There is a particular kind of week in Dubai, the kind where the city surprises you. Where an art installation stops you mid-conversation, a new café makes you reconsider what coffee can be, and a candlelit room transports you, briefly, to somewhere else entirely. This week, Dubai is delivering on all of it. Here is where to go and what to do.
Coffee Stop — Cherry House, Al Safa 1
Dubai has no shortage of good coffee. What it rarely has is theatre. Cherry House, the quietly anticipated new opening in Al Safa 1 from Emirati entrepreneur Mohamed Matar Al Koas Al Falasi, has both. Freshly roasted beans travel through transparent pipes overhead via an overhead belting system, the first of its kind in the UAE, before descending to your cup. The result is part café, part spectacle, entirely worth the detour. Go early, go slowly, and stay longer than you planned.
Beach Club — Bvlgari Serpenti Beach Club, Jumeirah Bay Island
The Bvlgari Resort has always occupied its own category in this city, a place that manages to feel both of Dubai and entirely removed from it. Now, with the opening of Serpenti Beach Club at La Spiaggia, non-guests can access one of the most coveted stretches of coastline on Jumeirah Bay Island. Pristine loungers, signature cocktails, light bites, and views of the Arabian Gulf that make everything else feel very far away. Weekday access starts from Dhs500, fully redeemable on food and drinks. Consider it an investment in perspective.
Art Stop — Earthbound at ISOLA Space, Business Bay
ISOLA Space, tucked along The Lana Promenade at Dorchester Collection in Marasi Bay, has become one of the more quietly essential addresses on Dubai’s cultural map. The current exhibition, Earthbound, is worth slowing down for, a show that asks something of its viewer rather than simply offering something to look at. In a city that moves quickly, that is no small thing. Go, linger, feel something.
Night Stop — Le Piaf, Jumeirah Emirates Towers
Somewhere between a Parisian brasserie and a fever dream, Le Piaf at Jumeirah Emirates Towers is the kind of room that makes you want to dress up and arrive late. Red velvet, candlelight, live music drifting between the tables, it is an evening rather than a meal, and a reminder that hospitality, at its best, is a form of storytelling. Dubai has many places to eat. Fewer places to be transported.
Art & Dine — Ihab Ahmad x La Petite Maison, DIFC
Until the end of the month, Lebanese artist Ihab Ahmad has taken up residence inside La Petite Maison at Gate Village No. 8, DIFC. His vibrant, joyful works, rooted in themes of optimism and hopefulness, expressed through bold compositions that pulse with colour and movement, are woven throughout the restaurant, accompanying guests from arrival to table. It is a rare thing: a collaboration that genuinely enhances both the art and the dining experience, rather than merely decorating one with the other. Book a table. Stay for the paintings.
Dining — Tasha’s, Various Locations
Some places earn their place on a list not because they are new, but because they remain reliably, consistently good. Tasha’s is one of those places. Designed by Verhaal, warm interiors, beautiful food, an unhurried energy that makes lunch stretch comfortably into the afternoon, it is the kind of restaurant that a city needs as much as it needs the next opening. Find your nearest location and go without occasion or check out the new spot in Sharjah.
The Monday Edit is a weekly series from City Checklist, taking you through the best of the world’s most exciting cities — one monday at a time. Next week: Ibiza.
