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What to eat in Qatar

The 10 best dishes in Qatar

Gulf home cooking: spiced rice, wheat porridges and the stalls of Souq Waqif.

1

Machboos

Eaten all over Qatar

Rice cooked in the stock of lamb or chicken with dried black lime, cardamom and saffron.

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2

Harees

Best: Everywhere in Ramadan

Wheat and meat cooked for hours and beaten smooth, finished with ghee.

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3

Thareed

Best: Everywhere in Ramadan

Thin regag bread layered in a spiced stew of lamb and vegetables.

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4

Balaleet

Eaten all over Qatar

Breakfast of sweet saffron and cardamom vermicelli under a thin omelet.

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5

Luqaimat

Best: Souq Waqif

Little crisp fried dough balls drizzled with date syrup and sesame.

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6A photo like it

Madrouba

Eaten all over Qatar

Rice and chicken cooked and beaten into a creamy, spiced porridge.

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7

Saloona

Eaten all over Qatar

A thin tomato stew of fish or meat with dried lime and baharat.

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8A photo like it

Murabyan

Best: The coast

Rice cooked with shrimp, onion and Gulf spices.

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9

Umm Ali

Eaten all over Qatar

Pastry baked in sweet milk with nuts and raisins, a Gulf favorite from Egypt.

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10

Karak chai

Best: Doha

Strong cardamom milk tea, poured from roadside cafés late into the night.

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Photos: each dish's lead photo on its Wikipedia article (license and author on Wikimedia Commons); "a photo like it" is a food photo of the same kind, not that dish. Cook it opens a recipe in Chef Amazing, or Chef writes one for you. Picked by Chef Amazing, November 2026.