DINING AND ENTERTAINMENT

Qatar has an array of world-class restaurants and night-spots, with something to offer everybody Fun and food for all Hotels in Qatar serve not only their own guests but also cater for a large number of local residents. Their restaurants cover the full range, from coffee shops to fine dining and specialty outlets and the standard of service is on a par with the best in the world. The night-life is equally varied, with many bars, and discos open until the small hours.

Outside the hotels, small eating places are to be found in all parts of Doha. While restaurants located outside hotel and club premises are not permitted to serve alcohol, all are air-conditioned, clean and are often culinary adventures in their own right.

Arabian cuisine

Qatar is an excellent place to sample all types of Gulf and Middle Eastern cuisine, including Iranian and Turkish. However, Arabian food makes up a key part of most buffet services at hotels and restaurants.

Specialties include, beside various green vegetables:

Homous: a dip made from chick-peas and tahini (sesame seeds paste).

Tabbouleh: chopped parsley, mint and crushed wheat.

Motabel: Lightly cooked eggplants mixed with tahini and garlic and made into a paste.

Waraq enab: vine leaves stuffed with rice.

Koussa mahshi: stuffed courgettes.

Ghuzi: a whole roast lamb on a bed of rice mixed with nuts.

Biriani: very sweet smelling spiced rice mixed with lamb or chicken .

Local dishes include:

Matchboos: spiced lamb or chicken with rice.

Harees: a rich delicacy of wheat and tender lamb cooked and beaten until it has the texture of a thick paste. Usually served during the month of Ramadan.

Seafood: you will enjoy fresh fish from the Arabian Gulf and the Gulf of Oman — lobster, cigale, crab, hamour (grouper), shrimp, tuna, kingfish, pomfret and red snapper.

Delicious regional desserts include:

Umm Ali (literally means ‘Mother of Ali’): a type of bread pudding that is full of nuts and white raisins.

Esh asaraya (meaning ‘bread of the harem’): a sweet kind of cheesecake with a cream topping.

Mehalabiya: a pudding sprinkled with rose water and pistachios.

Traditional Snacks

A traditional and very delicious Middle Eastern snack is the showarma which is sold at many small outlets around Doha. It consists of — grilled slices of delicately spiced lamb or chicken, mixed with salad and tahini (mixed with lime juice), some pickles thrown in and rolled inside a pocket of Arabic bread then wrapped in a wafer thin paper.

Doha has also countless cheap, cheerful and clean restaurants that serve quality food. For around QR20 you can enjoy Arabian grills, local fish, local sweet desserts and coffee.

There are also numerous juice bars where visitors can buy a fresh juice cocktail or a milkshake.

International Cuisine

Standards of international cuisine in Doha are high and the choice is wide. Top class western restaurants in the city’s hotels include French, Italian, Swiss, Spanish, Greek, British and American.

Asia is equally well represented at the hotels and at numerous outlets throughout the city with many fine Indian, Chinese, Japanese, Thai, Filipino and Korean restaurants.

International theme restaurants such as Ponderosa, Bennigan’s and Fuddruckers have all now opened in Doha.

International fast food chains are also represented by such names as McDonald’s, Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pizza Hut, Pizza Inn, Taco Bell, AFC, A&W, Burger King, Hardee’s, Dairy Queen and Al Tazaj Fakieh.

Night-life

Doha has many lively after-dark scenes. Hotel bars range from sophisticated cocktail lounges to typically informal Western-style bars. Most of them serve food and many feature live bands nightly.

After-dinner revelers can dance to the latest sounds in a number of hotel discos, each with their own ambience and the best of DJs around.

Doha is also increasingly attracting top names from the world of entertainment. These include popular singers and entertainers from both West and East.

Stage plays from London tour regularly, as do major dance groups from Europe and Asia.