Omani halwa is a staple of every Omani house. A gelatinous mixture of sugar, cornstarch, and ghee that’s flavored with saffron and rosewater, the dessert is served alongside black, slightly bitter Omani coffee, or kahwa. Variations abound and if you visit a halwa shop, you’ll be served small cup of kahwa to sip while you sit and sample dozens of flavors. Sold in small metal or plastic serving dishes, they make great gifts to bring home. The Al Hosni Omani Sweets shop in the northern suburb of Al Khoud has especially over-the-top bejeweled packaging and some fantastic variations, like their own secret recipe called "Special Halwa." [Free]
Taxi instructions: Al Hosni Omani Sweets, just past the Mizoon Bint Ahmed Mosque in Al Khoud (have him call for directions).

Chef Issa Al Lamki is Oman’s first and only celebrity chef, appearing on Oman TV for a yearly Ramadan special, posing for Al Safa chicken ads, and making guest appearances all over town. He has done his country’s food proud, retaining the traditional Omani flavors, but using a chef’s sensibility to make it the best version of itself.

Al Lamki opened Al Mandoos (named for the brass-embellished wooden boxes women used to keep their dowries in) a few years ago, picking every table setting and designing a menu that features dishes like harees, a wheat berry and lamb porridge; maleh, basically an Omani ceviche of salted fish soaked in lime with onions; madrouba, an incredible, cooked-down mash of turmeric-scented rice and chicken topped with cardamom ghee and fried onions; and luscious coconut shrimp curry. Chef Issa has since moved on, leaving only his recipes and well-trained staff behind, and recently opened a new restaurant, Orient Resto Cafe, which is also well worth a try. [$$$]
Taxi instructions: Al Mandoos is behind the Porsche showroom. If you are coming down from the Al Ghubra Bridge and going toward the Chedi, you need to go right at the first traffic light and pass by Bank Muscat and Al Fawaris Bakery. You will then need to take one of the left turns on that road to find Al Mandoos Restaurant on a short stretch of shops parallel to the service road.

After partying at one of the hotel clubs in Muscat, the perfect late-night meal is the prawn, Hamour fish, or chicken biryani from the restaurant inside the Bowshar International Hotel. The dining room doesn't look like much, but the sweet, slightly spicy "Omanized" biryani served with cucumber raita, sliced sweet onion, and lime wedges more than makes up for the lack of ambiance. It is one of the only 24-hour restaurants in the city, and the carb-y goodness of all that rice will soak up whatever ails you. [$$]
Taxi instructions: Bowshar International Hotel in Al Ghubra.

In pretty much every mall, some souqs, and at the entrance of most hypermarkets, you will find vendors selling styrofoam cups of corn. Oman’s answer to Mexico’s elotes, the steamed sweet corn is doctored up with butter (usually margarine), a healthy dose of lime juice, salt, and spicy red pepper to taste. Grab a cup to enjoy while roaming around the impressive Lulu Hypermarket in search of souvenirs like za’atar tea bags, turmeric soap, and Omani ground coffee. [$$]
Taxi instructions: Lulu Hypermarket in Al Ghubra.

Shuwa is basically the national dish of Oman. A celebratory dish usually only cooked for weddings and the Eid holidays, it is laborious — involving slathering a chunk of meat, usually lamb or beef, with spices and oil, wrapping it in banana leaves, sticking it in a woven palm frond bag, and putting it over hot embers in an underground pit where it smokes and cooks for about 24 hours. There are a few restaurants in town that offer the dish, but the no-frills Bin Ateeq restaurant offers the most traditional version. Popular with taxi drivers who live in the remote interior regions of the country and come to Muscat to work during the week, the restaurant is divided into private rooms where diners sit on the floor with a plastic sheet spread out in front of them. The smoky meat is served over a huge platter of rice. Use the little metal dishes of tart Omani salsa to brighten up the heavy combination, which is best eaten the local way: by hand. [$$]
Taxi instructions: Bin Ateeq Restaurant, on the Al Khuwair service road, behind the McDonald's.

Muscat is a coastal city and the waters of the Sea of Oman are teeming with grouper, snapper, tuna, and the largest, sweetest prawns in the region. Run by a former fisherman, Turkish House is the absolute best place in the city to taste the fresh, local bounty. The restaurant has expanded with a large dining room close to the road, but set back behind it is the old dining area, which is much more charming. Order the mixed mezze, a massive platter of fresh hummus, baba ghanoush, tomato chutney, olive salad, and labne that comes with fresh, foot-long ovals of nigella-seeded Turkish bread. Then order grilled prawns and whatever fresh whole fish is available. The team will let you know which fish is the right size for you. [$$$]
Taxi instructions: Turkish House restaurant in Al Khuwair, just after the roundabout.

One of the favorite snack-time beverages in the Arabian Gulf is an adaptation of Indian chai known as karak. The super sweet, creamy tea is enriched with condensed milk and spices like saffron, cardamom, or the particularly interesting za’atar (not the Near Eastern spice blend in this case, but its namesake, wild thyme leaves). Alongside the karak, people order paper-thin Omani bread smeared with all kinds of fillings. Tea House, tucked between a date palm grove and a small mosque in the Ministries district, is the best place in town; go for the cheese, egg, and Chips Oman combo. Most people order for takeaway, but go in the evening and grab a seat at one of the outdoor tables and watch groups of young local men who gather there after evening prayers. [$]
Taxi instructions: The karak shop next to the mosque behind the Tender Board (before Bait Al Reem)

Since the middle of the century, Omani parents have been making their own ice cream and freezing it into little plastic cups for their children. About five years ago, two entrepreneurial Omani women took their mothers’ recipes and opened the first Omani ice cream shop in a small strip mall in the posh Qurum neighborhood near the sea. They sell the ice cream cups in some seriously Omani flavors like halwa, Vimto (a favorite Ramadan beverage), date, karak tea, and one called luban that’s studded with chewy frankincense. Get your cup to go and enjoy it while taking a walk on the beach. [$$]
Taxi instructions: Ice Cream Mama, next to Shatti City Cinema.

Many people assume that because Oman is in the Middle East, they are going to find all kinds of familiar staples, like falafel and hummus. But Oman (and most of the Arabian Gulf) is a different culinary world, with nary an olive tree in sight and some of the worst falafels I’ve had anywhere. The one exception is Arax, a tiny shop in the seaside strip mall Oasis by the Sea. These guys make incredible falafel sandwiches, stuffed with pickles, tender, crisp-fried falafels, and, on request, an out-of-this-world tahini roasted cauliflower. The sandwiches are dirt cheap and make the perfect picnic lunch to enjoy at the adjacent beach, where you’ll find picnic tables and plenty of spots to sit directly in the sand. [$$]
Taxi Instructions: The Costa Coffee in Jawharat Al Shatti/Oasis by the Sea (everyone knows Costa’s, but Arax is right next door).

On the bottom floor of the Qurum Beach Resort, the Moorish Cafe opens onto a large garden filled with tables that stretch from the entrance to the glass wall directly overlooking the sea. Day or night, the place quietly hums with men and women chatting and smoking hookah over cappuccinos or karak teas. The hot mezze and baked spinach bread are both perfect nibbles, though the real draw is the relaxed vibe with great views. The service is as relaxed as the patrons, so don’t bother with this cafe if you are in a rush. [$$$]
Taxi instructions: Qurum Resort, near Jawharat Al Shatti (walk in the front door and the cafe will be directly in front of you).

Oman is a Muslim country, and though there are plenty of places to have a beer or cocktail at the higher-end hotels and a few restaurants, people here usually go out for fresh juice cocktails. These drinks can range from pure, fresh-squeezed orange, lemon-mint, or mango juices to towering, kaleidoscopic layered ice cream and juice smoothies. Amid the line of cafes along Shatti Street — known locally as Love Street thanks to the young men who spend their evenings revving the engines of their motorbikes and Mustangs as they drive up and down the stretch — Tche Tche and Al Makan Cafe have pages of juice cocktail options to be enjoyed on their rooftop patios that overlook the ocean just across the road. If you don’t like sweet beverages, be sure to ask the restaurants not to add sugar to your drink. [$$]
Taxi Instructions: Tche Tche or Makan Cafe on Love Street in Shatti.

The old fish souq is in the oldest part of the city, Muttrah. Just across the street in a ramshackle shop called Fishers Grilled, the Egyptian chef displays fresh catch in a small glass case and sells it by the kilo. After ordering, it can take up to 45 minutes to get your platter of charred fish and prawns, but grab a tea or fresh juice at the coffee shop next door and snag one of the three tables set out front while you wait. [$$]
Taxi instructions: Muttrah Fish Market (check out the market and then walk across the street to the restaurant).

The triangular fried pastries that are filled with potato (and called samosa) in India and stuffed with cheese (and called sambusak) in parts of the Middle East have their own local adaptation in Oman. Known here as sambusa, people stuff them with cinnamon, ginger, and onion-laced chicken or ground beef at home, but most small shops keep the filling simple with cumin-heavy onion and cabbage. The first little shop on the left-hand side of the main corridor of the old Muttrah souq has the best of these greasy little bites that you can buy by the bagful to eat while roaming through the bustling alleyways of the market. [$]
Taxi instructions: Muttrah Souq.