Viability's Guy Wilkinson writes a monthly column for Hotelier Middle East Magazine. This article originally appeared in April 2010. For more information about Viability, please visit http://www.linkedin.com/company/2347942 or http://www.viability.ae/

1. 16
COMMENT
Bahrain’s ‘restaurant road’
Viability director Guy Wilkinson explains why Block 338, or ‘Restaurant Road’, in Manama is a
one-off dining destination in the GCC that would turn Dubai’s restaurateurs green with envy
itself, special, is that it has not been
built with the Disneyland approach
where you build something from
scratch with everything new.”
In what is surely a gentle dig at
Dubai, Sheikh Hamad is stressing
that in order to reflect the true Bah-
raini identity, there is no need to
build fake wind towers to offset the
dominance of international brands
like Planet Hollywood. Just take a
nice old neighbourhood and enhance
it with the islanders’ creativity and a
COLUMNIST
bit of help from the government.
The latter comes not only in the
lock 338 in Adliya, Ma- form of urban landscaping, but also
B nama, also known as ‘Res-
taurant Road’, is the only
place in the Gulf where
a ‘destination’ for high quality li-
censed restaurants has grown up
in the liberal licensing laws that
have allowed Adliya’s quiet resi-
dential streets to be filled with ‘res-
to-bars.’ It is quite literally the only
place in the Gulf where there is such
naturally, independently from any a permissive ambience.
luxury hotels. The 338 is in some sense the gov-
Now the district is the subject of ernment’s model neighbourhood as
an urban regeneration project by regards how the question of alcohol
the Urban Affairs department of One of Adliya’s famous steakhouses is The Meat Company, which has a rooftop bar with views of the city lights. should be dealt with. The implica-
the Bahrain Ministry of Municipali- tion is that it is safe, urbane and civi-
ties and Agriculture. Work on ‘The lised, much like the country itself,
338’, as it has been dubbed, started
IT IS THE ONLY PLACE IN THE GULF WITH and that drinking is not an issue.
last year and will see more parking SUCH A PERMISSIVE AMBIENCE This stands in stark contrast to the
spaces, better traffic circulation and reality experienced in other parts of
a new pedestrian road and square of numerous trendy Italian and Med- Adliya’s other famous steakhouse is Manama, most notoriously, Exhi-
akin to Bahrain’s own ‘Covent iterranean restaurants in the district, The Meat Company, which also has bition Avenue, where drinking and
Garden.’ Phase one is complete and also including Cico’s, Mino’s and a rooftop bar. Indeed, many of the prostitution are synonymous with
phase two is planned to be ready for La Pergola at the multi-outlet Gulf restaurants in Adliya have adjunct the worst kind of intra-regional tour-
the 2011 Bahrain Grand Prix. Hotel. Camelot is a castle-themed bars, lounges or terraces, a situation ism, which many Bahrainis abhor.
Even now, Block 338’s restau- French restaurant with a modern that would have many of the outlet It is for this reason that the alcohol
rants, cafés and bars are considered interior, created by club owner owners in Dubai’s equivalent Jumei- licenses of the one- and two-star
the apex of Manama’s F&B sector. Karim Miknas. Another French rah district in agonies of envy. hotels were recently revoked and
Mezzaluna, for example, is located option is the Jolie Maison Brasserie Although there are of course why there are some elements of the
in a traditional Bahraini courtyard de Luxe, which serves classic Gallic western F&B brands in Adliya, the parliament lobbying for much more
house, and features cosy but con- fare in sequinned interiors. prominent outlets in and around far-reaching restrictions on alcohol
temporary interiors and a continen- The elegant Ken Lo’s Memories ‘Restaurant Road’ are for the most in the country. As so often in its his-
tal menu from a French chef. The of China is a ‘westernised Chinese’ part either proudly Bahraini, or con- tory, Bahrain stands at a cross-roads,
ultra-trendy outlet is one of four restaurant franchise from London. tributions by westerners wanting to but the country can be relied on to
from Bahrain’s Alghalia WLL, also A close competitor is the equally creating a truly sophisticated district make a civilised compromise. HME
including Zoe, a hip lounge bar with renowned BamBu (Chinese and in their adopted country of Bahrain.
a DJ and a bistro menu, and Café Thai), while Mirai is a ‘new wave’ Sheikh Hamad Mohamed Al
Lilou, which has branches in both Japanese restaurant with a bar and Khalifa, director general of Urban
Adliya and Al Aali Mall, boasting a costly menu by Australian chef Planning Affairs at the Ministry
interiors reminiscent of a turn of the Dave Allen. The Brazil Rodizio is of Municipalities and Agriculture, Guy Wilkinson is a director of Viability, a
hospitality and property consulting firm in Dubai.
century Parisian brasserie. one of several Brazilian eateries in said of The 338: “I think the thing
For more information, e-mail: guy@viability.ae
The cool, minimalist Oliveto is one Bahrain to offer meat on skewers. that makes this project, and the area
April 2010 • Hotelier Middle East www.hoteliermiddleeast.com