Electric Bing Sutt’s successor has arrived.
Hedonistic, exotic, dystopian – nothing about Electric Pawn Shop’s DNA feels typical to Dubai, adding an alternative layer to the city’s nightlife scene. Now open on the ground floor of The H Dubai Hotel, the Asian-Mediterranean bar restaurant was inspired by the Chinatown of New York circa 1970s, translating into a venue where counterculture is alive and well. The concept is the brainchild of two like-minded friends and entrepreneurs: lifestyle creator and bar mastermind Lynn Lin and cultural innovator and music professional, Lobito Brigante – both globally acclaimed and respected in their arenas.
Incidentally, Electric Pawn Shop is the successor to Electric Bing Sutt, created by Lin in Lebanon and winner of Best Bar in Africa and the Middle East 2019 in The World’s 50 Best Bars. The bar saw an abrupt demise as the Beirut explosion in 2020 devastated the venue in its entirety. Using their combined creativity as well as expertise in music and entrepreneurship, Brigante and Lin teamed up to rise from the ashes of the fate of Electric Bing Sutt, converging counterculture, underground music and contemporary design alongside innovative drinking and dining experiences into Electric Pawn Shop.
Guests can indulge in inventive cocktails like Shanghai Superfly and Straight Outta Malacca as well as new wave natural vino by Foradori and Orin Swift. Meanwhile, signature dishes such as the Pattaya Disco Prawn, Sizzling Muay Thai Ducking Noodle, and Lucky 777 Beef Volcano are sure to entice even the most discerning foodies. “I want to innovate and create the next generation of bars and restaurants that would showcase contemporary Asian counterculture, food, drink, design and lifestyle. I believe that other cultural cuisines have seen modern interpretations, and it is clear there is a huge scope in the Asian category to transcend. We’re challenging the status quo of bar lifestyles one shop at a time, starting with Electric Pawn Shop,” says Lin.
Eclectic underground music surrounds the venue, delivering funk-laced beats from different genres played through a top-of-the-line custom built sound system. Curated by Lobito Brigante, Electric Pawn Shop has established a music programme that will showcase both emerging and world-renowned artists, producers and musicians. “Since I started creating concepts in the UAE, my goal has always been to bring an innovative, authentic and culturally disruptive experience to Dubai. The majority of places just offer more of the same generic formulas and for me personally, this is a huge step to create a counterculture venue and, through our neon haze, match world-class music selection and skills to a global standard of bar culture,” adds Brigante.
This eccentric nature carries over into its décor, too – the Electric Pawn Shop space features fragmented concrete island bars, a neon-lit stainless steel Asian pavilion hanging by a giant indoor construction crane, a massive collection of curated rare original vinyl records, a glass-brick DJ booth, a neon-lit water tank artwork, intimate red velvet couple seats, an indoor amphitheatre, a sci-fi style cocktail laboratory, and street photography showcasing iconic New York Chinatown scenes. A platform to serve unique and culturally fuelled nightlife offerings, Electric Pawn Shop aims to establish the most creative Asian-themed hospitality brand growing from the Middle East to the rest of the world, one revolutionary pawn shop at a time.
DSCVR: Electric Pawn Shop, Ground Floor, The H Dubai Hotel, One Sheikh Zayed Road, Dubai (050 586 5510). @electricpawnshop
