CLAP adds SORA, a rooftop terrace and small nightclub, in DIFC this November
SORA, Japanese for "sky", opens at CLAP Dubai in Gate Village in November, with a terrace from 7pm and a nightclub from 10pm on selected nights. No exact date yet.
CLAP, the Japanese restaurant and bar on the ninth floor of Gate Village in DIFC, is adding a new late-night space called SORA in November. The name means "sky" in Japanese. It has two parts: an open-air terrace that looks over the Downtown Dubai skyline, and a small indoor nightclub. The opening date has not been announced yet.
The terrace opens at 7pm, starting with sunset drinks and small plates and turning livelier as the evening goes on. On selected nights the party then moves indoors, where the nightclub opens at 10pm. Hospitality trade reports describe the club as a smaller, intimate room with colourful reflective surfaces, darker and moodier than the terrace.
The space was designed by Verhaal, a Dubai design studio. Its look draws on Japanese culture and rituals, made to suit an international crowd, in keeping with CLAP itself, which pairs Japanese food with a bar and a terrace.
SORA comes from AlphaMind, the hospitality group behind CLAP. Its founder and chief executive, Tony Habre, said that "the duality and contrast between the open-air terrace and the nightclub is central to the concept", and described SORA as a more intimate, design-led take on a night out for Dubai's internationally minded crowd. CLAP first opened in Beirut in 2018 and has since gone to Dubai, London and Ibiza; the group also runs KIRA, LITT, Bar du Port and Son of a Fish.
It adds to a busy season for DIFC after dark, where several restaurants and bars around Gate Village have reopened their terraces as the weather cools.
For now, there is no booking page for SORA, no menu and no price list. CLAP Dubai is at Gate Village Building 11, Level 9, DIFC, and takes calls on +971 4 871 8500; its current hours run from midday to 2am or 3am depending on the day. CLAP's own hidden bar has asked guests for smart casual or smart elegant dress, and it is reasonable to expect the same here, but SORA's entry rules, age limit and the nights the club will open have not been published. The opening date and any launch nights are expected on CLAP Dubai's own channels.