El Gouna’s Signature Restaurant ‘Villa Coconut’ Makes Its Dubai Debut

Villa Coconut’s coastal taste arrives in the heart of Dubai’s financial district, with a design that brings El Gouna’s beachside rhythm into dialogue with the city’s cosmopolitan edge. The project is Egypt’s TLT Concepts’ first venture in the UAE, and it is meant to bring together Mediterranean dining, curated entertainment, and immersive design in an effortless and refined setting.
Designed by Cairo–Dubai-based MFARES & Associates – an Alchemy Studio – in collaboration with TLT Studios, the restaurant is conceived as a spatial journey that transitions from day to night and from exterior restraint to interior fluidity. The design language moves away from the expected spectacle of fine dining, favouring instead a composed material palette and an intuitive flow. Natural textures, soft curves, and subtle tonal layers shape an elevated yet grounded environment for this special culinary experience to unfold organically.
For designer Mohamed Fares, the starting point was more symbolic than aesthetic. “The coconut as a fruit holds various creative significances across cultures and contexts,” he explains. “From culinary arts to crafts, symbolism, sustainability, and cultural representation, its versatility and cultural resonance make it a rich source of inspiration.” In translating symbolism into form, he further describes the paradoxical nature of the fruit, saying: “Its rough, impenetrable shell protects the delicate flesh and sweetness, yet it is this very centre that offers life and sustenance.” These characteristics are reflected in the design concept, where the façade represents solidity and mystery, while the transition to the interior reveals the softness within.
That duality defines the entire space. The exterior’s quiet solidity gives way to an interior that opens into light, texture, and tactility. Earthy plaster finishes, Egyptian stone, and hand-finished details introduce craft into a setting that could otherwise lean too far towards being polished. One of the masterpieces in the space is the signature curved marble bar that extends outward toward the terrace, bridging inside and out in a gesture that mirrors the project’s overarching theme.
Hidden deeper within the space, ‘The Lava Room’ punctuates the experience with deliberate intensity. Designed as an “erupting golden cave,” the speakeasy’s sculptural form and rich materiality add an unexpected layer of intrigue, inviting guests to shift from the villa’s daytime calm to its nocturnal energy.
Villa Coconut’s design operates through a careful calibration of atmosphere that mirrors TLT Concepts’ generous, unhurried, and inherently human broader ethos. In parallel, it is not a recreation of El Gouna’s culinary experience in Dubai, but a reinterpretation of its confident statement of design that speaks through material, mood, and meaning beyond grand gestures.