Najma is a dense residential and commercial district just south of the old city centre, largely inhabited by South Asian, Filipino, and Arab migrant workers. It is the least touristic and most genuinely urban part of Doha: narrow streets, hardware stores, tailors, spice shops, cheap South Asian and Egyptian restaurants, and teahouses open until 2am.
For travellers willing to wander off the museum circuit, Najma offers the closest thing in Doha to street life as most cities understand it. The restaurants here — unnamed or simply numbered — serve Pakistani curries, Egyptian fuul, and Filipino adobo for a fraction of the Souq Waqif price. The area is entirely safe and the inhabitants are accustomed to the occasional wandering tourist.