There is a strange gap in Ajman. Search for lunch here and you will be offered hotel business lunches starting around AED 69 a head, and almost nothing else, because nobody writing about this emirate bothers with the half of it where people actually eat on a Tuesday.
Four kilometres inland, a full lunch is AED 10 to AED 20. Same city. Here is how to eat it.
The important thing about lunch: speed is a menu choice
Most people getting lunch have somewhere to be, and on a Pakistani menu the cooking method decides the wait, not the price. Nobody tells you this, so people order a karahi at ten to one and then watch the clock.
Quick, because it is cooked in batches:
| Ready in minutes | AED |
|---|---|
| Chicken biryani, small | 10 |
| Chicken pulao, small | 10 |
| Special beef pulao, small | 10 |
| Daily salan, small | 5 |
| Daal of the day | 5 |
| Veg of the day | 5 |
| Beef nihari | 10 |
| Samosa | 2 |
| Pakistani shawarma | 7 |
Not quick, because it starts when you order:
| Cooked to order | Wait | AED |
|---|---|---|
| Chicken karahi, half | 15 to 20 min | 15 |
| Chicken tikka off the coals | 15 to 20 min | 10 |
| Chargha, half | 15 to 20 min | 18 |
| Mutton karahi, half | 30 min or more | 30 |
If you have forty minutes, order the karahi. If you have fifteen, order biryani and come back for the karahi on an evening when you can sit with it. Or message 050 720 8707 on the way and it will be finishing as you park.
The cheapest hot lunch here: the weekly menu
This is the part regulars use and visitors never find.
A different salan every day of the week, cooked fresh that morning in one batch, at AED 5 small and AED 8 large:
| Salan of the day | |
|---|---|
| Monday | Aloo chicken, or chicken qorma |
| Tuesday | Palak chicken, or chicken qorma |
| Wednesday | Mutton qorma at AED 10 small, or chicken qorma |
| Thursday | Mutton kaleji, or chicken qorma |
| Friday | Aloo qeema, or curry pakora |
| Saturday | Anda kofta, or daal chawal |
| Sunday | Chicken qorma, or aloo palak |
A daal and a vegetable run every single day at AED 5 small and AED 8 large.
Because it is one batch cooked in the morning, come before it runs out, and if a day's salan is finished the kitchen will tell you so. The full weekly menu is here.
Four lunches, costed
Under AED 10. Daal of the day at AED 5 with two tandoori roti at AED 1 each is AED 7, and it is a real meal rather than a snack.
Around AED 12. A small chicken biryani at AED 10 with a karak chai at AED 1. Quick, filling, done in twenty minutes including the sitting.
AED 19 for two people. A half Zafran chicken karahi at AED 15 with four tandoori roti at AED 1 each. This is the single best value order on the card and it is what to get if there are two of you.
Around AED 35 for two, properly. Half chicken karahi at AED 15, four roti at AED 4, a daily vegetable at AED 5, two lassi at AED 10. Nobody leaves hungry.
If you are visiting Ajman
Lunch is the meal where the gap between tourist Ajman and actual Ajman is widest, so this is worth saying plainly.
The Corniche is priced for the view, and the view is real. Four kilometres of seafront, and if that is the afternoon you want, have it.
But the industrial area is where the city eats, it is four to five kilometres inland, and there is no scenery whatsoever. Workshops, spare parts yards and fabrication sheds. That is precisely why the cooking has to be good and the prices have to be honest, and it is why a full lunch is AED 10 to AED 20 rather than AED 69.
Lunch is also the easiest meal to add to a day trip, because it sits between the morning at Al Zorah and the afternoon on the Corniche, and we are inland of both.
There is a full one day itinerary here and a guide to eating in Ajman as a visitor.
When to come
7:30 am to midnight, continuously. There is no lunch sitting and no kitchen close, so there is nothing to miss.
12 to 2 pm is the peak, when the workshops break. It is fast and functional and the room is full. 11:30, or after 2, is calmer and the food is identical.
More on eating well for under AED 20, on the monthly mess, and on where to eat in the Sanaiya generally.
Finding us
Shop 8/1, ground floor, Amman Street, Ajman Industrial Area 2, beside Nesto Hypermarket. Free street parking directly outside, step free from the pavement, indoor and outdoor seating, families welcome at every table.
Call or message 050 720 8707. We answer in English, Urdu, Hindi and Arabic, and cash and card are both accepted.
We do not deliver — you can eat here or collect at the counter. The full menu with every price is on this site, and each area of Ajman has its own page with the route in.
Common questions
- Where can I get a cheap lunch in Ajman?
- In the industrial area, four to five kilometres inland from the Corniche. At Zafran Kitchen on Amman Street a small chicken biryani is AED 10, a daily salan is AED 5 small or AED 8 large with rice or bread extra, and a half chicken karahi at AED 15 feeds two people with four roti for AED 19.
- How much is lunch in Ajman?
- It depends entirely on where you sit. The published hotel business lunches in Ajman start at around AED 69 a head. In the industrial area a full lunch runs AED 10 to AED 20, and that is the same city four kilometres apart.
- What is the quickest lunch at Zafran Kitchen?
- Biryani and pulao, because they are cooked in batches and plated immediately. A small chicken biryani is AED 10 and arrives in a couple of minutes. The daily salan from the weekly menu is just as fast at AED 5 small. A karahi is not quick, because it is cooked in the pan after you order it.
- What time is lunch served in Ajman Industrial Area 2?
- The kitchen runs continuously from 7:30 am to midnight, so there is no lunch window to miss. The busiest stretch is 12 to 2 pm when the workshops break, so arriving at 11:30 or after 2 means a quieter room and a faster table.
- Is there a lunch deal or set menu?
- There is a weekly menu rather than a deal: a different salan each day of the week, cooked fresh that morning in one batch, at AED 5 small and AED 8 large. It is the cheapest hot food we cook. For anybody eating here most days the monthly mess starts at AED 200 for one meal a day, which works out at about AED 6.70 a meal.
- Where should a tourist eat lunch in Ajman?
- Inland, in Ajman Industrial Area 2, if you want the food the city actually eats. The Corniche has the view and prices to match it. The industrial area has no view at all, which is exactly why the cooking has to carry it, and a full lunch there is AED 10 to AED 20 a head.
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Hungry now
Order it instead of reading about it
The kitchen is open every day from half past seven in the morning until midnight.