Condé Nast International Restaurants partnered with Inspired Lifestyle to open GQ Bar Dubai, located in the JW Marriott Marquis Hotel, Dubai, and held its official launch in January 2014.
The sleek bar and restaurant is housed in a two-storey 994m2 space. Designed by Bash Hesnef, the venue can seat 60 in the restaurant, 280 in the lounge, with standing capacity at more than a 1000 people.
GQ Bar Dubai general manager Nicolas Pierre says: “I’ve been in Dubai for many years now, and I wanted to bring a team together that didn’t exist anywhere here.” Citing the importance of having a cosmopolitan team, Pierre says GQ Bar now has 24 nationalities under its wing, speaking different languages. He adds: “We have people coming from different experiences who can bring different ideas to the table; it’s a very knowledgeable team.”
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When asked what is special about the venue, Pierre irrevocably says: “It’s the staff. I have done more than 750 interviews and I have hired 50 people. We want people-friendly employees, we want a lot of engagement on the table, and we want someone who believes in the brand.”
Explaining the set-up, Pierre says: “We have five different areas: we have a restaurant with a Mediterranean influence to it, then we have a cocktail bar.” He continues: “Upstairs we have a social bar, and on weekends it’s working fantastically. We have the outside terrace, where people can relax, smoke shisha, and with cozy seating.” The fifth area is the lounge, which is “very masculine”. Pierre adds the brand is considering a cigar lounge as well.
He is proud of the front-of-house bar team and its products. He says: “We have products in the bar that we don’t see in Dubai.”
GQ Bar Dubai head bartender Marcus Robinson is one of seven bartenders who have been recruited from all over the world. He says the team has a “passion for pushing the GQ cocktail scene in Dubai”.
He adds: “We know there are a handful of bars in town that are doing it quite well, but we are here to build the entire cocktail culture in Dubai to another level. We do a lot of infusions, we make our own foams, we age cocktails in barrels, something which is a little new to the Dubai scene.”
Robinson says the team is big on presentation. He adds: “Obviously number one is taste in the cocktail world; if it doesn’t taste good, it’s not a good cocktail. But once we have nailed down the taste, we definitely look for that extra edge, using funky and creative vessels — like one of our drinks will come out in a ceramic cherry jar, things like that... coming up with cool and innovative ways to serve drinks.”
Pierre concludes: “So far, everyone coming here says they will come back and they do. In terms of service, there has never been a complaint, which has been very encouraging for what we do.”
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