Spirit of the place Dubai: Antonia Carver

Dubai is changing fast, with more and more galleries and small, independent, arty, cosmopolitan cafés popping up. I love The Archive, a bright, bay-windowed café inside Safa Park, set in front of the lawns and palm grove. It opened a few months ago and already has a superb collection of books on art and literature from the Arab world. People come here to work in a relaxed way and drink a cappuccino in an ultra-design setting with an almost Californian atmosphere. Closer to the offices of Art Dubai, the international contemporary art fair launched in 2007, I like to invite artists and gallery owners to La Petite Maison, a Mediterranean restaurant whose original was founded in Nice in the 1980s. It serves the best burrata in town! The perfect place for a business meeting. In the same complex, in Gate Village, I also recommend the Bateel shop - also found in the Al-Bahar souk - which offers dates filled with walnuts, orange or lemon confit, sold in pretty boxes, ideal for small gifts. In Souk Al-Bahar, I also recommend Rivington Grill, a British cuisine restaurant serving Earl Grey-smoked chicken salads, roast beef cooked to perfection and puddings to die for. And its large terrace overlooking the Dubai Fountains, opposite the Burj Khalifa, is ideal for admiring the water features. The decor is both sober, with white-painted wooden panels, and lively, with fun neon lettering. It's a great business address. What's more, the restaurant is directly linked to the Dubai Mall, the city's largest shopping centre. I go to the Dubai Mall when I'm looking for original gifts, especially at S*uce (pronounced sauce), a shopping destination designed by style icons Fatima Ghobash and Zayan Ghandour. Here you can find clothes by local designers and beautiful gold jewellery with Arabic lettering. I also love the boutique O de Rose, which has opened a corner at Galeries Lafayette. But I prefer the original boutique where you can find colourful Arab-style clothes, furniture, objects and jewellery. Just off the Mall, on the other side of the Burj Khalifa, the Pavilion Downtown Dubai is a sort of very hip office/café/bar/gallery/cinema, run by the owners of The Archive. It's a vast, ultra-contemporary space, in waxed concrete, with big wooden tables, cosy armchairs, books, designer lamps and a very dynamic programme of exhibitions. It's true that Dubai doesn't have a national museum, but in recent years this type of high-quality gallery has been opening up all over the place, particularly in the old warehouses on Alserkal Avenue. This is the case with Mojo, Grey Noise, Carbon 12, Green Art and many others, which exhibit cutting-edge international artists who often have a foothold in Europe. A must-see is The Third Line, one of the first to open in this former industrial district, where rents are more affordable than in the big buildings of Downtown. All these galleries are fairly close to Jumeirah and it's easy to get to the beautiful hotels on the seafront for a drink. I particularly like the Koubba Bar, in the lobby of the Al Qasr hotel, a popular spot during the Dubai International Film Festival. You can also dine in the restaurant overlooking the sea, which you reach via a pontoon, just in front of the famous Burj Al Arab. Of course, I love the Madinat Jumeirah hotel, where the contemporary art fair is held every March. But you can't leave Dubai without seeing it from the air. A seaplane tour is a must if you really want to understand this extravagant city risen from the sand. You leave from Jebel Ali and fly over the Palms, the creek and above all the Burj Khalifa... the tallest tower in the world.

ANTONIA CARVER'S GOOD TIPS

ART DUBAI, Gate Village 1, DIFC - Tel: +971 4 384 2000 - Email: info@artdubai.ae - Internet: www.artdubai.ae THE ARCHIVE, Safa Park, Gate 5 - Tel: +971 4 349 4033 - Email: sarah@thearchive.ae - Internet: www.thearchivedubai.tumblr.com LA PETITE MAISON, Gate Village 08, DIFC - Tel: +971 4 439 0505 - Email: info@lpmdubai.ae - Internet: www.lpmdubai. ae BATEEL, DIFC Gate Village - Tel: +971 4 885 8737 - Email: info@bateel.com - Internet: www.bateel.com RIVINGTON GRILL, Souk Al-Bahar, Downtown Burj Khalifa - Tel: +971 4 423 0903 - Email: reservations@rivingtongrill.ae - Internet: www.rivingtongrill.ae S*UCE, Fashion Section, Dubai Mall, Downtown Burj - Tel: +971 4 339 9696 - Email: ask@ shopatsauce.com - Internet: shopatsauce.com O DE ROSE, 999 Al Wasl Road - Tel: +971 4 348 7990 - Email: info@0-derose.com - Internet: www.o-derose.com THE PAVILION DOWNTOWN DUBAI, Mohammed Bin Rachid Boulevard - Tel: +971 4 447 7025 - Email: art@pavilion.ae - Internet: www.pavilion.ae THE THIRD LINE GALLERY, Street 6, Al Quoz 3 - Tel: +971 4 341 1367 - Email: art@thethirdline.com - Internet: www.thethirdline.com KUBBA BAR - AL QASR JUMEIRAH HOTEL, Al Qasr, Madinat Jumeirah - Tel: +971 4 3666730 - Email: MJrestaurants@jumeirah.com - Internet: www.jumeirah.com MADINAT JUMEIRAH HOTEL, Madinat Jumeirah - Tel: +971 4 366 8888 - Email: mjinfo@jumeirah.com - Internet: www.jumeirah.com SEAWINGS DUBAI SEAPLANE TOURS, Tel: +971 4 807 0708 - Email: reservations@seawings.ae - Internet: www.seawings.ae