Zellij.
A restaurant on the ground floor. A speakeasy below, from 11pm.
A modern Mediterranean table, that does not stop at dinner.
Zellij is Mediterranean soul cuisine, shaped by time, travel and cultural exchange. A lighter, more refined Mediterranean table, drawing on the wider basin, North African coast to Levant to Andalusia, with the warmth, generosity and craft of soul cooking at its centre. Raw preparations, fire cooking, clean finishes. The table is still shared. Always. But it moves differently.
Mediterranean cuisine, in motion. Lunch and dinner, every day.
The flavours of the Mediterranean basin, balance, spice, contrast, depth, reshaped for how people eat now. Seafood becomes central. Vegetables gain importance. Spice is used with precision. The kitchen works in raw preparations and live fire. The room is open, fluid, grounded in craft.
Lunch from 12pm to 3pm is built for DIFC's business hour, a tight, well-priced sharing menu that can fit a 45-minute table. Dinner from 7pm to midnight holds the room: two turns at premium check, a bar programme designed to extend the table rather than interrupt it, and the kind of unhurried service that retains a business audience into the evening.
From 11pm to 3am. Every night, after dinner.
A separate room, accessed from within the restaurant, that opens at 11pm and runs until 3am. Inward-looking. Layered. Shaped by light and shadow. A long brass-clad bar, deep green velvet, Moroccan rugs underfoot, low lanterns, intimate without being heavy, intentional without being precious. A mixology-led, music-led late layer that closes the night in DIFC rather than sending guests away to find one.
The basement contributes roughly 23% of total revenue from a portion of the venue's hours, at a margin that absorbs the cost lines (entertainment, security, late-night staff) a restaurant alone could not justify. The energy rises, but stays controlled. Nothing breaks. Nothing shifts out of place.
Why Gate Village, specifically.
The unit's existing two-level layout, scale (5,077 sqft internal + 244 sqft terrace) and Gate Village positioning make it uniquely suited to a dual-rhythm concept. The ground floor supports a 130-cover restaurant service with a generous terrace; the basement is the natural home for the speakeasy.
A single counterparty. The lease, the brand, the team, all on one balance sheet.
Zellij is a Holdmar & Co venture. Holdmar is a UAE-based hospitality and asset-development firm that capitalises, builds, and operates F&B venues, and that holds the operator agreements, brand IP, and staff contracts on its own balance sheet. The lease counterparty is Holdmar, and the operating risk sits squarely with us.
A Dubai-based hospitality investment and operating company. Holdmar & Co holds the operating licences, owns the Zellij brand IP, and carries staff payroll directly on its own books. The lease counterparty and the operator are one entity, simplifying landlord exposure across the full term.
Mohamed Hedi Mardassi leads Holdmar & Co's hospitality investment programme. He is the single point of contact for DIFC on all commercial, design and operational matters during pre-opening and throughout the lease term.
Top-line revenue, base rent, and what DIFC actually receives, year by year.
The figures on this page are drawn from a fully built bottom-up operating model. We have stripped the operator detail and kept only what matters to the landlord: top-line revenue, the contractual base rent under the signed Deed of Variation, the 10% turnover rent (TOR), and the rent that DIFC actually receives each year, which, under our plan, is the TOR figure in every year.
Top-line revenue, year by year.
The full operating window covers a stub trading period in late 2026 followed by seven full years of trading. Below is the consolidated top line on which the 10% turnover rent is calculated. All figures in AED millions.
| AED millions | Stub Q4 | Year 1 | Year 2 | Year 3 | Year 4 | Year 5 | Year 6 | Year 7 | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Top-line revenue | 9.00 | 44.03 | 56.41 | 57.26 | 58.12 | 58.99 | 59.87 | 60.77 | 404.46 |
Year 1 modelled at 80% of mature run-rate (ramp). Year 2 onward at 100% of plan with 1.5% conservative growth thereafter. The audited annual revenue declaration is the figure against which the 10% TOR will be calculated and reconciled.
Rent payable to DIFC, base vs TOR, year by year.
Per the signed Deed of Variation, the lease provides for the higher of an escalating base rent or 10% of turnover. Under our operating plan, the TOR clause is triggered every single year. The right-most column is the rent DIFC actually receives.
| Year | Internal AED/sqft (lease) | Base rent (AED) | TOR @ 10% of revenue (AED) | Rent payable to DIFC (AED) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Stub period | 320 | 355,526 | 900,463 | 900,463 |
| Year 1 | 336 | 1,746,864 | 4,402,944 | 4,402,944 |
| Year 2 | 375 | 1,949,625 | 5,641,272 | 5,641,272 |
| Year 3 | 394 | 2,048,406 | 5,725,891 | 5,725,891 |
| Year 4 | 414 | 2,152,386 | 5,811,779 | 5,811,779 |
| Year 5 | 435 | 2,261,565 | 5,898,956 | 5,898,956 |
| Year 6 | 457 | 2,375,943 | 5,987,440 | 5,987,440 |
| Year 7 | 480 | 2,495,520 | 6,077,252 | 6,077,252 |
| Total, stub + 7 years | – | 15,385,835 | 40,445,998 | 40,445,998 |
A six-month grace period from lease signature to soft launch.
Holdmar & Co is requesting a six-month grace period from lease signature to the start of trading, to allow for refurbishment of the existing fit-out, kitchen installation, FF&E delivery, licensing, team build, and a soft-launch period. Trading begins immediately at the end of the grace window. The 10% turnover rent triggers from the first month of trading.
Ready to walk DIFC through the model, line by line.
We would welcome an in-person session with the DIFC Investments team to walk through the operating model, address any sensitivities and align on the design scheme for Gate Village. We can be available at the convenience of your office.