Natural light floods in through floor-to-ceiling windows, which offer lovely views of Bluewaters Island from DRVN’s two-floor venue that is sleek and comfortable.
But chances are visitors won’t notice any of this because they’re too busy gaping at the vintage cars, carefully placed behind glass displays.
At the home-grown restaurant’s first Dubai branch, three classic Porsches took pride of place on opening day. There was an original 1948 Porsche 356 “No 1” Roadster, a 1978 Porsche 935/78 “Moby Dick” and a 1970 Porsche 911 S 2.2 Targa. Vehicles on display are constantly rotating, and those that were there during opening had never even been seen outside of Porsche events, let alone in the UAE before.
DRVN is part-cafe – the venue roasts its own coffee beans and serves a mean Neapolitan pizza – and part-car museum.
It’s hard to find a definitive definition of the unique space, but this is how its founder Rashed Al Fahim describes it: “DRVN is a gallery, and everything we display here is art. Our coffee, our machines, our pizza are art. And the cars are also displays of art. When you have such pieces at the centre, you don’t need anything on your walls.”
