ZOOBA | AL-MALQA

Gritty Street Glam +Exuberant Kitsch

Zooba is a home-grown, Cairo-based, Egyptian street food experience. After completing the brands first international outpost in New York City, AE Superlab was tasked with designing Zooba's first Middle eastern location outside of Cairo; Zooba Riyadh.

The interior is bold, brash, and unapologetically kitschy, drawing inspiration from various facets of Cairo's loud, colorful, and exuberant street life. The design eschews high-end finishes and materials in favor of a more down-to-earth approach that evokes the ingenuity, utilitarianism and humor of the Egyptian street.

The large central volume is the visual and programmatic centerpiece of the space and houses the points of sale, the assembly line, and a generous dine-in counter that is visible from outside the restaurant via the large, exterior glazed facade.

The base of the counter is clad with hand painted panels adorned with various food related idioms as one might find on every corner "ful" cart in Egypt. A large, illuminated soffit floats above the volume, with Zooba's signature branding graphics transformed and electrified as if seen through the lens of the carnival-like illuminations of felucca boats along the Nile.