Qatar

Start where Qataris actually gather: a roadside cafeteria at midnight, engine running, a paper cup of karak passed through the window — black tea boiled thick with evaporated milk, sugar and cardamom, sweet enough to lean on. It is the unofficial national drink and the most democratic thing in Doha.

The food itself is quieter and mostly homebound. Machboos is the centrepiece, spiced rice cooked with meat or fish and sharp dried loomi, eaten by hand from a shared dish; around it circle madrouba, rice beaten creamy with butter, and thareed, torn bread soaked in a rich stew. The everyday streets, though, taste of Kerala and Lahore — biryani, fresh naan, kebabs — the food of the workers who built the towers. Save room for warm luqaimat, little fried dumplings drowned in date syrup, and a tiny cup of cardamom gahwa.