Dubai: Soho Garden Launch Party and (not ugly) Zaroob

Yesterday I was invited to the Soho Garden launch party. It’s a new nightlife venue at the Meydan Racecourse Grandstand, consisting of several different bars and lounges as well as a pool area.

We arrived a bit late and the check in was rather chaotic, but well inside, we had a fun evening. It’s a huge place, so I was surprised to hear that this is only the first phase of what must be the biggest new nightlife venue in Dubai. When it’s all finished, there will be even more restaurants and bars including a branch of Drai’s, which some of you might know from Las Vegas. In fact, Soho Garden reminded me a lot about the giant nightclubs in Las Vegas such as XS and Marquee, but the themes of the different bars and lounges within the club seemed more distinct at Soho Garden. The places I liked the most were Negroni and Glasshouse, which would probably be the two places I would steer towards, if I’m going back.  Roger Sanchez was guest DJ that night and the soundtrack was a nice mix of chartbusters and remixes, which further accentuated the aforementioned Vegas-feel of the place.

On our way back home we stopped by Zaroob, which is a regional street food chain. They’re open 24 hours and they have the most delicious Garlic Chicken Wrapped Man’oushe. It’s the perfect late-night snack, and if you go, promise me, that you’ll order that one.

If you look at the photos below, you can see that there’s a word before “Zaroob” in the logo, and I’ve always thought it looked like it says “Ugly/Ugli Zaroob”. I asked a guy from the staff what the full name was, while trying not to giggle, and he said “Well everybody thinks it’s Ugly Zaroob, but it’s just Zaroob in Arabic!”. Mystery solved..