Dubai chef Shaw Lash at Mexican restaurant Lila Molino flies in her avocados and tomatillos, small, tart green fruits native to Central America that are a staple of Mexican cuisine and key for her colourful and spicy dishes. Now the two-month-old war in Iran is making such ingredients harder to source and more expensive, Lash and other chefs said, as the Gulf grapples with the closure of the ⁠Strait of Hormuz sea route and spiking jet fuel prices push up air freight costs.

Lash has scaled back production, cut her payroll, and is buying ingredients in smaller quantities for now - measures she expects to be temporary.…