A new season always brings a fresh appetite – and Qatar’s dining scene is already setting the table for what’s next. Across the country, chefs are unveiling new menus, restaurants are opening their doors and familiar favourites are returning with a twist.
And what better way to celebrate this spirit of change than by looking outward? In this issue, we turn the spotlight on global cuisines – exploring their stories, quirks and flavours, and where to experience them here at home.
Consider it your guide to the tastes shaping the season ahead.

Chinese

Steaming baskets of dim sum, the crisp skin of Peking duck, the fiery sting of Sichuan pepper… Chinese food is a performance of flavours. With more than 5,000 years of history, it has developed into a collection of regional ‘dialects’, each with its own flavour and rhythm. Cantonese favours subtlety, Sichuan leans into heat, Hunan celebrates boldness – together forming one of the richest culinary traditions in the world.

Fun fact: The traditional Chinese wok is more than 2,000 years old. Its curved design wasn’t just about cooking speed – it also conserved precious fuel, making it an early example of sustainable kitchen innovation.
Flavour Profile: Layered and complex.
Find It Here: Hakkasan, Liang, Miss Wong

Indian

A biryani perfumed with saffron, a crisp dosa folded around spiced potatoes, the indulgence of butter chicken… India cooks in technicolour. Regional kitchens speak in different accents: tandoors blazing in the north, coconut-rich curries in the south, fiery seafood in the west, mustard-oil stews in the east. At the centre is spice, not just for heat, but for architecture. Cumin adds warmth, cardamom perfume, turmeric earthiness, chilli fire. Layered with precision, they build flavours that linger long after the bite. And with the world’s largest vegetarian population, India has also elevated vegetables into an art form as sophisticated as any fine-dining plate.

Fun fact: Chillies, now central to Indian cooking, only arrived in the 16th century via Portuguese traders. Before that, black pepper was the country’s king of spice.
Flavour Profile: Bold, aromatic, layered with spice.
Find It Here: Bombay Balti, Jamavar Doha, Jwala

International

A wagyu burger with kimchi. Sushi topped with truffles. A steak dressed with Middle Eastern spices. International dining is where chefs colour beyond the lines. Doha, with its cosmopolitan pulse, embraces this spirit fully – restaurants here are playgrounds for chefs to experiment, fuse and reinvent. And there are no borders on the plate. Comfort food sits alongside haute cuisine, indulgence pairs with innovation. It’s the freedom to order pasta, sashimi and a burger in one sitting, and have it make perfect sense.

Fun fact: The Caesar salad wasn’t created in Italy or America, but in Mexico – by an Italian chef (Caesar Cardini).
Flavour Profile: Eclectic, innovative, ever-popular.
Find It Here: Souk Kitchen, Farmhouse, Boho Social Restaurant & Café

Iranian

Picture a mound of golden saffron rice, finished with a crisp crust of tahdig, next to a fragrant stew of herbs and lamb. Iranian food is a dialogue between history and hospitality, elegant, abundant and deeply poetic. Sweet meets savoury as rosewater, pomegranate and dried fruit weave into rich stews and kebabs, creating flavours both surprising and harmonious. Meals are designed to be generous, dishes layered with herbs, nuts and spices. At the heart of it all, rice is never plain, always perfumed, always sculpted, always shared.

Fun fact: The crunchy base of rice, tahdig, is considered the best part of the meal, so loved that families often add potatoes or bread to make more of it.
Flavour Profile: Fragrant, savoury, with floral and fruity notes.
Find It Here: Parisa, Divan, Parseh Restaurant

Italian

A blistered Neapolitan pizza, a bowl of risotto stirred slowly in Tuscany, seafood tossed with lemon on the Sicilian coast: Italy cooks with simplicity and soul. It’s a cuisine where a handful of ingredients – tomato, garlic, basil, olive oil – are enough to create perfection. And yet within that simplicity lies a universe of abundance: hundreds of pasta shapes, dozens of olive oils, regional cheeses and grapes so distinctive they’ve become cultural emblems.

Fun fact: Italy has more than 600 different pasta shapes, each designed to hold a specific type of sauce or ingredient pairing.
Flavour Profile: Rustic, hearty, aromatic.
Find It Here: Cecconi’s, Dante Cucina Italiana, Lucia’s

Japanese

Spring brings cherry-blossom bento. Autumn arrives with matsutake mushrooms. Japan cooks in seasons, and every plate is a reflection of nature’s rhythm. Sushi and sashimi may be global icons, but the soul of Japanese dining lies in balance: the comfort of ramen, the refinement of kaiseki, the fire-kissed flavour of yakitori. At the core is umami – the elusive ‘fifth taste’, first identified by Japanese scientists but known instinctively for centuries. Found in miso, soy sauce and seaweed, it gives dishes their depth, quiet power and lingering richness.

Fun fact: Sushi began as narezushi, a preservation method involving fermented fish in rice, before evolving into fresh sushi.
Flavour Profile: Clean, subtle, umami-driven.
Find It Here: Morimoto Doha, Sora Rooftop, Nobu

Lebanese

Lebanese food is generosity made visible. Tables overflow with mezze – bowls of hummus, smoky baba ghanoush, fresh green tabbouleh and crisp falafel – encouraging diners to share, talk and linger. Meals often stretch into celebrations, where food is not just nourishment but the language of hospitality. It’s bright, herbaceous and layered with citrus, olive oil and spices, the flavours of the Mediterranean meeting the soul of the Middle East.

Fun fact: The word mezze comes from the Persian mazze, meaning ‘taste’. A nod to the tradition of sampling many small dishes rather than focussing on one.
Flavour Profile: Fresh, tangy, aromatic.
Find It Here: Em Sherif Restaurant, Babel Qatar, Burj Al-Hamam

Mediterranean

The scent of oregano on grilled fish, tomatoes bursting with ripeness, olive oil poured generously – Mediterranean food is summer you can taste. It’s drawn from a dozen cultures that ring the sea, yet united by a devotion to fresh, seasonal ingredients. Greek salad, Turkish dolma, Spanish paella – all dishes prove flavour doesn’t need complexity to shine. Doctors may present it as the world’s healthiest diet, but those who eat it know the real secret: it’s also one of the most joyful.

Fun fact: Olive trees in the Mediterranean can live for more than 2,000 years and still produce fruit.
Flavour Profile: Fresh, herbaceous, sun-soaked.
Find It Here: IZU, AKTE Pier 51, Baron Doha

Latin American

Latin American cuisine is a story of fusion: indigenous roots blending with European, African and later global influences. Across the continent, maize, beans, rice and plantains form the backbone of everyday meals, transformed into everything from Brazil’s feijoada and Argentina’s empanadas to Peru’s ceviche and Mexico’s moles. Each region adds its own accent: tropical fruits in the Caribbean, smoky chillies in Mexico, fresh seafood along the Pacific coast, and rich grilled meats in the southern pampas.

Fun fact: Quinoa was once called the ‘mother of all grains’ by the Inca, who cultivated it high in the Andes more than 5,000 years ago.
Flavour Profile: Diverse, deeply layered.
Find It Here: Isla Mexican Kitchen, La Mar Doha by Gastón Acurio, MURU

Middle Eastern & North African

Middle Eastern and North African cuisine is storytelling through spice. It’s the aroma of cumin drifting from a tagine in Morocco, the scent of cardamom rising from a pot of Arabian coffee, the smoky perfume of shawarma sizzling over hot coals. This is food that has been shaped by centuries of trade and migration, blending influences from Persia, the Levant and the Maghreb into one of the world’s richest culinary tapestries. It’s a cuisine of balance: grains softened with yogurt, grilled meats paired with fresh salads, slow-cooked stews lifted by dried fruit and nuts. And it’s deeply social, designed for communal tables, laden with abundance.

Fun fact: Couscous is so central to Maghreb culture that in 2020 it was added to UNESCO’s list of Intangible Cultural Heritage.
Flavour Profile: Earthy, aromatic, warmly spiced.
Find It Here: ARGAN, Acacia Restaurant, SMAT

North American

North American cuisine is comfort food on a grand scale. Born of indigenous traditions, enriched by waves of immigration, and sharpened by regional pride, it embraces abundance. Think burgers melting with cheese, smoky barbecue from the Deep South, poutine drenched in gravy or the crisp crunch of fried chicken. It’s hearty, bold and unapologetically satisfying. It’s a cuisine of invention, too – the birthplace of diners, food trucks and fast food. Yet at its best, it’s about generosity: food that fills you up, comforts you and makes you feel at home.

Fun fact: Canada’s national dish, poutine (fries topped with cheese curds and gravy), was invented in rural Quebec in the late 1950s and has since become a global comfort food.
Flavour Profile: Hearty, savoury, indulgent.
Find It Here: Burger Boutique, Hudson Tavern, Electric Diner

Southeast Asian

Southeast Asia’s food culture is built on contrasts and balance. In Vietnam, pho simmers with herbs and spices; in Thailand, pad Thai combines noodles, peanuts and lime; Malaysia is known for smoky satay skewers; and Indonesia serves plates of nasi goreng fried rice. Across the region, the foundations remain the same: fresh herbs, bold seasoning and the play of sweet, sour, salty and spicy in every bite. Street food is central to daily life – quick, affordable and full of flavour – but the same principles guide restaurant dining, where tradition meets modern technique.

Fun fact: Fish sauce, the backbone of many Southeast Asian dishes, has been made for thousands of years – ancient Romans had their own version called garum.
Flavour Profile: Zesty, spicy, herb-driven.
Find It Here: Spice Market, The Asian Kitchen, DestinAsian Brunch

Thai

Thai food is all about balance. Each dish brings flavours into harmony: coconut-rich curries lifted by chilli heat or tom yum soup where lime and lemongrass meet the depth of galangal. On Bangkok’s streets, pad Thai is stirred quickly in hot woks, skewers char over coals and mango sticky rice is handed out in simple parcels. It’s a cuisine rooted in energy and immediacy, but also in elegance: centuries-old royal recipes show a more refined side, where the same flavours are arranged with precision and care.

Fun fact: Pad Thai was introduced in the 1930s to promote rice noodles during a national shortage. Now it’s one of the world’s favourite dishes.
Flavour Profile: Sweet, sour, spicy.
Find It Here: Benjarong, Isaan, Jasmine Thai Restaurant

Traditional (Qatari)

Qatari food is a reflection of desert traditions shaped by the sea. For centuries, pearl divers and Bedouins relied on simple, sustaining meals built around rice, dates, seafood and lamb, still at the heart of the cuisine today. The national dish, machboos, is a fragrant rice dish often spiced with cardamom, cinnamon and dried limes, slow-cooked with meat or fish. Another favourite is margooga, where bread is torn and simmered into a stew of vegetables and meat. Sweet breakfasts like balaleet (vermicelli with eggs) and desserts such as luqaimat (fried dough drizzled with date syrup) showcase the Qatari love of combining sweet and savoury. Above all, food here is about hospitality: a guest is always welcomed with Arabic coffee (gahwa) poured into small cups and a plate of fresh dates.

Fun fact: In Qatar, dates are more than just a fruit. They’re a symbol of welcome, traditionally served with Arabic coffee (gahwa) to guests as a gesture of hospitality.
Flavour Profile: Aromatic, spiced, hearty.
Find It Here: Jiwan Restaurant, Saasna, Bayt Sharq

Turkish

Platters of mezze crowd the table: hummus, stuffed vine leaves, smoky aubergine dips. Skewers of lamb char on the grill, pide flatbreads emerge from wood ovens and trays of baklava glisten with syrup. This is Turkish dining: abundant, diverse, generous. And every region adds its own notes. Istanbul leans on seafood from the Bosphorus, Anatolia brings slow-braised stews, the southeast is famous for fiery spices. Yogurt runs through it all, cooling and complementing, while fresh bread is considered essential, baked daily, eaten with everything.

Fun fact: The world’s first coffeehouse is believed to have opened in Istanbul (then Constantinople) in the 16th century, making Turkey central to the global coffee culture.
Flavour Profile: Savoury, aromatic, indulgent.
Find It Here: FIKO, Sazeli Qatar, Sukar Pasha Ottoman Lounge