notes from a few years of living between Muscat and Sharjah
If you only try one thing here, make it karak. It's black tea boiled hard with evaporated milk, a lot of sugar, cardamom, and sometimes a few strands of saffron. It is not subtle. A small paper cup costs about one dirham at most places, and the best ones are almost never in a mall.
Mine is a cafeteria next to a petrol station on the way out of the city. Plastic chairs, a TV playing cricket, a man who has made probably a million cups and does not look up when he pours. You honk, someone comes to the car window, you hold up fingers for how many. That's the whole system.
Ask for it "less sugar" once to see what happens. It will still be very sweet.
Things that go with it: a chapati with cheese and chips folded inside (don't judge until you try), or a paratha with egg. Around ten at night the parking area is full and nobody is in a hurry.
I tried making it at home a few times. It's fine. It's never the same. I think the secret ingredient is the plastic chair.