The best cocktail bars in Dubai (the ones locals actually drink at)

Dubai has a reputation for cocktails that is mostly built on hotel pool bars and AED 700 brunches with bottomless prosecco. The bars actual locals drink at are quieter, denser per square metre and considerably better.

Eight bars below. None are on the back of a taxi. All have programmes I would defend to a serious bar person from London or Tokyo.

I keep notes on which bars are running new menus and guest takeovers on Rifio — the Dubai events page flags them as they happen.

1. Trove

Below ICD Brookfield in DIFC. Walk past the lobby, take the lift to the basement, follow the corridor. The room is small, dimly lit, six seats at the bar and a dozen tables. The cocktail programme is the most serious in the city — proper classics, a small seasonal list, and a head bartender who will adjust your Old Fashioned to the bourbon you want.

AED 90-110 a drink, book a week ahead for Friday and Saturday, walk-in on a Tuesday or Wednesday. The Negroni is the test order. If it lands properly, you are in the right place.

2. Mr. Toad's

A tiny English-style bar above a JBR side street, twenty seats, walk-in only. The Negroni is genuinely one of the best in the city, the Old Fashioned is similarly correct, the wine list is short and sensible.

AED 75-95 a drink. Get there before 8 if you want a seat. The bartenders know their regulars and will treat you like one after two visits.

3. 40 Kong

Open-air rooftop on the H Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road. Most rooftops in Dubai are loud, photo-led and serve mediocre drinks at AED 100. 40 Kong is the rare rooftop with a serious bar — the cocktail programme is well-trained, the food is honest, the view is proper.

AED 80-100, book Thursday-Saturday, sunset is the move. By 9pm it gets busier than I would like, so 6:30 to 8:30 is the window.

4. BOCA bar

The bar at BOCA in DIFC is, frankly, where the regulars go when Trove is full. Spanish-inflected drinks list (sherry-forward, vermouth-based, a few classics), calm room, no tourists, no DJ. Walk-in, AED 75-95.

The Tuesday and Wednesday version is the calmest version. Friday is busier but still civilised.

5. Lock Stock & Barrel

The neighbourhood bar of JBR. Lock Stock is what every English-speaking expat ends up at after a year in the city — proper classics, bar food, no pretension, AED 65-85 a drink. Walk-in always works.

Not as serious as Trove or Mr. Toad's, but the right place for a casual drink with people who do not want to think about cocktails.

6. The Jara

The garden bar at One&Only Royal Mirage in Jumeirah. Discreet, calm, Mediterranean drinks list, the calmest patio in the city — palm trees, low lights, a piano. AED 80-95, booking essential, the dress code is smart-casual leaning smart.

The right bar for a date you are taking seriously, or a quiet drink alone with a book. Not for a group.

7. Dragonfly

Speakeasy-format bar in Media City. Hidden behind a corridor in a hotel, twenty seats, a regulars crowd. Underrated for years and still flying mostly under the radar — AED 70-90, walk-in.

The bartender will make whatever you ask for, including off-menu, with no comment. The most-bartender bar on this list.

8. Akiba Dori basement bar

Tucked under the restaurant in d3. Japanese highballs, a small list of stiff classics, a corner room with maybe twelve seats. AED 75-95 a drink, walk-in.

Open until late. The Highball is the order. The room smells of cedar and your evening will end better than it started.

A few I am leaving off and you might wonder why.

The Atlantis bars and the headline Marina hotel bars are not bad — they are just paying for a view rather than a programme. AED 100 for a passable Negroni you could order at Mr. Toad's for AED 80 with someone behind the bar who actually knows how to make it. The maths does not work.

The hotel pool bars, broadly, are exactly what they look like. The AED 60 cocktails are AED 60 cocktails. There is nothing wrong with them, but they do not belong on a list of bars to seek out.

A few honourable mentions: Treehouse at the Taj is a real rooftop with a real bar but the room has tipped touristy in the last year. Bar Du Port at Dubai Harbour has a strong list but the location and crowd are inconsistent. Number 5 at Address Dubai Marina is genuinely good but I cannot recieve clearance from the regulars to put it on a list.

Save the ones you fancy on Rifio so you can find them again. The Dubai networking events filter is useful for the founder-heavy nights when these bars are at their most alive.