The Restaurant 40: The Middle East

How the Restaurant charts are ranked

Every month, each restaurant gets a score out of 100:

• 45% people who've been. Chef Amazing members who have eaten there, each counted once at their best: loved it or 5 stars counts 3, 4 stars counts 2, been counts 1. A friend's suggestion they haven't been to doesn't count, and neither do guests. It only starts to count once 3 or more different members have been, so one keen fan can't move a restaurant.
• 35% the critics. Chef's read of what the independent critics agree on: national guides, newspaper and magazine critics, local best-of lists, not any one award. Where we have read 4 or more reviews of a place ourselves, the share of them that liked it is 30% of this part.
• 20% Chef's read. The food, how consistent it is, and whether it's worth the trip.

People who've eaten there count for more than critics. Nobody pays to be on a chart, and we don't count ads, followers or anything else money can buy.

The October 2026 chart is the first. No restaurant has 3 members yet, so the critics and Chef carry it; from November 1 the people who've been start to move it. Ties go to the higher critics' read.

The World is the top 100 of every region together. Latin America prints 50, the Middle East 40, Africa 30 and Oceania 25: we'd rather print fewer we trust than pad a list to 100.

Before the first chart we checked the places most likely to have closed or changed and took seven off (Noma's regular service has ended, Ultraviolet and Manresa closed, and others changed chefs or are in trouble). If a place on a chart has closed or changed, write to hello@chefamazing.com and it comes off.