Caro
Location: Dubai, UAE
Area: 283 m²
Year: 2024
Photo: Serhii Nekrasov
Caro is a steakhouse in the five-star Fairmont Hotel in Dubai. It has a bourgeois atmosphere and cosmopolitan aesthetic resembling iconic London and New York meat restaurants.
Classic white tiles, stucco ceiling moldings, and a restrained color palette are complemented by accents of a vintage butcher shop. The focal point of the space is a suspended glass installation that is reminiscent of animal carcasses in a butcher shop.
The layout of the geometrically sophisticated windowless space is developed around two central elements: the bar and the cabinet for maturing meat.
The bar with a massive marble countertop is divided into two islands, like a steak cut in half. At Caro, the focus is on cocktails, but also serves traditional meat and wine. There is a DJ station next to the bar.
The color scheme of the restaurant includes a restrained palette of shades of white, natural tones of wood and leather in combination with glossy accents of the pendant lamps. The illuminated pink salt panel in the meat ripening cabinet is the brightest color spot in the space.
Stylized elements of a butcher's shop greet guests right at the entrance to the restaurant. The hostess desk is made of glued solid wood which resembles a traditional butcher's board. Guests enter the restaurant through a massive door that looks like the entrance to a refrigerator. The lamps in the hall hang on metal hooks that imitate the hooks from a butcher's shop. The leather curtain, divided into vertical stripes, is an allusion to the industrial plastic curtain often used in warehouses and production facilities.
The focal point of the interior is an artistic installation of hanging glass elements resembling the legs of a jamon. The light rays passing through the textured glass illuminate the table and create a chamber atmosphere of the VIP room. That is a custom work by a Lviv glass workshop.
Another custom design is the floor lamps in the great hall. At first glance, they have a traditional shape, but if you look closely, their central support resembles the animal backbone.
The VIP room is divided from the rest of the hall Wine racks. Its long table is complemented by a mobile station with a grill for the chef. This way, the meal turns into a solemn event, when the chef communicates with the guests and grills steaks for them exactly how they like it best. There is also a mobile bar and a wine station.
- We were faced with the task of creating a unique New York steak house vibe in a complex space without access to daylight. We combined the exquisite aesthetics of decadence with elements of a nineteenth-century butcher shop. We mixed masculine brutality with a salon feminine mood. After all, all guests are united by a love of meat. - says Dmytro Bonesko, art director of YOD Group.
