Restaurants · Our pick in Riyadh
Eating in Riyadh: kabsa, qahwa and the new Saudi table
The back story
About Eating in Riyadh: kabsa, qahwa and the new Saudi table
Riyadh eats late and it eats well. The first MICHELIN Guide for Saudi Arabia, published in 2026, gave seven Riyadh restaurants a Bib Gourmand, and four of them cook Saudi food: Najd Village, Fi Glbak, Mirzam and Tameesa. Around them sit the city’s grand tables, from Daniel Boulud’s Café Boulud and Julien in the Four Seasons to The Globe in the golden sphere of Al Faisaliah, Hōchō at Via Riyadh and Il Baretto and Benoit in KAFD; in Diriyah, the restaurants of Bujairi Terrace look across the wadi to the mud-brick walls of At-Turaif. Saudi Arabia serves no alcohol, so the drinks list is mocktails, juices and coffee; MICHELIN gave Il Baretto its Exceptional Mocktail Award.
Saudi kitchens
Najd Village on Al Takhassusi, Fi Glbak in Al Mohammadiyyah, Mirzam at Takamul Plaza and Tameesa and Aseeb in Al Yasmin.
Photo Credit
Image courtesy of © Francisco Anzola · CC BY 2.0 via Wikimedia CommonsBib Gourmand
The seven Bib Gourmands of 2026: KAYZŌ, Em Sherif Café, Fi Glbak, Mirzam, Najd Village, Sasani and Tameesa.
Book a Saudi table for your first night, and keep Bujairi Terrace for the evening you visit At-Turaif.
The grand tables
Café Boulud and Julien (Four Seasons), The Globe (Mandarin Oriental Al Faisaliah), Hong (The Ritz-Carlton), Hōchō (Via Riyadh), Il Baretto and Benoit (KAFD) and Robata (The Canopy, Hittin).
Bujairi Terrace
Maiz for Saudi cooking and Long Chim for Thai, on the terrace facing At-Turaif; Taleed by Michael Mina at Bab Samhan.
Our advice: Riyadh dines late, from 9pm, and Thursday and Friday nights book up first.
Why it's on our list
- Saudi kitchens
- Bib Gourmand
- The grand tables
- Bujairi Terrace
Opening hours, prices and seasonal openings change, so please check with Eating in Riyadh: kabsa, qahwa and the new Saudi table before you go.