Tom Arnel on new DIFC project The Guild: 'I want to create the most electric dining area in Dubai'

Tom Arnel has been at the forefront of Dubai’s everyday dining scene for more than seven years, since his Al Quoz cafe Tom and Serg became an instant fan favourite. But with his latest venture, it’s time to take things up a notch.

Arnel’s company Bull and Roo, which can be responsible for famous brands Common Grounds and The Sum folks, is defined to launch an eight-concept dining area experience in DIFC’s recently-opened 53-storey ICD Brookfield Place building in 2021 that he promises will be unlike anything Dubai has seen before.

“My number one goal is to create the most electric dining room in this city,” Arnel tells The National with a palpable excitement. “That’s what I'm trying to accomplish.”

The Guild has been four years in the making for Arnel. He was first approached about the 15,000-square-foot qualified space on the floor floor of the state-of-the-art commercial centre back 2016, and it had been an offer he cannot refuse to at least pitch for.

“I put a pitch together within a week or two, a high-level idea,” he says. “The guys loved it and the rest is history.”

The Guild will be an amalgamation of Arnel’s years of work within Dubai’s culinary scene, he says, combining the persons he has looked up to and taken influence from over time to greatly help create the "best team possible".

“It's literally a dream project, a dream become a reality for a chef and an entrepreneur, and anyone who has multiple brands,” he says. “I feel like there are no rules in an area like this and I've an opportunity to customise an idea for the Dubai people, whether that's locals or expats.

“I really feel an incredible responsibility to understand this right for them because it will not be something that's imported. It's something that's being created here with me and my team. And we feel an excellent sense of pride to be given the opportunity, literally on the doorstep of the DIFC and on the world stage. I honestly don't think there is any better restaurant location than this in this city, in all honesty with you. It's probably the most fabulous feelings I think I've ever had in my career.”

Arnel is, at least for the present time, keeping information on the eight concepts which will constitute The Guild near to his chest, but each could have a talented chef at the helm, and, like his other Bull and Roo brands, the meals will have quality and sustainability at its forefront.

“The cooking will be theatrical, it’ll be powerful and it'll be memorable,” he says. “It will likely be robust as well. I believe that's probably a good word. We're trying never to be too fancy with anything, we’re trying to cook with this hands, cook with passion, utilize the best ingredients rather than overdo them. I can’t say an excessive amount of yet, but we will let the cooking methods do the talking.”

The food, Arnel says, will be elevated by a programme of curated entertainment including live music, that will adapt with the mood of the venue as it evolves from a everyday breakfast spot to a buzzing dinner setting during the day.

“I'm trying to do everything on a global class level, in a manner that I believe the Dubai public will appreciate. Because something is expensive in Dubai doesn't imply that it's the best, you know. We're trying to engineer this to be somewhere you can come for pretty much most occasions and have the best dining experience available in the city,” he says.

“From celebrations to just coming on a whim, you will be walking into a power dining room which will impress and excite you, and get your heartrate going. That's my goal, to get people's heart rates going by exceptional dining area is in its full flight, this means music, entertainment and dining all under one roof.”

What Arnel is very clear about, however, is that The Guild will never be a food hall. “I'm not saying it's casual. I'm not saying it's fine dining, but it’s top notch. That's what I'm saying. AND IT'S REALLY not at all a dining hall and it's really not a food hall. It’s a collective of ideas all amalgamated into one massive electric room.”

There is still ways to go regarding development of the space, and Arnel plans to invest the coming months fine-tuning the idea, building his team, and finding inspiration.

“I've eaten at among the better restaurants in the city in the last week, I am doing my research. Dubai’s restaurant scene is completely amazing. It truly is world class,” he says. “However the big and obvious elephant in the area is that they are all concepts which have been created someplace else and also have been brought into metropolis and forced into these places, sometimes unnaturally. So we're trying to help make the most of this space and present Dubai what we think it needs.”

He adds: “I am hoping that venue puts Dubai on the map as a home-grown concept. Something of the scale is almost a global first, there's several places around the world that do type of similar things, but, to the scale, I believe it's pretty difficult to find.”