It takes courage to open a new restaurant in Dubai. There are over 9,000 of them, a lot higher per capita ration than most capital Cities. The investment and labor required to getting the doors open is no mean feat, not for the faint hearted. Getting people through the door is quiet a challenge too, and getting them to spend money is even harder. 

Opening before the long hot summer months has been known to have castrophic and demoralizing effects on new restaurants and cafes, as the exitment of a shiny new space is killed off by lack of customers. 

You might wonder where this is going. I’m going to bring in another reality, but not from the business side. Often people find it hard to know ‘where is good to go’, ‘where do you recommend for breakfast, for a pool day, for a night out, somewhere to chill’. 

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This week I came across a new cafe cum shop in Al Quoz, that is a treat once you end up there, so much so that it feels like you’ve discovered something, yet, I’m not so sure it will be ‘busy’, given the sheer volume of options we all have, and, for what ever reason, our ability to connect the dots between knowing a cool place to chill, and actually spending time their, chilling. 

Type ‘Airwerks’ into Google Maps and you’ll take a few right and left turns in Al Quoz to find it, parking isn’t really an issue on the side of the road

The shop section is full of retro bicycle brands where pretty much all the essentials are available 

They do free bike service on Sundays, other places charge a few hundred dirhams for this, so that’s worth a visit alone

They also do group cycling rides in the evenings in Nad Al Sheba cycling track, if you are looking for a group to cycle with 

You’ll want to come back here for the space, it’s got a vibe that you can actually spend a few hours on your laptop at the weekend working or reading

There are lots of nice touches around the place, and there is a food truck inside for good ‘hipster’ measure

You can get healthy salads or mains and protein smoothies

It’s not super expensive either, poached egg breakfast for just AED 38

It’s not the first bike shop and cafe, Cycle Hub in Dubai Motor City has been hugely successful, so has Pdl located on SZR, to name a few