In Dubai, you may now go into a restaurant, order the food that satisfies your hunger, and leave without asking the waiter for anything or saying a single word—in Arabic, English, or any other language. Additionally, since the concept is electronic, orders are placed by touching the screen (smart table) or even by pointing at the dishes that are shown in front of you. You will instantly receive what you desired without any doubt. Food that is intriguing, delectable, and delightful is what the soul longs for.
Two driven Sudanese women have realized a concept that no one from the Arab world or the Middle East in general had done before, which is a chic and cosmopolitan restaurant inspired by Dubai, in the center of Dubai, precisely across from the Business Bay metro station. Many people of various nationalities were eager to enjoy a pleasant lunch experience over the course of a few weeks, which is the restaurant’s life, in light of the chosen “5-star” décor and through the electronic ideas offered by the “Ebony” restaurant that refresh the mind and enjoy the eye, before filling the bellies with what you desire.
Mastermind
In collaboration with Howaida Al-Ahmadi, Zainab Al-Aqib is the “mastermind” of the project. Al-Aqib claims that the new restaurant she opened in the center of Dubai is an international Sudanese-Arab restaurant that relies on technology in many details. It is outfitted with high-quality Internet networks, and the numerous tables inside are phrased with different words. Instead of the available Sudanese restaurants that focus exclusively on the Sudanese community, she sought to present a Sudanese restaurant to the entire world through her innovative restaurant. As a result, the restaurant’s dishes varied between African, Eastern, and Western cuisines with the addition of an electronic flavor.
Smart List
A specialized European company was contacted to fulfill the “software” requirements, and from there the two women continued designing other parts of devices, cables, and “hardware” until the idea was realized. Zainab Al-Aqib explains that in order to meet her smart ambition, even though she specializes in engineering and information systems, she decided to seek the help of specialized companies and experts in order to provide a smart menu that attracts different nationalities.
Zainab adds that the electronic system approved in the restaurant works by selecting the language (Arabic or English) or through the code for the mobile phone, then the menu appears in a bar displaying the items available in the image and the word, such as appetizers and salads, main and side dishes, sweets, juices and drinks, noting that the person indicates To what he wants of food and drink, and in the end he confirms the order, and immediately the chef in the kitchen receives a paper printed with the table number and the order, so he prepares the required, and the waitress carries the dishes to the table with an unconventional smoothness.
Cooking camera
The “Ebony” restaurant offers its patrons even another intriguing element. After making the order, the client can browse the Internet, watch the news, etc., and if he so desires, he can use the “Chef Cam” option to see a video of the chef preparing the meal from the kitchen as he is doing so. The waiter or the bill can also be requested by the client, and both requests are processed electronically.
According to Zainab Al-Aqib, the concept was discovered to bring smiles to the faces of Sudanese, Arabs, and foreigners who visit the restaurant to enjoy a memorable meal, with an authentic and modern Sudanese taste, as well as with oriental and European thought. As a result, “Ebony” is a distinctive sign in what it offers to the community.
As for Howayda Al-Ahmadi, Zainab’s partner in the smart idea, she added that “Ebony” is, in the end, just a restaurant, but it is different in terms of the technologies available in it, and in the global horizon in the selected meals, pointing out that the idea started about a year and a half ago, and it has been spinning in a circle Presenting a restaurant in a different way, until we were able to draw this achievement on the ground, here in Dubai, because it is a symbol of universality with confidence, and in the end we had what we wanted, and we had the perfect opportunity, on the land of the UAE, which was unique globally in embracing the world, and in presenting Achievement after achievement.
Because the restaurant is Sudanese in idea and taste in the first place, Zainab Al-Aqib chose the name “Ebony” for it, and the name was inspired by the poetic collection “The Ebony Forest” of her uncle, the deceased poet Salah Ahmed Ibrahim, and “Ebony” is the English word for “ebony”, which is black wood. From trees in well-known forests in Africa, which can be used in many uses. For everyone to realize that the idea is Sudanese and African par excellence, and the echo is global without borders.