Bar review: Paradiso Dubai, FIVE LUXE JBR
Roll up, roll up, a circus of Spanish flare has breezed into town…
When it’s at its best, hospitality plays out like a conjuring trick. You’re presented with something that, at least initially, feels familiar and unexceptional but after some creative misdirection, a dramatic shuffling of the deck… Abracadabra, your expectations shatter as the metaphorical rabbit is yanked from the hat.
And like illusionism, it’s often what you don’t see that makes a particular leisure experience magical. You’re concentrating on the right hand, whilst the left is deliberately held back and doing all the work. But one of Dubai’s newest drinking holes, Paradiso goes yet further, inviting the line between bar craft and wizardry to disappear.
For my next trick
Paradiso’s story begins in Barcelona – a hidden bar within a sandwich shop in the city’s buzzing Gothic Quarter. The intimate space became known as a stage for tricksy mixology, word spread, and in 2022 the speakeasy was awarded the top spot in the World’s 50 Best Bars.
Earlier this year, the curtains swung open on a global expansion – Dubai, a smart choice for a brand seeking nightlife immortality. It’s found at FIVE LUXE JBR, and whilst it holds its Spanishness close to its chest, the Dubai location comes with a few new tricks up its sleeve.
Paradiso Dubai is larger and extends across both an interior and terrace space. The design theme is “two tickets to the vintage circus please” with sinister clown busts, carnival lights, mini Montgolfiers and big top colour schemes. It’s all suitably arcane.
Fantastic drinks and where to find them
The most vital Catalonian component is the famously ‘theatrical’ cocktail menu. As well as some of the bar staff behind it. In Dubai we’re treated to a ‘best of’ medley – with examples from past and present Barcelona drink collections. These are concoctions conceived on a mandate to wow and confuddle, a game of smoke and fun house mirrors.
There’s a truffle-y twist on an old fashioned, Great Gatsby (Dhs128); Legacy (Dhs80) – a rum-baded sip served inside a book with an edible printed page; a mezcal and hibiscus-based ‘cloud’ (Dhs90) which comes crowned with its own counterfeit cumuliform; but the real magic is in the preparation rituals, don’t miss the show, start with a seat at the bar.
Tada… Tapas
Big plates are out, tapas is in. At least in Paradiso. There are some gems in their collection – the plump and creamy truffle brioche pockets (Dhs55) stick their hooks deep into your dopamine receptors; the duck croquettes (Dhs50) are immediately reminiscent of Barcelona’s fabled street food scene; and the awe of the raw range almost makes up for the lack of traditional Iberico.
Verdict: Paradiso is one of the most creative cocktail spots in Dubai, once the crowds find out about it, there’ll be no more space in the big top.
FIVE LUXE JBR, The Walk, Mon to Fri 7pm to 2am, Sat to Sun 7pm to 3am. @paradisodubai
Images: Provided