Top Five

Belly-Dancing Restaurants

Forget what your mother said: Staring is required when belly dancers are present. Season bites of baba ghannouj with a little shimmy.

By Ellen Carpenter

1. Le Figaro Café

Live music and dancing are the special every Sunday night at this Village coffeehouse. Order a latte, and don’t be shy: Audience participation is encouraged.
184 Bleecker Street; 212-677-1100.

2. Chez Es Saada

Dancers snake up and down the rose-petal-strewn staircase at this Moroccan restaurant and lounge each weekend. Our advice: Skip dinner and head straight for the basement bar.
42 East 1st Street; 212-777-5617.

3. Le Souk

The male belly dancer is fetching, but the North African food is the true star: The citrus-prune lamb tagine will send you to a state of euphoria. Order a hookah for the table once you clean your plates.
47 Avenue B; 212-777-5454.

4. Tagine Dining Gallery

A highlight of Ninth Avenue’s international-food strip, Tagine adds a tummy twirl to every pheasant pie, Thursdays through Saturdays. And there are more types of couscous on the menu than rings on the dancers’ fingers.
537 Ninth Avenue, at 40th Street; 212-564-7292.

5. Turkuaz

Thursday night is always a belly-baring party at this West Side hot spot. Stay by the bar for a Turkish beer, or order a döner kebab in the velvet-tented dining room.
2637 Broadway, at 100th Street; 212-665-9541.