Food lovers, this one is for you. Summer in Dubai means spending a little less time outside and a little more time around great tables. Luckily, restaurants across the city are making it easy, with seasonal menus, special offers and some genuinely exciting collaborations.

Chef Kelvin Cheung's restaurant on Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Boulevard is one of those places that can feel intimidating to newcomers — the full tasting menu is a serious commitment. This summer, Jun's makes the welcome mat a little wider with The Short Story Volume 2: a seven-course tasting menu at AED 255 per person, available daily.

It is the same kitchen, the same storytelling, the same creativity — just in a more approachable format. Expect dishes such as Lobster Pani Puri, Kinilaw Prawns and Hokkaido scallop with seven-month-aged corn miso, plus a vegetarian version of the menu. Think of it as an easy introduction to one of Dubai's most inventive restaurants.

The Portuguese restaurant at SO/ Uptown Dubai has become one of the better spots for an unhurried evening in the city. This summer, it adds three reasons to visit.

First: The Lusa Hour — a daily window from 5 to 7 pm where drinks and Mediterranean bites are priced from AED 39, designed for the kind of post-work decompression that actually works.

Second: a business lunch on weekdays, a three-course affair with Portuguese flavour in a room that doesn't feel like a business lunch at all.

Third: Casa Lusa Brunch on Saturdays — a proper Portuguese-style gathering with live entertainment, free-flowing drinks and long, lazy afternoon energy.

Italian food with a view of the greens, for AED 125 — that is the Summer Business Lunch at Bussola, running Monday to Friday from 12 to 2 pm starting July 2nd.

Two courses, a bottle of water included. The menu is exactly what it should be: light Insalata Caprese or Vitello Tonnato to start, then proper mains like Gnocchi Sorrentino, saffron prawn tagliolini, or grilled baby chicken with polenta and morels. And if you're not in a rush, there is tiramisu and profiteroles waiting at the dessert upgrade.

ALAYA has launched a summer menu that feels genuinely seasonal — not just a renamed spring card, but something designed around the heat: lighter, brighter, and built around the kind of Middle Eastern and Mediterranean flavours that actually make sense when it is 45 degrees outside.

The Flavours of Sayf is a five-course experience at AED 250, available daily from 4 to 8 pm. Cold starters include a Muhammara with walnut and pistachio, a fattoush with proper sumac bite, and a spiced carrot salad with crispy bulgur. Mains range from shish kofte in tomato sauce to a layered Maqlouba rice that is more comfort food than showpiece. Ends on a pistachio ice cream with pomegranate.

Sobremesa's supper club series — Sobremesa Y Amigos — is back for its second edition on Thursday, June 11th, and this one is worth clearing your diary for.

Chef Marco Ferreyra is joined by Chef Nick Alvis of The Beam: nearly three decades of Michelin kitchens (Gordon Ramsay, Marcus Wareing, his own Table 9 and Folly), now bringing his ingredient-led precision to Sobremesa's Mexican-inflected world. The evening runs through dishes like beef tartare with chile de árbol aioli, dill-cured salmon, crispy hen's egg with pancetta and agave caramel, carne asada, and a coconut tres leches to finish. AED 350 per person, limited seats, 7:30 pm at Souk Al Bahar.

Hidden inside a 1979 warehouse in Dubai Maritime City, Flat12 is the project of six Emirati brothers who built something rare: a place where heritage cars, original art and properly good food share a roof without any of it feeling forced. The new menu leans into that same unselfconscious confidence. Zaatar fried egg toast with labneh (AED 35), a musakhan flatbread with spiced chicken and pine nuts (AED 65), a roasted sesame shrimp rice bowl (AED 85). For dessert: seared dates with vanilla ice cream at AED 25, or an Aseeda Fondant — a traditional Emirati dessert reworked with saffron gelato and pistachio. To drink: a kunafa coconut latte, a purple matcha with ube and coconut milk, an orange ginger lemonade.

DUO rarely disappoints — and the new menu is one more reason to trust it. Built around bold flavours, seasonal ingredients and balanced combinations, it covers everything from light starters to serious mains. Available at both Dubai Hills and Creek Harbour locations.

Oh, you should go to the Serpenti Beach Club. The Bvlgari Resort is a private island in the city, with a beach, a marina, and the kind of food and service that justifies the price tag without explaining itself. Summer, when the resort is quieter, and the sunset light over the Gulf is something else, might actually be the best time to finally go.