The Best Bars in Dubai: Where We Like to Drink
Dubai is my home, and judging bars is, in a way, my profession. This city opens a new "world's best" venue every month, but a great bar is not about the opening party; it is about wanting to return on a quiet Tuesday. These are the places I return to.
Galaxy Bar (DIFC)
Walking into Galaxy Bar is like finding a hidden treasure in the DIFC district. This small, cozy room used to be a storage space for a nearby restaurant before Natasha Sideris transformed it in 2019 into something that feels like a starry night in Athens: Greek soul, velvet seats, a marble bar, dark blue and gold everywhere, and a ceiling full of twinkling stars.
The service matches the room. Krystian Hordejuk runs the floor with quiet precision, and Coralie Doillet's cocktails balance creativity and skill in a way that makes the first drink and the nightcap equally memorable. Three consecutive years on The World's 50 Best Bars list tell you this is not just my opinion. If you are anywhere near DIFC after dark, go.
Mimi Kakushi (Four Seasons, Jumeirah Beach Road)
Mimi Kakushi takes you straight to 1920s Osaka: jazz-age Japan, translated into a bar. Opened in 2021 and led by Manja Stankovic, it built a cocktail menu on top-quality Japanese ingredients, and it plays. The signature move: cocktails encased in ice, served with an ice pick so you chip your own drink free. Theatre, but with substance behind it.
The results came fast: a first appearance on the 50 Best list and the title of Best Bar in the Middle East and Africa for 2023. Come for the ice pick, stay for everything else.
This guide grows as Dubai does; new favourites join as they earn their place. Members of the Society hear about them first.
More cities: all my guides live in World's Best Bars & Restaurants. Learn the language of the back bar in the Whisky Vocabulary, and join the Around The Glass Society for the next round.
Exploring more cities? See all my World's Best Bars & Restaurants guides. And to order like you mean it, learn the language of the back bar in the Whisky Vocabulary guide .
