Boca

Dubai

Pioneering proof that Emirati luxury need not be wasteful

Boca was opened in 2014 by Omar Shihab and is located in the restaurant hotspot of Dubai International Finance Centre, often affectionally referred to as the ‘Dubai International Food Court’. From the outside, Boca sits in line with its neighbours, offering a luxury dining experience that looks to spare no expense.

Scratch beneath the surface, however, and you’ll discover that Boca is so much more than aesthetics and face-level luxury. Through unrelenting innovation and forward thinking, Boca has defied expectations to prove that restaurants in the Middle East aren’t just about imported foreign luxuries with overwhelming air mile tallies.

Almost every element of Boca has been ideated with sustainability in mind. Don’t be fooled by the line-up of contemporary Spanish dishes on the menu: Boca works ingeniously with its ingredient sourcing to create a recognisable end-product while promoting regenerative practices.

Take its oysters, for example, which are harvested locally and served with a simple mignonette and squeeze of lemon. After diners are finished with them, the shells are taken away and cured before being brought to nearby Dibba Bay, where they are used to promote the regrowth of the species. Other seasonal dishes that make the most of local ingredients, such as its seasonal dish of akkoub, a thistle-like plant native to Lebanon and Palestine, and halophytes, salt-resistant plants which grow in the local mangroves.

The restaurant has also had an in-house dedicated waste officer since 2019, who works in conjunction with head chef Patricia Roig to ensure Boca is doing everything in its power to reduce its footprint. Every possible piece of food waste is composted, with a goal of zero landfill usage by 2026; leftover frying oil is given new life as biodiesel; and seafood catches are audited with a local organisation to ensure populations aren’t depleted.

For guests who want to give even more back to the environment, they can offer to contribute towards their whole meal being carbon offset. Diners are also presented a map of the UAE showing them the provenance of each of the ingredients used by the kitchen.

With all these factors combined, Boca is proof that flavour doesn’t need to come at the cost of the environment. It’s a worthy winner of the Sustainable Restaurant Award.

The Sustainable Restaurant Award is given to the restaurant in the region that achieves the highest environmental and social responsibility rating as determined by 50 Best’s audit partner, the Sustainable Restaurant Association. All restaurants on the Middle East & North Africa’s 50 Best Restaurants list were invited to enter the award via self-nomination and each entry was assessed across three main pillars: sourcing, society and environment.

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