d'Azur: the Déjà Vu cocktail menu is set on the French Riviera between the 1950s and the 1990s, with drinks such as the Pétanque and the Birkin. The house's most famous drink is the Tomatini, which gets its own World Tomatini Day every November 12. The bar opens daily from noon to 1am. It placed No. 76 on the World's 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2024 and No. 60 in 2025, and it is No. 58 on The 50 Best Bars 51-100 list in 2026 51-100 list.

Galaxy Bar

Galaxy Bar opened in 2019 in Gate Village Building 9 in DIFC, a concept from the Greek-South African restaurateur Natasha Sideris that celebrates her Greek roots. Its vaulted ceiling twinkles like the Athenian night sky above midnight-blue velvet and suede seats and an arched bar of Lemurian-blue stone. A partnership with Metaxa runs through the cocktails, and the current menu is a tribute to the disco era, with drinks named for disco songs, among them Disco Inferno with mezcal and pistachio. Beverage director Krystian Hordejuk wrote the guidebook The Cigar Diary. Galaxy Bar won the One to Watch Award at The World's 50 Best Bars 2020, was No. 67 on the 51-100 list that year, then placed No. 45 in 2021 and 2022 and No. 50 in 2023.

Zuma

Zuma opened in Dubai's Gate Village in 2008 and built its bar into a destination in its own right, a high-energy square counter that keeps the room in view from every seat, with DJs and live musicians every night. The bar keeps its own hours, running daily until 2am and well past the kitchen, around Japanese-accented signatures such as the Zuma Highball on Hibiki Harmony, umeshu and yuzu, and a Japanese Old Fashioned built on Nikka From The Barrel. It was named the Best Bar in the Middle East and Africa in 2020 and ranked as high as No. 17 on The World's 50 Best Bars across a run from 2020 to 2022.

Salmon Guru

Salmon Guru Dubai is the first project outside Spain for Diego Cabrera, whose original bar opened in Madrid in 2016. Cabrera designed the Dubai room himself, in The Opus by Omniyat in Business Bay, and it mixes three moods: an Asian night market, a comic-book corner and a 1960s tropical speakeasy, with neon signs and exposed brick. Drinks arrive in glasses shaped like frogs, lotus flowers and fish, and the menu pairs Madrid signatures with cocktails made only for the Middle East. Cabrera opened it in 2022 with Elements Hospitality. The name refers to the salmon that swims against the current, and the weekend brings a Saturday brunch and DJs.

Blind Tiger

Blind Tiger opened in November 2022 at Jumeirah Al Naseem, a speakeasy named after a Prohibition-era term for an illicit bar. There is no sign outside: the room is reached across a bridge and up a staircase, and inside it is styled on the 1920s, with chinoiserie wallpaper, blue wood paneling and framed mirrors on the ceiling, plus views over Turtle Lagoon and its turtle rehabilitation project. The cocktails sit alongside an extensive whisky list and cigars. A resident DJ plays, with live music on some nights.

Honeycomb Hi-Fi

Honeycomb Hi-Fi, on level 2 of the Pullman Dubai Downtown in Business Bay, opened in late 2022 as the Middle East's first listening bar. A working record shop fronts the room, and guests go in through a movable wall. Inside, perforated wooden panels shaped like a honeycomb surround the region's first Devon Turnbull Ojas sound system, which carries weekly DJ sets and listening sessions. VKD Hospitality created it with creative director Serge Becker, and chef Matt Abergel of Hong Kong's Yardbird and Ronin wrote the izakaya menu. The drinks lean on sake, shochu and Japanese flavors, such as the High Note with junmai sake, sesame and cucumber. After 10pm every guest must be 21 and show a physical ID.

1920

1920 opened in 2025 high up in ICD Brookfield Place in DIFC, on its 52nd floor, a speakeasy named for the Prohibition decade and styled on its glamour. The Barcelona-based designer Lázaro Rosa-Violán designed it with an onyx bar, a tall mural of handmade Spanish ceramic tiles assembled piece by piece on site, and floor-to-ceiling windows over Downtown Dubai. The drinks list sets Twenties-inspired creations beside rare labels, with speakeasy bites and a cigar menu. Evenings begin with sunset sessions and build toward live music and vinyl DJ sets. The dress code is smart-elegant, so leave sportswear, beachwear, shorts and caps at home, and it opens Tuesday to Saturday from 5:30pm.

Clap / Ongaku

Clap Dubai is a Japanese restaurant on level 9 of Gate Village Building 11 in DIFC, the largest rooftop restaurant in the district, with a 180-degree terrace that looks toward the Burj Khalifa. Its bar is the centerpiece of the room and takes its cue from Tokyo nightlife, with drinks such as the Nippon Sangria of junmai sake, rooibos, Lillet Rosé and Italicus. Behind a discreet red door is Ongaku, Japanese for music, a speakeasy where DJs and live performers play against views of Emirates Towers and the Museum of the Future. Ongaku opens Tuesday to Saturday from 8pm, with dinner first and bottle service from 11pm. Clap asks for smart casual dress, Ongaku for smart elegant.

The Bvlgari Bar

The Bvlgari Bar sits in Bvlgari Resort Dubai on Jumeira Bay Island, sharing a seaside space with Il Ristorante – Niko Romito. The brand's signature oval bar comes here in shiny chrome, with guests facing each other under chandeliers shaped like the Bvlgari logo and the Arabian Gulf beyond. House creations include It's a Date, an Old Fashioned with dates, Amaro Lucano and aged balsamic, and the Classic Collection opens with a Negroni of The Botanist gin, four vermouths and Campari. Bar bites such as supplì run until 12:30am, and the bar is open daily from 5pm to 2am. It was No. 50 on The World's 50 Best Bars 2022 and on the 51-100 list in 2021.

Saikindō

Saikindō is a Japanese hi-fi listening bar at Four Seasons Hotel Abu Dhabi on Al Maryah Island, opened in November 2025. Its debut menu, Aji No Hibiki, arrives as a double-sleeve vinyl: twelve cocktails, each named after a song.

Library Bar

Level 43 Sky Lounge

A rooftop bar and restaurant occupying the upper floors of the Four Points by Sheraton on Sheikh Zayed Road. It serves signature cocktails and a globally influenced food menu, with open-air terraces overlooking the Dubai skyline, and programs live entertainment on an evening-only schedule.

Monkey Bar

A rooftop bar at the 25hours Hotel One Central, with views towards the Museum of the Future. The drinks list centers on craft cocktails drawing on tiki and classic styles, alongside a kitchen serving Latin American and Nikkei-influenced dishes. A separate pool bar operates with its own menus.

Amelia

Moonshine Dubai

Dragon's Tooth

Dragon's Tooth is a speakeasy inside Rosewood Abu Dhabi, entered through the Tea Room of the Dai Pai Dong restaurant. The room is glamorous and secretive, and the bar menu is long and Asian-inspired. On Thursday and Friday evenings, Tales of the Orient pairs live storytelling with themed cocktails and dim sum.

Perlage

Perlage is a champagne bar at The Galleria on Al Maryah Island, done in deep reds with platinum accents, plush velvet banquettes and low lighting. The menu is built around bespoke champagne cocktails, mixed at the bar by a team in street-inspired uniforms. Guests enter through Flamingo Room or from the Rosewood hotel, and the bar runs late into the night.

Hidden Bar

Hidden Bar is a small cocktail lounge inside Rosewood Abu Dhabi on Al Maryah Island, with a curated gin collection and vermouths infused in house. The bartenders mix bespoke drinks, either classic or more daring, and there are menus built around reworked Negronis and gin. Every evening from 5pm to 7pm a sundowner hour pairs drinks with small canapés and views over the water.

La Cava

La Cava is the wine lounge of Rosewood Abu Dhabi on Al Maryah Island, an underground room that What's On describes as candlelit, with walls lined with more than 1,000 labels. The hotel pitches it as a hidden world of aged vintages and Spanish flair, and the menu adds fire-grilled prime cuts to go with the wine. A sommelier leads a monthly tasting series that puts a new wine region in the spotlight each time, and the hotel's cigar lounge hosts The Whiskey Chronicles, a series of single malts and blends. A whisky and cigar menu sits beside the wine list and the wines by the glass.

The Manhattan Lounge

The Manhattan Lounge is the lounge bar of The St. Regis Saadiyat Island Resort, with seats inside at the bar or out on a terrace that looks over the resort toward the sea. The room takes its cue from the 1920s, with glowing chandeliers and oil paintings of desert scenes. Bartenders in white suits work through house creations and the classics. The hotel's take on the Bloody Mary here is the Arabian Snapper, made with zaatar, and the bar calls itself its home. The lounge hosts live jazz and sabers a bottle of champagne every evening at dusk, and the kitchen goes beyond bar snacks to plates such as a charred beef ribeye.

GABA

GABA is a cocktail bar in Dubai, UAE. Discover it on BarMagazine, the global bar directory.