Bait Maryam, Dubai: Family-Style Cooking That Pleases, But…

Bait Maryam is not trying to impress you with oversized chandeliers or foie gras. The outside greenhouse terrace – inches away from Cluster D’s free-for-all parking – is mercifully air-conditioned, offering respite in these summer months. The greenhouse lacks the impactful appeal of the main dining room. The brief was Dubai Garden Centre meets Arabian Tea House where I find myself looking for price tags on the furniture. Not to be catty, but I did momentarily want reassurance that this is part of the same restaurant. Glossy dark tiles, the colour of raw cocoa, and a stark white ceiling seemingly stretches infinitely towards the ‘lake’. Light floods in ricocheting off white patio furniture. Blue cushions, decorative plates and potted greenery sort of brings the space together. Bait Maryam’s disarming casual approach suits the largely residential JLT. The main dining room is more impressive; you’d want to eat inside, if given the choice. Better still, decor-wise, Three by Eva’s outside terrace wins during those lovely al fresco months.


Bait Maryam’s outside greenhouse area overlooks Jumeirah Lake Towers residential area

Bait Maryam’s food and menu

Bait Maryam’s QR code menu (yes, we are still doing that) reaffirms the casual approachability that permeates from decor to dishes to plating. There are no discernible gastronomic backflips or gimmicks. The plates speak for themselves; so, while Bait Maryam’s food is enjoyable – and we did enjoy it – no dish is the best version I’ve had. Dan and I are subdued into that highest of compliments to home cooks, which is the deafening silence of people eating with the occasional appreciative, approving grunt.

It’s affordable, hearty and hard to quibble with at its price point. There is a humility here that breaks from hoity-toity Dubai’s mainstream. I admire Bait Maryam’s want to provide value. Today’s dish of the day is a gusty, meltingly-soft knot of lamb neck. Tender, on the bone, and resting on a warm bed of spiced rice with toasted, crunchy almonds (47 dhs). It comes with a raita-like yoghurt sauce that lubricates a colossal, soporific portion. Each dish of the day comes with soup (lentil, naturally), which Dan and I are impliedly invited to share like Lady and the Tramp. I’ll let you decide who is who. I ordered the freekeh with chicken dish of the day earlier in the week. This behemoth – wisely shared between two people – rendered me nearly comatose at my desk (59 dhs).


Bait Maryam’s Friday dish of the day was slow-cooked lamb neck with spiced rice and almonds; superb value for the food and the portion. A lentil soup also comes with each dish of the day.

Our insatiable greed outstretched our appetites. Dishes arrive quickly one after the other. A brightly jewelled fattoush slick with its signature pomegranate molasses and herbed fried pitta (26 dhs). Puffed pillows of freshly-baked pitta bread are torn then dredged through a generous pool of silky hummus topped with meat and toasted pine nuts (36 dhs).

Bait Maryam’s eponymous fatet muskhan arrives. A lawn of fried pitta chips with more toasted almonds carpet a thin blanket of cooling yoghurt and garlic sauce. This all hides the main attraction: sumac-spiced shredded chicken stained the colour of crushed violets (40 dhs). This is my standout dish. The paper-thin cheese manakeesh with brilliant-white akkawi cheese fits the description (21 dhs). I sense Dan will march on in his quest.

Chef Salam quietly walks toward our table to greet us during a typically slow Friday summer lunch service. We congratulate her on her awards. Behind weary eyes I sense have seen too much, she is still visibly moved by the recognition. We congratulate her again on her awards and thank her for turning around a filling lunch that cracks the door open to the weekend. A leisurely feast for two with fresh juices, americanos and plenty of takeaway, skims over 200 dhs.


Bait Maryam’s house-style fattoush salad spiked with sumac and pomegranate molasses and their chicken sumac fatet muskhan.


Bait Maryam’s cheese manakeesh arrives with a side salad. The bill at Bait Maryam is very modest making it an affordable option for many people in Dubai.

Bait Maryam, Would I Return?

I do not want to overstate enthusiasm for Bait Maryam. I ate here three times in six weeks. This is endorsement enough. The restaurant’s sweet spot lies for people, like me, who enjoy good food, cooked well at a magic price point. In this lane, Bait Maryan achieves a lot. It gives me pause for thought before ordering from other Levantine restaurants. Levantine restaurants that, to be honest, execute with greater finesse, but cost at least 10 plus dirhams more per dish. This is homestyle cooking where prissy stacks and jus have no place. It reminds me of being summoned to my late grandmother’s house for lunch. She made the same dishes year in, year out. We all knew her speciality dishes guessing what we’d have to eat today. Love her. Other friends and family could whip up versions I quietly liked a little more (not that I would dare to tell her). But there was something about hers that quietly cosseted something hard to describe. There was something heartwarming the moment she brought that dish out of the kitchen. And, in that moment, I would realise why I came back. Bait Maryam taps a vein of nostalgia for me that goes beyond food and, boy, it’s hard to put a price on that.

Bait Maryam, Who Should Come Here?

Michelin Guide hunters looking for cheaper eats. Visitors seeking Levantine food on a budget. JLT residents taking advantage of good local restaurants on their doorstep.