Numerous restaurants have opened in recent years, but many people retain the habit of dining at hotels - in Muscat at least. There is a wide variety of cuisine on offer, including Arabic, Indian, Oriental, European and other international dishes. Traditional coffee houses and international-style chain coffeeshops are popular. In other parts of the country, except in Salalah and Nizwa, most people eat at home so the main options for dining are small coffeeshops, occasional Lebanese or Turkish restaurants and roadside
shwarma (shaved meat) stands.
Things to know: Waiter service is
usual. Muslims are forbidden to drink alcohol, but most hotel bars and restaurants have a bar for guests. Visitors are only allowed to drink alcohol if they purchase drinks from licensed hotels and restaurants. To buy alcohol for home consumption, Western nationals must obtain a license from their embassy.
National specialties:
• Shuwa (meat cooked slowly for up to two days in underground clay ovens, marinated with herbs and spices).
• Mashuai (spit-roasted kingfish served with lemon rice).
•
Maqbous (rice dish with saffron cooked over spicy red or white meat).
• Halwa (sticky, gelatinous sweet made from dates or sugar and flavored with saffron, cardamom and rosewater).
• Lokhemat (balls of flour and yeast flavored with cardamom and deep fried, served with sweet lime and cardamom syrup).
National drinks:
•
Kahwa (coffee; strong, bitter and flavored with cardamom, served with
halwa and
lokhemat).
• Mixed fruit juice
(mango, pomegranate, orange and avocado layered in long glasses).
Legal drinking age: 18.
Tipping: Becoming more common; 10% should be given in hotels and restaurants with licensed bars but is not expected in more casual restaurants.
NightlifeThere are a few
nightclubs and bars in Muscat; most nightlife is to be found in hotels and several modern
cinemas in Shatti Al-Qurm and in Ruwi showing Arab, Indian and English films. There is very little in the way of nightlife in other Omani towns with the exception of Salalah: during the
khareef (rainy season in July and August) it comes alive with festival activities.
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