Bu Qtair

Fish by the Harbour

4 of 5

Drive past the glass towers and the beach clubs and you reach a fishing harbor in Umm Suqeim where Dubai still eats off plastic tables. Bu Qtair is a seafood cafeteria by the water, rated 4.2 by hundreds of visitors on TripAdvisor and loved by many more who do not post. It is not fancy. It is the opposite of fancy, and that is the draw.

The deal is simple. Fresh fish and prawns, cooked in the kitchen, served with bread and sauces, eaten with your hands. Ask what came off the boats and order that. A budget-friendly bill is part of the pleasure, so bring cash, since visitors say that is all they take. The setting is a harbor, which means wind, salt and the sound of working boats.

I trust a place like this more than a chef with a publicist. The cooks here are frying fish for hungry people, and nobody is performing. Go early, expect a wait, and take your plate toward the sea. Dubai has plenty of places to be seen. This is where you go to eat. Bring wet wipes, an appetite and a little patience. Dubai has built a thousand restaurants with views. This one just happens to have a harbor outside the door, as it always has.

Order this: The day's fried fish, Prawns, Flatbread on the side
The damage: $
Go: Dinner, early, before the fish runs out
Find it: Old 32B Street, Fishing Harbour 2, Umm Suqeim 2, Dubai