Restaurant Review: How BOCA in DIFC champions sustainable fine dining
Picture, if you will, a vision born in 2012, when DIFC's gleaming towers were still finding their culinary soul, and sustainability was more a whisper than a movement. But who would dare to plant the seeds of conscious dining in Dubai's financial heartland before it became fashionable? The answer lies in understanding Omar Shihab's extraordinary genius for seeing tomorrow's necessity in today's opportunity beyond the expectant DIFC bling.
What transforms a technology research director into the Middle East's most influential sustainability champion? Perhaps it's the kind of intellectual curiosity that bridges disciplines, from analysing market intelligence at IDC to reimagining restaurant operations through environmental science. Shihab's journey from Management Information Systems graduate to The World's 50 Best Restaurants Mena Icon Award 2025 winner reads like prescient understanding of where hospitality needed to evolve.
Step into BOCA today, and witness something still quite remarkable. The transformation from pioneering experiment to beloved institution feels both inevitable and miraculous. How does one maintain revolutionary edge whilst becoming the comfortable slipper that everyone loves? The answer seems to lie in Shihab's unwavering commitment to principles rather than trends.
Some might think extraordinary, but honestly supremely deserved, is the MICHELIN Green Star achievement that positions BOCA as sustainability's gold standard — with 100 per cent renewable energy from Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Solar Park, as well as, local and regional sourcing mandated across the value chain. Cross-training programmes and climate emergency briefings for staff. Who else conducts the first carbon emission calculations for a restaurant in the Middle East whilst maintaining gastronomic excellence? Let me know.
Chef Patricia Roig's Mediterranean cuisine achieves harmony with Shihab's sustainability vision; modern Spanish techniques meet locally-sourced UAE ingredients in combinations that shouldn't work but absolutely sing. The menu careers joyfully around the Mediterranean whilst remaining rooted in Emirati soil, somewhat a culinary paradox that somehow makes perfect sense.
The 40+ team members from 18 nationalities, with 90 per cent women in top leadership roles, creates energy that transcends typical restaurant dynamics. It's rare beyond that we encounter establishments where diversity becomes strength and sustainability becomes signature rather than supplement.
BOCA succeeds because it answers fundamental questions about restaurant evolution: can establishments lead industries rather than follow trends? Shihab has created something genuinely transformative, a space where environmental consciousness enhances rather than compromises culinary excellence. The comfortable slipper metaphor isn't diminishment, who throws them away ever, it's the highest praise for an institution that's become indispensable to DIFC's identity.
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