Bar Guide Dubai

World's 50 Best Bars editor Hamish Smith has been to Dubai - here is his bar guide

DRY IN MORE ways than one and governed under sharia law, Dubai isn’t the most obvious of drinking destinations. Yet, somehow, a bar scene has propagated between the loopholes of society. Tourism is the big revenue stream here, ever since Sheikh Mohammed transitioned the Emirate’s economy away from dwindling oil reserves (Abu Dhabi is where the real oil money is). And what do tourists want? Aside from sun, sand and insanely luxurious hotels, they want alcohol. It’s a deal breaker and the Emeriti knew it. That said, alcohol is still very restricted – bars might exist but they don’t exactly shout “2-for-1 cocktails” from the rooftops, which is actually a positive.

Standalone bars don’t really exist, so a bar tour in Dubai is really a hotel tour, with a few restaurants thrown in for good measure.

It’s different, but there are high quality hospitality experiences to be had. Of the dozen or so bars that get it right, these three stood out during our last visit.

ZUMA DUBAI

Gate Village 06, DIFC, PO Box 506620, Dubai, United Arab Emirates

zumarestaurant.com

Zuma is home to Frenchman Jimmy Barrat who, even within the Japanese restaurant group’s globalised concept, has managed to make his Dubai venue his own. This is now also the flagship of the group. Unusually for Dubai (bartenders tend to come and go) Barrat has been behind the stick for nine years. His back bar-come-central station is evidence of an erosion of the chain mentality. He has a mechanical cocktail shaker, a solera system and a Martini bar. Elaborate drinks in high volume is something to behold and few do it better than Zuma Dubai. This place has a bouncy feel with high-energy music and a buoyant, baying crowd. Locals and the Academy of The World’s 50 Best Bars see this as Dubai’s best cocktail bar, and it’s hard to argue in contradiction.

GOLD ON 27

27th floor, Burj Al Arab Jumeirah, Dubai

jumeirah.com

The “7-star hotel” Burj Al Arab Jumeirah has gone big on Gold On 27 – a palatial 27th-storey bar that opens up the famous Sail Hotel to non-staying guests for the first time. Bring your sunglasses – this place gleams with gold and has floor-to-ceiling views as good as any in Dubai. Gold On 27 could so easily have been about fruit bombs from a great height, but actually its drinks are aimed at a more cocktail-qualified clientele. Paul Bradley, formerly of The Grosvenor Hotel in London, presides over a menu that for once shows something of Dubai’s cultural heritage. Below the Ground plays on the tradition of water refrigeration in the region – the cocktail is ‘conditioned’ in stone jugs. The Rub’ Al Khali uses camel milk-washed bourbon, Kholas dates and prunes. Finally in a luxury Dubai hotel, the drinks are as mouth-watering as the décor is eye-watering.

LITTLE BLACK DOOR

The Conrad Dubai, Sheikh Zayed Road, Mezzanine 1, Hotel Lobby (side entrance)

knocktoenter.com

Little Black Door, at the base of a hotel and billed as a restaurant bar, is actually neither a hotel nor restaurant bar. You enter through – wait for it – a little black door and once inside you will find founder Yasin Saleh has gone against the grain with the design – there’s no gold in sight. We’d say it’s classically leaning, but not in the old-fashioned sense. There’s certainly nothing old-fashioned about the atmosphere – stay late and this place can really rock. Drinks are intelligent spins on classics and served on an impressive bar that runs the length of what is a large space. But this is no drinking hall. Indeed, the nooks and secret rooms of this place add to the experience – if you can find them. Little Black Door is an unexpectedly characterful bar that not only refuses to follow the rules of the Dubai bar scene, it likes to break them.