Al Quoz Specialty

Originated in Sydney in 1996, Jones the Grocer's gourmet cafés are now in over seven countries (four cafes residing in Dubai alone), making it an easy-to-find standby for a solid meal and great host/hostess gifts in the form of gourmet chocolates, cheeses, jams, and other kitchen goodies. Post up in the café with a coffee and sandwich if you need to get a few hours of work done. There are also locations in Al Safa and the Dusit Thani Hotel.

Originated in Sydney in 1996, Jones the Grocer's gourmet cafés are now in over seven countries (four cafes residing in Dubai alone), making it an easy-to-find standby for a solid meal and great host/hostess gifts in the form of gourmet chocolates, cheeses, jams, and other kitchen goodies. The café is a great place to set up with a coffee and sandwich for a few hours of work.

Baker & Spice's casual menu is a balance of Western and Middle Eastern dishes, and changes based on what's in season (they source most of their produce from UAE farmers). The breakfast menu is full of healthy-ish classics like Turkish eggs, avocado toast with dukkah, and a famously good shakshouka, and lunch is a mix of fresh salads and hearty comfort food, like burrata salad with beetroot carpaccio, pumpkin and goat cheese tortellini, and roast chicken and potatoes. If you don't have time to order off the menu, you can also pick up fresh-baked bread, tarts, pastries, and pies to go. Now in its seventh season, their Friday farmer’s market at Business Bay is an amazing resource for locally grown, organic fruits and vegetables. There are locations in Jumeirah, Souk Al Bahar, Souk Al Manzil, and the marina (oh, and they cater).

This modern chocolate shop is actually housed inside the chocolate brand’s manufacturing facility—meaning, in one visit, you can see every step of the chocolate-making process by peering into glass-walled pods. In addition to chocolate tasting workshops, Mirzam is known for creating exceptional bars with just three ingredients (cocoa beans, unrefined cane sugar, and small amounts of cocoa butter), but that actually does a disservice to the chocolate you’ll sample there; they’re also known for the variety of spices they incorporate into their bars. (The name “Mirzam” is borrowed from a star of the same name that ancient spice traders used to navigate maritime routes). Limited-edition bars have included single-origin dark chocolate with roasted pumpkin seeds and sea salt wrapped in a hand-painted design by a local UAE artist, and a white chocolate offering infused with a chai spice blend of cinnamon, ginger, cardamom and cloves.

The creative arts hub that has become Alserkal Avenue in Dubai's warehouse Al Quoz district has a disproportionate amount of the city's cool, health-centric cafes and specialty food shops. Wild & the Moon feels like it was lifted out of LA (the other location is actually in Paris). The first floor houses an organic, cold-pressed juice/smoothie/plant milk bar; upstairs, there's additional seating, and an array of hanging greenery (sprawling ivy, potted ferns, mini cacti). It's a beautiful space to visit, but they also take online orders—if you've hit the bottle a little too hard the night before, you can get an entire juice cleanse set delivered.

Started by two guys (named Tom, from Melbourne, and Sergio, from Madrid), this two-level cafe with an open kitchen is in a converted warehouse space, with an industrial feel (concrete floor, exposed ceiling, steel-like furniture) fitting for its Al Quoz neighborhood. Tom & Serg's almond milk latte might be the best in the Dubai. They serve breakfast all day, and lunch beginning at 11:30. Bonus: good wifi.

An open group working hub, this loft space in Alserkal Avenue has a cafe, collective library, screening room, and lots of good vibes. A4 plays host to rotating exhibitions, pop-up shops, and a range of creative events.

The Dubai OG of concept cafes with a healthy bent, The Lime Tree is a New-Zealand-style eatery that is now three locations strong. The original, opened in 2001, is near the beach, next to Jumeirah Mosque; meant to feel like a villa, with an upstairs balcony and courtyard garden, it's a popular mom-spot post dropping kids off at school. There's a location on Sheik Zayed Road in Al Quoz, and another in Al Quoz, in walking distance from the shops and galleries of Alserkal Avenue, where you're likely to find people posted up on laptops in one of Lime Tree's nooks or at the long picnic-style tables. Lime Tree serves organic coffee and teas, organic free-range egg scrambles, quiches, and salads, plenty of gluten-free bakery items. Everything is made in house.