Taste JLT, the neighbourhood's first food festival, runs from 29 May to 14 June. Restaurants across the JLT dining scene have put together set menus of their best dishes at a fixed price. All you need to do is show up, and the kitchen decides what you will have. A perfect opportunity to finally discover and explore the best of Dubai's hidden gem restaurants, right in your neighbourhood.
Five hidden gem restaurants worth finding at Taste JLT
1. Hanoi Naturally
The Vietnamese flavour that takes ten hours to make and seconds to finish
Hanoi Naturally has been at Cluster C since 2006, older than most of the towers around it. The room hasn't changed much: green and yellow chairs, wooden benches, Vietnamese portraits on white walls, and the lake just outside. You smell the pho broth that has been building since morning before you've sat down. The regulars know what they're having without the menu.
For just AED 70, the Taste JLT set menu offers two courses that are sure to impress. Experience a lingering depth of flavour, with the aroma of star anise and ginger, achieved through 12 hours of slow cooking. The first sip stops whatever conversation you were having. Minutes later, the bowl is empty. Then, the Vietnamese iced coffee. Sweet, strong, the kind that sets you up for the rest of the afternoon.
Phone: +971 4 431 3099 Taste JLT offer: 2 courses | AED 70 |
2. Not Only Fish
The Pan-Asian kitchen you've been walking past for years
Most people pass Almas Tower on the way to somewhere else. Not Only Fish is on the ground floor with an open kitchen visible from every table and a terrace where the shisha hangs slow in the evenings. With a menu that effortlessly spans Japan, Korea, and Southeast Asia, this culinary journey feels like it has been perfected over many years.
Three courses for AED 145. The kitchen leads with the Truffle Tuna Tacos: tuna, raw and clean, on wonton chips with guacamole and truffle ponzu. You pick one up expecting something bright and citrusy. The ponzu has other plans: earthy, smooth, landing where the citrus should have been. You reach for the second before the first is finished.
Phone: +971 4 554 0707 Taste JLT offer: 3 courses | AED 145 |
3. The Mad Greeks
Greek food that you will go mad for
The Mad Greeks opened in Cluster Q last August and calls itself a fearless Greek fast food brand. The room is loud and bright. The menu reads like the kitchen is genuinely having fun. The food proves it.
For AED 95, the three-course set menu begins with the Smash Burger Pie. The burger made with Wagyu beef and sweet caramelised onions encased in delicate, shattering filo pastry, balanced by sharp cheddar and pickles to cut through the richness. You bite through into something that tastes like a very good burger decided to become Greek and came out better for it. You'll look at each other across the table. The Mad-misu dessert is waiting at the end.
Phone: +971 4 257 0520 Taste JLT offer: 3 courses | AED 95
4. 1762
The deli that catered Dubai before it opened a front door
1762 started as a catering operation in 2010, a group of foodies with a van and a point to make about honest, handcrafted food. The JLT deli, 1762 Stripped, opened at ONE JLT in 2016 and has been there ever since. Industrial interiors, a food lab counter, a green double-decker bus parked outside.
Three courses for AED 89. The salmon bowl is the kind of thing you wish you had one more of. Light, bright, every element earning its place. The brownie that follows takes a turn you don't expect: sea salt cutting through the dark chocolate, rose petals on top. You look at the bowl for a second before you eat it. Then you don't look up until it's finished.
Phone: 800 1762 Taste JLT offer: 3 courses | AED 89
5. Golositalia
Italian food with no frills, no apologies
Golositalia’s setting is ideal for a relaxed weekday afternoon, with closely spaced tables, a leisurely atmosphere, and fresh pasta always on its way. It offers a three-course weekday lunch deal for AED 55, available only from Monday to Friday.
The Aglio Olio is on the set, and it's the dish where simplicity is the whole point: garlic coaxed until nutty rather than sharp, oil coating every strand, chilli working its way through from underneath. Three ingredients, nowhere to hide, and the kitchen doesn't need to. The Sweet of the Day changes daily, which is the one small surprise the place allows itself.
Phone: +971 4 443 4955 Taste JLT offer: 3 courses | AED 55 | Monday to Friday only
How to book
The Taste JLT set menus run from 29 May to 14 June 2026 only. These are festival-exclusive menus, not permanent additions. Booking is made directly with each restaurant by phone or via a reservation platform, and walk-ins are welcome, subject to availability. For menus, pricing, and contact details, visit the Taste JLT food festival page.
Grab your table early
These five were filling their dining rooms long before Taste JLT existed. The festival just gives you the reason to finally walk in, and a deadline that makes it easy to suggest to whoever you've been meaning to go with. Five hidden gem restaurants, five different evenings. A good place to start.
For more on dining across the neighbourhood, explore what's on in JLT.
