The inaugural list of the Middle East & North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants was revealed yesterday and White Robata was the only restaurant from Kuwait that made it coming in at #43. Since they were the only restaurant from Kuwait that also automatically gave them the accolade of The Best Restaurant in Kuwait for 2022.
The majority of the list was dominated by UAE-based restaurants (19 in total) including the overall first place winner going to 3 Fils which is located in Dubai. Five restaurants from Saudi Arabia made the list, two from Bahrain and one from Qatar while five restaurants from Lebanon also made the list and four from Egypt.
To check out MENA’s 50 Best Restaurants, click here.
28 replies on “White Robata – Kuwait’s Best Restaurant and MENA’s Top 50”
Honestly I think Ora is better.
Sorry but they’re not in the same league.
Ora’s food is so freaking yummy! Personally its my favorite restaurant in Kuwait
Ora’s food stinks and the portions are for infants and way overpriced
And they say Kuwait is the best when it comes to food. Probably they’ll ban this rank list, so problem solved.
Kuwait doesn’t have many top notch restaurants that can compete in such level. But the average level of food quality in Kuwait is much higher than many countries in the region.
The problem in Kuwait is the lack of chefs developing concepts that focus on food and baking techniques , and lack of restaurants trying to the global palate. The focus is on the local population, thus making it hard to compete in such occasions.
yup exactly, the market is too small and the cost of running a restaurant is really high to survive on a niche audience.
If you revise this list to exclude franchises imported from Europe and focus on homegrown restaurants… lets just say it would look VERY different
The lovely Rana Sadik opened Kuwait’s first fine dining restaurant about 12-13 years ago. It didn’t pan out because there is no market for that here.
Mark, what was the name of it? It was really good.
Gusto
Gusto was ahead of its time (here)
I still don’t think it would work here.
Most well-to-do Kuwaitis would rather dine in a fancy schmancy restaurant abroad than here.
Didn’t Wolfgang Puck open before Gusto? I think it was in the late 90’s when it opened no?
Yes and they had a strict no jeans policy LOL…in the 90s!
It was casual fine dining, not fine dining.
this sounded like a game show question
Bahahahaha, I just asked him what the name of the restaurant was since he knows pretty much all the good places here. I introduce him to some, sometimes wink
I personally cannot comment on many on this list.
I will comment on what i have tried which is Mirai in Bahrain.
It is criminal and funny that it is higher than White Robata, wouldn’t put it over Odachi, Ora or many other average Japanese restaurants here in Kuwait.
For that reason, PERSONALLY won’t be taking this list seriously haha.
But obviously there are people that have tried most on this list that know more.
Just wanted to comment on Mirai
this is random and extremely off “genres” in terms of restaurants, but have you tried a cute bagel spot in the city called While I’m Baked? it deserves your visit.
Yup, his baked goods are at Barba, used to have them back when they would open for breakfast
I never tried a real bagel.
Thank you for the recommendation.
oh this brings you the New York experience!
it’s only open till 2pm
and closed on Sundays
CURE is good too !
being the plug for Mark !
lol thanks
3 fils is definitely not the best restaurant in the Middle East
I live between Dubai and Kuwait and am a self proclaimed Foodie. 3Fils does not even come close to more then half of the restaurants on this list ! ( the other half i havent tried ) You can dine in shorts and flip flops if you please. Too casual to be compared with all the other fine dining restaurants .Doesnt deserve to be on this list .I have been there several times, the quality isn’t consistent and some items on the menu arent available on certain days because they ran out of ingredients. White Robata does deserve to be on this list, IMO
This isn’t a best fine dining restaurant list though.
I understand its not, i was just stating that it doesnt compare with some of the restaurants on this list that are fine dining and is too casual to be compared. The place has its charm but doesnt deserve to be on the same list as most of the other restaurants yet alone be ranked at number one.
Yeah but the fact you can wear shorts or not wasnt one of the requirements to get on the list. I’ve been to 3fils and the food is pretty great, not sure if best restaurant but I can understand why.