7 Management has launched an incredible new initiative where selected crypto coins can now be used as payment in all their F&amp;B outlets; Theatre, Seven Sisters, B018, February 30, Antika, Lucia&rsquo;s, and Caf&eacute; Beirut.

7 Management has always been ahead of the curve and continues in this progressive vein by pioneering this payment scheme using Bitcoin, Ethereum, Litecoin, and BitcoinCash.

Guests can pay through their crypto wallet provided they use one of the above-mentioned coins, they then simply scan a barcode appearing on the outlet&rsquo;s secure POS. Hey presto, your bill is paid using your crypto accumulations.

This is such an exciting move and certainly a sign of the times and a reminder of how mammoth this world of crypto is!

7 MANAGEMENT HAS ALWAYS BEEN AHEAD OF THE CURVE BY PIONEERING CRYPTO PAYMENTS

Rabih Fakhreddine on how 7Management is taking over the region and soon, the world

Rabih Fakhreddine knows a thing or two about growth.

In the last eight months, the founder and CEO of 7Management has expanded his business to be one of the leading F&amp;B and entertainment companies in the region. After years of success in Lebanon, the brand moved to Dubai and launched Seven Sisters with a bang, followed by Antika Bar. Since then, 7Management has opened one successful venue after the next, including The Theater, February 30, BO18, Caf&eacute; Beirut and, most recently, Lucia&rsquo;s at Address Sky View.

Caterer Middle East sat down with Fakhreddine at one of his flagship venues, The Theater, to chat about his achievements so far and the global plans he has for 2022 onward.

He said, &ldquo;I am very proud of the work we have done. We launched six venues in the last eight months and we have four new projects coming up this year in Dubai alone.&rdquo;

Fakhreddine exclusively told Caterer, that Dubai can expect four more 7Management venues in 2022. He said: &ldquo;A launch that I am particularly excited about, is a big one coming up in October 2022 on the rooftop of the Meydan Hotel. It will be the number one oriental lounge in the region. It will be massive. A capacity of 600 seats with a mega stage offering live performances. We are going to have a major partnership with the dance theatre group Caracalla, who will add a magic touch to the show.&rdquo;

&ldquo;I consider Dubai one of the dining capitals of the world. So there is no other place we would first launch such a project. I believe this new Oriental lounge will be one of 7Management&rsquo;s top international brands.&rdquo; 
Fakhreddine was a bit more tight-lipped about his fourth upcoming project. &ldquo;All I can say is that we are launching a very food-focused high-end Lebanese dining concept at Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab Hotel when it opens. This will be launched in collaboration with one of the most well-known and famous Levantine chefs in the region. I believe Jumeirah Marsa Al Arab hotel will be the hottest hotel addition to the city, and we are so lucky to get a location there.&rdquo; 
&ldquo;It was our first venue that really mixed both great entertainment and good food. Since then, I believe, every one of our venues has achieved it,&rdquo; a proud Fakhreddine added. 
Fakhreddine said he learned a lot from the pandemic. &ldquo;I discovered that customers are looking for a one-stop-shop. I call it the Netflix effect. They want everything available to them in one go.&rdquo;

According to Fakhreddine, the live performances will showcase all the different Arab cultures including shows from Egypt, Lebanon, Syria, Iraq and more. &ldquo;At this stage, we will portray all the colours and the rich culture of the Arab world,&rdquo; he added. &ldquo;It is something big that we&rsquo;ve been working on for a while now. This will be the biggest project that we have launched so far and I am so glad to be launching it in Dubai.

Fakhreddine was also excited to share the announcement of Lucia&rsquo;s By The Sea, a beach restaurant concept offering top-quality Italian cuisine by the sea. He said: &ldquo;The success of Lucia&rsquo;s was unprecedented. It was so well received by diners in Dubai, that we are already expanding the restaurant regionally, while also launching it on the beach on Palm Jumeirah. Another venue set to launch on the Palm is Seray, a fine dining Lebanese restaurant. Both Lucia&rsquo;s and Seray will open in Q4 of 2022.&rdquo;

After the success of Fakhreddine&rsquo;s beachfront spot, February 30, he strongly believes in Palm Jumeirah as an F&amp;B destination. He added: &ldquo;We&rsquo;ve studied the market well, and learned that there is no proper Italian restaurant in the area where we&rsquo;ll open. So we believe that our festive Italian venue will do very well as a beachside concept. Guests can expect a gorgeous view, fantastic ambience, entertainment and most importantly, great quality food.&rdquo;

Marrying dining and entertainment

Take one look at 7Management&rsquo;s venues and you&rsquo;ll see a pattern. A great location, top-quality F&amp;B and phenomenal entertainment. &ldquo;We started out in the entertainment industry back in Beirut. Whether it was February 30, Antika or Seven Sisters, we operated mainly as an entertainment destination. It is not easy to crack the food side of the business when your focus is entertainment, but I can proudly say that we managed to do that with The Theater.

And so Fakhreddine acted accordingly. &ldquo;We launched the Theater with this in mind. I am so grateful for my team there. Within eight months, they managed to make it one of the top venues in the city, and just because we are on top, does not mean we will lean back.&rdquo; He explained that creative director Guy Manoukian and the team will continue to plan more surprise performances, upgrades to the experience and fresh show ideas.

Moving on to February 30, Fakhreddine said its introduction was a big hit. He added. &ldquo;We are doing more than 1,000 covers a day and our partnership with chef Reif Othman for the menu was so successful. Clients love the food there and they share this feedback with us all the time. To me, he&rsquo;s one of the best chefs in town.

Lucia&rsquo;s, 7Management&rsquo;s latest addition, is the talk of the town, according to Fakhreddine. Located at Address Sky View, Downtown, the Italian venue opened its doors in mid-February and promises Sicilian and Capri-inspired Italian cuisine.

He said: &ldquo;Chef Enrico Paiola did a great job on the menu. People are telling me that they love the food. I think we managed to launch the first festive Italian venue in Dubai. It has had excellent reviews and it&rsquo;s fully booked every day. To me, the secret recipe is to truly understand what the customer wants and to try to come up with the concepts and brands that give them the experience that they are looking for.&rdquo;

Big Expansion plans across Saudi Arabia

At the end of 2021, Fakhreddine entered the Saudi market with Caf&eacute; Beirut at Riyadh Boulevard and an Antika pop-up at the Oasis area, as part of the Riyadh season. He said: &ldquo;Caf&eacute; Beirut is located on the boulevard in the heart of Riyadh, facing the Riyadh fountain with more than 200 seats both indoor and outdoor. It is a permanent venue, while Antika is currently a pop-up. It has indoor and outdoor seating and live entertainment to go along with great Lebanese food.&rdquo;

According to Fakhreddine, the two concepts were a runaway success. &ldquo;Caf&eacute; Beirut has a lot of scalability in Saudi Arabia. I see three more launching in Riyadh, maybe two in Jeddah and one in Khobar in the near future.&rdquo;

What Fakhreddine loves about Saudi Arabia is that the market so far doesn&rsquo;t depend on tourists. He said: &ldquo;It is 95 percent a local market and they are hungry for something new. Especially when it comes from the region.&rdquo;

He added: &ldquo;Back in the 1990s it was common to see international imports. They were mostly casual eateries, then, in the early 2000s, came to a shift towards more homegrown outlets. However, back then the focus was mainly on caf&eacute;s. The caf&eacute; was where people used to hang out. It was a socially acceptable venue to enjoy a night out. Because of that, there weren&rsquo;t many lifestyle brands and now that more high-end concepts and lifestyle brands are launching in Saudi, we had to be a part of it.&rdquo;

Fakhreddine was already in negotiations to launch his venues in the Kingdom before the pandemic. He said: &ldquo;7Management was approached by the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia so that we can expand our concepts there. And Saudi, as a market, has plenty of room for growth. I find it so unique. Saudi Arabia to me is the name of the game.

&ldquo;Riyadh is evolving at a very fast pace. It is becoming more open to new ideas, more liberal and a place where a lot of brands want to be seen. Saudi&rsquo;s F&amp;B market is still so young, it has room for so much. I see it as such a powerful destination, that I am establishing 7Management KSA. Dubai will be the regional office, but we will definitely have a structure in the Kingdom. Over there, they generally love Lebanese concepts, music, and design. So I expect The Theatre, Antika and Seven Sisters to be opened in Saudi by 2025.&rdquo;

7Management in Qatar, Egypt and more

&ldquo;I am expanding aggressively in Qatar,&rdquo; Fakhreddine said. &ldquo;We are so excited for 2022 there. You have the World Cup and a big tourism boom taking place there soon. We currently have the number one nightlife venue there with Antika at the Kempinski Hotel in Qatar.

&ldquo;We opened a year ago and partnered with Al Fardan Hospitality. We are also opening Lucia&rsquo;s and BO18, as well as Seven Sisters. We are also in negotiations for Caf&eacute; Beirut.&rdquo; 
Egypt is also a big focus, with February 30 opening at the North Coast this season and Lucia&rsquo;s and Cafe Beirut in Cairo due in 2023. Also next year, Lucia&rsquo;s will open in Greece, 7 Management&rsquo;s first venture into Europe. Fakhreddine said: &ldquo;I believe that Athens is a market that has a lot of potential, we will do a lot there across our portfolio. We are also actively looking to have The Theater in London and Las Vegas in the next two to three years.&rdquo;

There are also plans to launch Antika in Bahrain by the end of 2022.

Looking ahead

Fakhreddine is very proud that his homegrown concepts are getting demand from international hotels, saying that it&rsquo;s all down to such a successful 2021 and 2022 so far.

He added: &ldquo;It was a great year, and we&rsquo;re looking to grow the organisation in 2023. I&rsquo;m working on the operational side right now, making sure we have the right talent because we have a big and fast expansion coming up.&rdquo;

With no launches planned for the summer, Fakhreddine will be focusing on the operational side of venues that are already up and running and for 7Management as a whole. He added. &ldquo;I&rsquo;m getting ready for our international expansion. We&rsquo;re also planning to announce our rewards program. As we have a big database across our brands, we will be launching a 7Management loyalty program, which will enable people to visit all of our outlets and benefit from rewards across the region.&rdquo;

He also believes that Dubai will continue to grow. &ldquo;The past six months have been great,&rdquo; he said. &ldquo;We thought after December 2021, the market would slow down, but our numbers overachieved by 20 to 30 percent. I have a good feeling about the future.&rdquo;

RABIH FAKHREDDINE IS TAKING 7MANAGEMENT TO THE GLOBAL STAGE

Fakhreddine says his brands have a real opportunity for scalability in Saudi Arabia.

After launching in Beirut, 7 Management has grown with speed over the past year, with five openings in the past few months in Dubai. After years of success in Lebanon, the brand moved to Dubai and launched Seven Sisters with a bang, followed by Antika Bar. Since then, 7 Management has opened The Theatre, February 30, BO18, Le Rose, Cafe Beirut and, most recently, Lucias.

Caterer Middle East sat down with Rabih Fakhreddine, founder and CEO of the hospitality group, to chat about big plans he has for the next few years.

He said, &ldquo;I am very proud of the work we have done so far in Saudi Arabia. We&rsquo;ve already launched two of our well-loved brands to our customers and fans in Riyadh and we will soon be structuring 7 Management in KSA with several exciting international names from our portfolio.&rdquo;

At the end of 2021, Fakhreddine entered the Saudi market with Caf&eacute; Beirut at Riyadh Boulevard and an Antika pop-up at the Oasis area, as part of Riyadh season.

He said: &ldquo;Caf&eacute; Beirut is located on the boulevard in the heart of Riyadh, facing the Riyadh fountain with more than 200 seats both indoor and outdoor. It is a permanent venue, while Antika is currently a pop-up. It has indoor and outdoor seating and live entertainment to go along with great Lebanese food.&rdquo; According to Fakhreddine, the two concepts were a runaway success. &ldquo;Cafe Beirut has a lot of scalability in Saudi Arabia. I see three more launching in Riyadh, maybe two in Jeddah and one in Khobar in the near future.&rdquo;

A market that doesn&rsquo;t depend on tourists

What Fakhreddine loves about Saudi Arabia is that the market isn&rsquo;t affected by the tourist season. He said: &ldquo;It is 95 percent a local market and they are hungry for something new. Especially when it comes from the region.&rdquo;

He added: &ldquo;Back in the 1990s it was common to see international imports. They were mostly casual eateries, then, in the early 2000s, came a shift towards more homegrown outlets. However, back then the focus was mainly on cafes. The cafe was where people used to hang out. It was a socially acceptable venue to enjoy a night out. Because of that, there weren&rsquo;t many lifestyle brands and now that more high-end concepts and lifestyle brands are launching in Saudi, we had to be a part of it.&rdquo;

Fakhreddine was already in negotiations to launch his venues in the Kingdom before the pandemic. He said: &ldquo;7 Management was approached by the General Entertainment Authority in Saudi Arabia so that we can expand our concepts there. And Saudi, as a market, has plenty of room for growth. I find it so unique. Saudi Arabia to me is the name of the game.

&ldquo;The city is evolving at a very fast pace. It is becoming more open to new ideas, more liberal and a place that a lot of brands want to be seen. Saudi&rsquo;s F&amp;B market is still so young, it has room for so much. I see it as such a powerful destination, that I am establishing 7 Management KSA. Dubai will be the regional office, but we will definitely have a structure in the Kingdom. Over there, they generally love Lebanese concepts, music, and design. So I expect The Theatre, Antika and Seven Sisters to be opened in Saudi within the next three years.

7 Management in Qatar, Egypt and more

&ldquo;I am expanding aggressively in Qatar,&rdquo; Fakhreddine said. &ldquo;We are so excited for 2022 there. You have the world cup and a big tourism boom taking place there soon. We currently have the number one nightlife venue there with Antika at the Kempinski Hotel in Qatar. We opened a year ago and partnered up with Al Fardan Hospitality and we opened Antika there. We are also opening February 30 and launching BO18, as well as Seven Sisters. We are also in negotiations with Cafe Beirut.&rdquo;

&ldquo;We&rsquo;re also focusing a lot on Egypt on Cairo and the North Coast and expanding to Europe with our brand February 30 next year in Athens, Greece. I believe that Athens is a market that has a lot of potential, we will do a lot there across our portfolio. We also have aspirations to have The Theater in London and Las Vegas in the next two to three years.&rdquo;

CATERER ME - 7 MANAGEMENT’S RABIH FAKHREDDINE: “SAUDI ARABIA IS THE NAME OF THE GAME RIGHT NOW”

Lucia&#39;s is an elegant new Italian restaurant in Downtown Dubai.

Nestled in the Address Sky View, Downtown Dubai, Lucia&rsquo;s boasts a striking Mediterranean aesthetic, Burj Khalifa views and a sophisticated menu.

The newly launched Lucia&rsquo;s at Address Sky View, Downtown Dubai, is an elegant restaurant where diners can indulge in delightful Italian flavours within a vibrant, playful setting.

A striking indoor seating aside, the concept also features an al fresco terrace awash with Mediterranean vibes, a lemon and blue aesthetic and lush greenery. Impressive Downtown and Burj Khalifa views elevate the charm of the outdoor space.&nbsp;

Expect a menu brimming with generous Italian dishes, meant to be shared with loved ones in a fun, relaxed atmosphere. Seafood from Sicily features with the likes of Lucia&rsquo;s Torre di crudi di mare (sliced Mediterranean red snapper with a citrus dressing), a sharing plate for up to four people. Meat lovers can enjoy the Beef carpaccio (lightly-seared beef tenderloin with rocket, parmesan, shaved black truffle and a balsamic vinegar dressing).

A delicate Ricotta ravioli with homemade pasta, buffalo ricotta, caviar, red prawn tartare and Amalfi lemon zest; and the Milanese di vitello, a 500gm milk-fed veal chop cooked in butter with a side of rocket, cherry tomatoes and parmesan are dishes to try too.

End on a sweet note with Crostata al limone di Capri, a shortcrust pastry dessert with Capri lemon cream, meringue and raspberry gel that is bound to please.

Open from Monday to Sunday from 7pm-3am. Call +9714 422 4321 or email reservations@luciasdubai.com. Visit <a href="https://www.instagram.com/luciasdubai/?hl=en">Instagram.</a>

LUCIA'S - BBC GOODFOOD ME

REVIEW: LUCIA'S - BBC GOODFOOD ME

What&rsquo;s the mood at Seven Sisters, you ask? Well, moody.

Be it the dim lighting or pounding baseline, this lively bar at JW Marriott Marquis Dubai&nbsp;has attitude in spades. 
 
And that attitude rubs off on its patrons in the best possible way, making for plenty of animated tables and as-good-as-it-gets seated dance moves. 
 
There&rsquo;s an array of signature mixed drinks, the Strawberry Garden a real, well, smash with herbal grape syrup, pink grapefruit and lime. 
 
This is a night out that would (we imagine) err on the side of rowdy under &lsquo;normal&rsquo; circumstances, so we only dip our toes into the appetiser menu. 
 
The focus here is very much on the beats and bevs &ndash; weighing yourself down with mains means less time for seated shimmies. 
 
Rock shrimp tempura hits the mark &ndash; the dynamite sauce providing more of a pop than explosion but a decent pick from a well-stocked larder. 
 
Keeping things manageble, the &lsquo;mini main&rsquo; arrives in the shape of a trio of beef sliders. The hat-trick comprises brie cheese and truffle paste, barbecue, cheddar and mayo, and blueberry jam, lettuce and tomato. 
 
The truffle paste is the determining factor in the three-horse race, the curation of which alongside the soft brie ensures a satisfying fruity snap &ndash; take 
note, dynamite sauce, that&rsquo;s how to inject some flavour into the operation. 
 
Waiting staff are hot-footed between bar and table, and will be quick to steer guests to the Seven Sisters Planet menu &ndash;featuring drinks&nbsp;from around 
the globe. 
 
At a time when travel is mightily tough, Seven Sisters gives us all a chance to see &ndash; and taste &ndash; the wider world.

INJECT SOME ATTITUDE INTO YOUR NIGHT OUT

What was the inspiration behind the new venue?

After thorough market research in Dubai, we thought this concept would fit the market perfectly. The Theater is a live entertainment, dinner show venue. It&rsquo;s where East meets West and that&rsquo;s where the idea first started. We believe Dubai has a lot of brands that cater for the Western clientele and at the same time a lot of brands that cater for the Oriental clientele. What we&rsquo;ve managed to at The Theater is the best of both worlds. It&rsquo;s the Oriental Moulin Rouge and at the same time the Vegas experience.

&nbsp;

Why now?

Socially the trend is shifting from the hardcore nightlife to the dinner and lounge experience, especially with Covid. The brand should have launched in January but due to the live entertainment restrictions we had to postpone. We&rsquo;re witnessing that people previously used to go from one place to another, whether it was bar hopping or nightclubbing, but now the clientele prefer to have a full experience in one place and go home satisfied. One of the main strengths of The Theater is we have a bit of everything. We have a full line-up of the best artists in the region, whether it be Western or Oriental.

&nbsp;

How important is the food?

We focused a lot on the dining experience. That&rsquo;s why we brought one of the best chefs from London, he&rsquo;s an ex-Michelin-starred chef. At The Theatre it will be Italian and Japanese cuisine &ndash; the best of the fine dining cuisines. Japanese is more for the people that are looking for nibbles, looking for sharing food, and everyone loves Italian so that&rsquo;s why we gave a touch of Italian twist as well. As important as the entertainment and the food is the location. We are in the heart of Dubai, at the Fairmont Hotel on Sheikh Zayed Road. We firmly believes this is a legacy location, all Dubai knows it. We&rsquo;re hoping it will allow easy access to all the people that want to come and try The Theater.

&nbsp;

How did Covid affect operations?

Like all players in the entertainment and F&amp;B industry, we had a big hit. Covid was aggressive in this regard, but we managed to be proactive. We cut costs and thought outside the box on how we can pass this phase and we are still here today &ndash; we managed to keep the company on its feet. Hopefully we are at the end of the tunnel and we can see the light, particularly here in Dubai. It&rsquo;s no longer a regional destination, Dubai is now on the international map. When you say London and Las Vegas, you say Dubai, and that&rsquo;s why international brands are expanding here.

&nbsp;

What are your expansion plans?

We strongly believe Dubai is the place to be and that&rsquo;s why 7 Management has an aggressive expansion plan. We&rsquo;re launching six brands this year. The Theater is the first one. We&rsquo;re launching Lucia&rsquo;s a festive Italian concept at Address Sky Views. There&rsquo;s February 30, a beach club which will be at the West Palm. Caf&eacute; Beirut, one of our homegrown brands, at Downtown Dubai.

We&rsquo;ll also be launching BO18, a legacy brand from Beirut, at Media City, and a French concept called Le Ros&eacute; at Address Fountain Views. So quite a big expansion. We&rsquo;re also expanding across the region. In Saudi Arabia we&rsquo;re launching two pop-ups which are Antika and Caf&eacute; Beirut hopefully by Q4 2021. We&rsquo;re also focusing a lot on Egypt on Cairo and the north coast, and we currently have Antika at the Kempinski Hotel in Qatar. We&rsquo;re also expanding to Europe with our brand February 30 next year in Athens in Greece. I believe that Athens is a market that has a lot of potential, we will do a lot there across our portfolio. We also have aspirations to have The Theater in London and Las Vegas in the next two to three years.

&nbsp;

How positive are you about the future of Dubai?

As a person I&rsquo;m very optimistic in general. The pandemic was a hard time on everyone, the uncertainty was high, so we had to always give the positive energy to everyone. Dubai is a positive place to be &ndash; I personally consider it as my second home as I relocated here post-Beruit&rsquo;s explosion and I brought my family here because I believe that Dubai is the place to be. I truly believe in Dubai&rsquo;s vision that in 2040 it will be the best city in the world to live in. The people in Dubai can feel it already and our industry specifically will have a big boom in Dubai. It&rsquo;s a destination and everyone is coming here so I will be managing the regional expansion of 7 Management from here.

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&nbsp;

CATERER ME - WHY 7 MANAGEMENT CEO RABIH FAKHREDDINE IS EXCITED ABOUT THE THEATER

While New York might be the city that never sleeps, Dubai isn&#39;t far behind, with plenty of sensational nightlife venues to keep you entertained until the early hours. But now there&#39;s a new spot in town at the Fairmont Dubai, and it seems determined to blow everything else out of the water.

Opening to the public on Wednesday June 30, The Theater is set to be an all-singing, all-dancing and all-swinging (more on that in a moment) show featuring artists in from across the glove, and we&#39;ve got the skinny.

Tearing up the traditional divide between the performers and the audience, every seat in the house will have a view of the action thanks to the stage that runs throughout.

You&rsquo;ll be completely immersed watching all the action in front of you &ndash; until you spot the aerial dancers flown in from Vegas hanging from the ceiling, that is.

Every night, performers promise to take you on a musical adventure that incorporates legends from the past and present and blends both Eastern and Western influences.

Elements in the show range from reimaginings of iconic scenes from movies like Basic Instinct to journeys through the best of Arabic pop from the 80s until today.

The performance is set to get more and more lively as the night progresses, with a lead singer belting out tunes from artists such as Bryan Adams, Calvin Harris and Bruno Mars.

Director Guy Manoukian says, &ldquo;Whilst the whole world was in lockdown, we were looking for the underdogs and the hidden gems in the world of art and theater.

&quot;They&#39;re now starving for a performance, so when they&#39;re back on stage it&#39;s going to be unlike anything you&#39;ve ever seen before.&quot;

If the performances alone aren&rsquo;t enough to entice you, the show will be accompanied by an ultra-luxe dining menu.

The evening will begin with Beluga and Oscietra caviar alongside warm bites, and followed by mains such as wagyu tomahawk with shaved truffle or the lobster linguini.

You&#39;ll also have the chance to explore multiple bars dotted around the venue, including a retro-style speakeasy.

Organisers claim each show is a unique experience which follows a different theatrical theme with a distinct symbolic message &ndash; so we suppose you&rsquo;ll have to keep coming back again and again to try it out.

The Theater Dubai will be open from Wednesday to Saturday, with the first show seating at 7.30pm, followed by a second seating at 10pm.

You won&#39;t want to miss it.

Opening Wed June 30. Wed-Sat 7.30pm-2am. Fairmont Dubai, Sheikh Zayed Road (04 222 2268)

FIRST LOOK: NEW NIGHTLIFE VENUE THE THEATER AT FAIRMONT DUBAI

The retro Levantine venue will return on Wednesday July 8

Inspired by 1950&rsquo;s Lebanon, Antika Bar offers oriental cuisine fused with Arabic inspired dishes. Every Wednesday evening, girls can enjoy three complimentary beverages as well as 30 per cent off the food menu. 
If you can&rsquo;t make it on a Wednesday, there&rsquo;s a great after-work deal too. From 5pm to 8pm daily guests can enjoy house drinks including hand-crafted cocktails and spirits for Dhs30 and a sharing food platter for Dhs30, as well as 30 per cent off the main menu. 
Fans of DIFC&rsquo;s Levantine venue Antika Bar will be pleased to know that the popular spot plans to reopen its doors on Wednesday, July 8. Marking the occasion will be the added return of its much-loved ladies&rsquo; night. 
Guests can also soon expect the return of Antika Bar&rsquo;s exciting pool of talented entertainment, once government restrictions allow. You can expect to see a thrilling line-up of singers, dancers, DJ&rsquo;s and live musicians blending classic songs from European and Arabic genres. 
The venue has undergone a stringent cleaning process in order to be ready to reopen safely. Guests can rest assured that they are dining in a comfortable and hygienic venue, following a deep sanitization session. 
Staff will be required to wear masks at all times, and guests will be asked to wear theirs until they reach their table, which will be placed two meters away from the rest. 
Hassan Ballout, Chief Growth Officer of Seven Management, said &ldquo;As we emerge from crisis, we are excited and grateful to be able to serve the people of Dubai and provide a nostalgic escape from the worries of the world&rdquo;. 
Antika Bar, Floor 1, Al Fattan Currency House, DIFC, Mon to Sat from July 8, 5pm to 3am. Tel: (050) 735 9177. <a href="https://www.instagram.com/antikabardubai/">@antikabardubai</a>

ANTIKA BAR SET TO RETURN WITH ITS POPULAR LADIES’ NIGHT DEAL THIS WEEK

What can this famed Lebanese export bring to the DIFC scene that doesn&rsquo;t already exist?

&nbsp;

Al Fattan Currency House in DIFC has seen its fair share of closures. While Sass Caf&eacute; held it together for an impressive five years, others were not so lucky. R Trader, Jekyll &amp; Hyde, Beefbar, Cle and Crazy Fish each lasted little more than a year. 
So, it&rsquo;s with some apprehension we head to the building&rsquo;s latest opening, Antika Bar, a famed export from Lebanon&rsquo;s Beirut now calling Al Fattan home. The office tower is eerily quiet, and it&rsquo;s a welcome contrast to enter the colourful, striking restaurant on the podium level. 
It has the same high ceilings and split-level arrangement as its predecessor Sass Caf&eacute;, but that&rsquo;s about it when it comes to similarities. A floor to ceiling cabinet lines almost the entirety of the back wall filled with kitsch antiques; the bar is kitted out to look like the front of a retro Lebanese theatre; plush furnishings add vibrancy; while neon lights and carousel horses descending from the ceiling make look fun. It&rsquo;s bright and dramatic and ticks all the boxes for a restaurant that&rsquo;s been designed to be photographed. 
The Levantine menu is split between mezze, salads, mains and desserts. Kick off with the bright pink beetroot feta foam (Dhs45) from the mezze section, which is arguably our favourite dish of the evening. Soft and creamy feta whipped with beetroot is light and tasty, drizzled with truffle oil and green salsa. 
The shawarma chicken roll with tzatziki (Dhs60) is a perfect portion for sharing and while the chicken is tender, it&rsquo;s nothing out of the ordinary. A creamy keshek with black truffle (Dhs55) is as expected, a creamy consistency that&rsquo;s simply presented, well-seasoned and complimented by generous shavings of black truffle. 
The crunchy fattoush with roasted beetroot (Dhs50) is a nice salad of baby gem, cucumber, tomato and vinegar, that serves well as a lighter bar food option. The main courses are where the more international influence comes in, with a beef slider (Dhs90) and grilled chicken (Dhs70) both flavourful options. The beef slider is served simply with tomato, onion and molasses, while the grilled chicken is served on a bed of hindbeh (saut&eacute;ed greens) with molasses butter enriching the flavours. 
Finishing things on a sweet note, order the Ashta ice cream (Dhs60), a traditional Arabic dessert topped with cotton candy and pistachio for added crunch. 
This is fuss free but thoughtful Levantine cuisine that&rsquo;s been well designed to accompany an evening of drinks and entertainment. 
It&rsquo;s worth noting that the entertainment doesn&rsquo;t kick in until after 11pm, but Antika Bar has been designed as a late-night destination, and serves its purpose well.