Sharjah has a great deal of food and very little of it is signposted for visitors. This is a practical guide: where the restaurant areas are, what a meal costs, and what to do about the fact that nowhere serves alcohol.
The areas worth knowing
- Abu Shaghara and Bu Shaghara: dense, residential, and where a lot of the long-standing Pakistani and Indian restaurants are
- Al Nahda: closest to the Dubai border, busiest, and the area most Dubai residents cross into first
- Rolla: older, central, and the cheapest eating in the city
- Al Majaz and Al Qasba: waterfront, family-oriented, higher prices for the view
- Al Taawun: newer, mixed, convenient if you are coming down the corniche
We are in Abu Shaghara, opposite Nesto Hypermarket in Hay Al Qasimiah, which is a ten-minute drive from most of the above.
What a meal actually costs
Sharjah is noticeably cheaper than Dubai for the same food. As a benchmark from our own menu: Chicken Biryani AED 15, Beef Nihari AED 20, Chicken Handi AED 26, a full Chicken Karahi AED 48, plain naan AED 1.50.
Two people eating properly, with a rice dish, a gravy and bread, will spend somewhere around AED 50 to AED 70. A group of four sharing a karahi, a biryani and a grill platter will spend AED 120 to AED 160. That is the realistic range, not a promotional one.
Buffets are the better value if there are more than two of you
The arithmetic turns at about three people. Our dinner buffet is AED 42 for adults and AED 22 for children Monday to Thursday, 7:00 PM to 11:00 PM, and AED 65 and AED 33 Friday to Sunday, 7:00 PM to midnight.
Sunday brunch runs 11:00 AM to 4:00 PM at AED 49 for adults and AED 24 for children, with a live omelette counter and halwa puri, which is the one sitting of the week that starts in the morning.
Practical things visitors get caught by
- Sharjah is dry. No restaurant serves alcohol, and there is no way around it. Plan the evening around the food
- Dinner runs late. Most kitchens are busy from 8:00 PM and we serve until midnight
- Fridays and weekends are considerably busier; book ahead if you are a group
- Parking is easier than Dubai but tighter around the souks in the evening
- Cash is fine everywhere and cards are near universal
If you are here for one meal
Order Pakistani. It is what the emirate does better than anything else, and it is what the resident population actually eats. Start with what to order on a first visit, and check how spicy things really are before you commit to a karahi.
We are open noon to midnight, seven days a week. Directions, both numbers and a map link are on the contact page.
Opposite Nesto Hypermarket
Bu Shaghara, Hay Al Qasimiah, Sharjah. Open noon to midnight, seven days a week.
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