Coya - Award-winning Peruvian Opens in the Capital

Abu Dhabi can’t get enough South American food at the moment. Coya, in The Galleria, is the third venue to open in the past few months and this one focuses on cuisine from Peru. It’s already a popular haunt in Dubai and there are also branches of this award-winner in Miami and London.

Coya is a decidedly hip venue and we’ll let the photo do the talking on this occasion with regards to the décor, because we want to talk about the atmosphere. What’s On visited on a Tuesday night and the place was rammed. A band was playing, but at times it was hard to hear them over the chatter from the guests. It’s incredibly buzzy.

The menu is full of ceviche dishes, guacamole, tacos, meat skewers, small dishes such as roasted octopus, iron pot casserole- and risotto-style courses, plus mains such as Wagyu sirloin and lamp chops. A lot of the food is served tapas style and is made for sharing, and portion size was spot on – not too stingy, but not overwhelmingly big.