Dubai Restaurant Week returns

Dubai Restaurant Week will run from May 1 to May 17, with more than 125 restaurants offering fixed-price menus across the city. (visitdubai.com) The official event page says lunch menus will be priced at AED 125 and dinner menus at AED 250, with bookings handled through Careem DineOut. (visitdubai.com) (zawya.com) Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment said the 2026 edition spans more than 25 cuisines and includes fine-dining rooms, premium-casual venues and homegrown brands. (zawya.com) (gulfnews.com) The lineup leans heavily on restaurants already validated by guidebooks and rankings. The press release says participating venues include MICHELIN Guide-listed restaurants as well as restaurants recognized by Gault&Millau and MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants. (zawya.com) That matters in Dubai because the city’s fine-dining scene has expanded quickly since Michelin launched its local guide in 2022. Michelin’s 2025 Dubai selection listed 19 starred restaurants, including 14 with one star, three with two stars and two with three stars. (guide.michelin.com) This year’s Restaurant Week also puts celebrity-chef names at the center of the marketing. Dubai Festivals and Retail Establishment named Nobu Matsuhisa, Gordon Ramsay, Alvin Leung and Akira Back among the chefs tied to participating restaurants. (zawya.com) The event is part of the broader Dubai Food Festival calendar rather than a standalone promotion. Visit Dubai lists Dubai Restaurant Week under the city’s food-and-drink events, and local coverage says the 2026 run stretches beyond a traditional seven-day format despite the name. (visitdubai.com) (whatson.ae) For diners, the pitch is simple: access to recognized restaurants at preset prices during a 17-day booking window. For Dubai, it is another test of whether a city built on tourism, hotels and imported chef brands can keep turning restaurant prestige into a repeatable mass-market event. (visitdubai.com) (zawya.com)