How we pick

How a place gets in.

Five rules, and a short list of what we leave out on purpose. They sit behind every recommendation on this site, on @offscreen.dxb and in the Friday email.

A person behind it

We look for someone at the centre of the place: a chef at the counter, a roaster at the machine, a room someone designed on purpose. Concepts rolled out across five malls rarely make it.

Checked at the source, and dated

Prices, hours and booking rules come from the venue’s own website, menu, booking page or listing, read the week we publish. Magazines and listings sites are where we find things, never where we confirm them. Every guide carries the date it was checked.

The same five facts

Where it is, when it’s open, the price in AED, how to book or get in, and who it suits. If a venue doesn’t publish one of them, we write “not published” rather than guess. Our chef’s counters guide says exactly that about avatāra’s price, because the only figure we could find was an expired offer.

The small print goes in

Times are Dubai time. “Free” becomes “open entry”, with a note on what still needs booking. Age limits, dress codes, deposits and non-refundable tickets are all printed, because they’re what ruins an evening when they’re missed.

Nobody pays

No venue pays to be in a guide, and none sees a post before it goes out. If a post is ever paid for or hosted, it will say so at the top.

What we leave out

Brunch packages, bottle service, sponsored lists and theme-park evenings. Anything we can’t confirm the week we publish. And places that are closed, even briefly: the chef’s counters guide leaves out Smoked Room and Teible, which were listed as temporarily closed when we checked.

Photos

Every photo shows the actual place and names its owner underneath, usually the venue itself. No renders, no stock, nothing generated.

Corrections

If something has changed, write to [email protected]. We correct the guide the same week and note the date.