Let's be honest from the start: as of 2026, there is no Paraguayan restaurant in Dubai. The Paraguayan community in the UAE is small — a few hundred people, mostly in Abu Dhabi, where the embassy is located. This means traditional restaurant-review formats don't quite work for Paraguayan food in Dubai. Instead, the question is: where can a Dubai-based food enthusiast actually eat or experience authentic Paraguayan cuisine?
After two years of attending events, asking around the diaspora community, and methodically testing every restaurant in Dubai that serves dishes adjacent to Paraguayan cuisine, here is our ranked guide. The first two entries are how to find genuinely authentic Paraguayan food; the remaining three are the best Dubai restaurants that approach Paraguayan flavours from neighbouring cuisines.
The Ranking: Where to Find Paraguayan Food in Dubai
Paraguayan Embassy Cultural Events
Abu Dhabi-based embassy · Hosted 1–2 times per year
The single most authentic Paraguayan food experience available to anyone in the UAE is the Paraguayan embassy's annual independence-day reception on 14 May. The kitchen serves chipa, sopa paraguaya, asado paraguayo, vorí vorí and tereré — all prepared by Paraguayan nationals using ingredients flown in or sourced through the embassy's network. The event is typically held at a venue in Abu Dhabi and tickets / RSVPs are available through the embassy's social channels and through the small Paraguayan community in the UAE. Dubai-based food enthusiasts make the 90-minute drive happily. There is also occasionally a Battle of Boquerón anniversary event in late September. These two annual occasions are the genuine deal.
How to find it: Search for the Embassy of Paraguay in the UAE on Facebook and Instagram in March-April for event announcements. Follow @paraguayos_en_emiratos community pages.
Private Paraguayan Home-Cook Orders
Various villas, Abu Dhabi & Dubai · Weekend ordersA small number of Paraguayan home cooks in the UAE take advance orders for weekend collection. The most active — based in Abu Dhabi but with weekly courier delivery into Dubai — produces chipa (AED 6–9 each, minimum 12), sopa paraguaya (AED 70–90 per tray, feeds 6), chipa guazu (AED 80–110 per tray) and occasionally vorí vorí soup (AED 25–35 per portion). Orders are typically placed via WhatsApp 48 hours in advance. The quality is exceptional — these are dishes made with the same recipes used by mothers and grandmothers back in Paraguay. The catch is that you need to know the right people; introductions come through the community.
How to find it: Through Argentine, Brazilian or general South American expat groups on Facebook. Post asking for Paraguayan home-cook contacts — the diaspora is small but tightly connected.
Asado (Palace Downtown)
Palace Downtown · Argentine asado
Asado at Palace Downtown is Dubai's most credible Argentine asado restaurant, and Argentine asado technique is close enough to Paraguayan asado technique that for the meat side of Paraguayan cuisine, this is the best substitute. The wood-ember grilling, the rib cuts (asado de tira, costilla), the chimichurri are all recognisably South American. The corn-and-cheese-and-cassava context that surrounds asado in Paraguay is missing — but the asado itself is excellent. Sit on the terrace overlooking the Burj Khalifa, order the parrillada for two (AED 420 sharing) and a Malbec, and you have a serviceable Paraguayan-adjacent meal. Reservations essential, especially weekends.
Best order for Paraguayan vibes: Parrillada for two with chimichurri, sweet potato fries, and a Malbec. Skip the empanadas (Argentine-style, not Paraguayan).
La Cabaña (Marina Walk)
Marina Walk · Argentine grillA more casual, more affordable alternative to Asado at Palace Downtown. La Cabaña's mixed-grill platter for two (AED 240) delivers competent Argentine-style asado — flame-grilled rib, chorizo, morcilla, sweetbreads — with chimichurri and a small salad. The atmosphere is less polished but the meat is good. For anyone wanting to recreate a Paraguayan-style Sunday-asado feeling without the Palace Downtown bill, this is the option. Sit outside on the Marina Walk on a winter evening with a Malbec and you can pretend you're in Asunción.
Best order: Parrillada for two (AED 240), Malbec by the glass, ask for extra chimichurri.
Picanha Brazilian Steakhouse
Multiple locations · Brazilian rodízioA Brazilian rodízio is not Paraguayan asado — the cuts are different, the rituals are different, the side dishes are different — but for the abundance and the cassava (mandioca is on the buffet) and the cheese bread (pão de queijo, similar concept to chipa) and the all-you-can-eat-meat spirit, Picanha gets closer to a Paraguayan family asado than any Argentine restaurant in Dubai. The pão de queijo specifically is structurally and culturally a cousin of chipa — same cassava-starch-and-cheese baseline, slightly different proportions. For a low-effort attempt at Paraguayan food vibes, this works.
Best for: Sunday-asado-with-the-family feeling, the cassava and pão de queijo on the buffet, the abundance.
The Honest Recommendation
If you are serious about eating Paraguayan food in Dubai, the path is clear: attend the May 14 embassy event in Abu Dhabi at least once, source the contacts of two or three Paraguayan home cooks for chipa and sopa paraguaya orders, and supplement with home cooking using the substitute ingredients in our pillar guide. The restaurant options listed here are useful for the asado dimension of Paraguayan eating, but no Dubai restaurant currently captures the cassava-corn-cheese centre of the cuisine. That dimension is one you build at home or experience at community events.
We will update this page as the restaurant scene evolves. If a Paraguayan restaurant ever opens in Dubai, you will read about it here first.
Explore Paraguayan & Latin Food
Frequently Asked Questions
Is there really no Paraguayan restaurant in Dubai?
No, as of 2026 there is no dedicated Paraguayan restaurant in Dubai or anywhere in the UAE. The Paraguayan diaspora in the UAE is small (likely under 300 people) and concentrated in Abu Dhabi around the embassy. There is no commercial restaurant scene supporting the community. This may change — Paraguayan restaurants have opened in Madrid, Buenos Aires, São Paulo and Asunción-themed cafes in some European cities — but for now, Dubai has none.
Can I get chipa shipped to Dubai?
Frozen chipa is occasionally imported by speciality Latin American grocers in Dubai — check the freezer sections at Brazilian-focused groceries in Karama and at the Latin aisle in Spinneys Umm Suqeim. Quality varies. The best chipa in Dubai is the freshly baked version from home cooks (see option 2 above) or your own kitchen using cassava starch from Carrefour.
Will a Paraguayan restaurant ever open in Dubai?
It's plausible but not imminent. Dubai's restaurant scene rewards cuisines with significant diaspora demand or a strong restaurateur championing them. Paraguay has neither of these in Dubai currently. The most likely path: a Latin American restaurant in Dubai adds Paraguayan dishes to their menu, or a Paraguayan chef relocates and opens a pop-up. We are not aware of either at present. Stay subscribed to The Dubai Fork newsletter for any opening announcements.
What's the most Paraguayan-feeling Dubai dining experience?
A Sunday lunch at Picanha Brazilian Steakhouse, sat outside if possible, with the pão de queijo and mandioca on the buffet and an Argentine Malbec, comes closest to a Paraguayan family Sunday-asado experience. It is not Paraguayan food — but the social structure and the mix of meat-cassava-cheese-bread is the closest available approximation.
