Home to Gerbou is a renovated 1987 building. The vision and design brief came from Tashkeel, the interiors from Kristina Zanic Consultants, and the bespoke furniture from the Tasmeem Tashkeel art and design collective — every element made from locally sourced, sustainable materials in celebration of the land and its people. The design draws from the landscape itself: a dry bar nicknamed the “crown canopy” inspired by the Ghaf trees beyond the windows, dining chairs carved from naturally fallen Ghaf that echo the building’s heritage arches, and a bronze sculpture of the Eurasian collared dove holding the desert rose and the bint al matar insect of the rains within its form. Inside, camel leather sofas speak to a nose-to-tail philosophy, Sadu inlaid tables honour Bedouin weaving, fish scale chandeliers recall the sea, and at the heart of the room hangs Herbarium, a custom handblown LASVIT chandelier of imprinted plants finished in gold leaf.

Here, design and gastronomy are inseparable. The cuisine is grounded in the UAE and the recipes of the people living within it, reinterpreted through contemporary techniques alongside traditional methods that need no changing, such as underground pit cooking. More than a restaurant, Gerbou is a narrative connecting the past and future of the UAE — a space to feel, reflect, discover and connect.

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