Nightjar Coffee Roasters

Nightjar started in 2017 when founder Leon Surynt and a crew of coffee obsessives took over Warehouse G62 on Alserkal Avenue and turned it into a working roastery you can eat and drink inside. Beans are direct-trade sourced, roasted on-site, and brewed metres from where you sit.

The signature pour is the Original Nitro Cold Brew — a single-origin Rwanda Bumbogo batch served straight from the tap, creamy without milk and cold without ice. Beyond espresso and filter, the taps also dispense kombucha and iced tea, and the drinks list stretches into "freaky geeky" mocktails that change with the season.

Nightjar describes its ethos as "giving a damn, and making it good" — specialty coffee without the pretence. No latte art competitions on the counter, just consistently well-extracted shots and a staff that genuinely cares.

Walking into Nightjar feels more like entering a friend's very cool studio than a café. The warehouse interior is deliberately unpolished — subdued lighting, exposed metal, communal tables, and a central bar that doubles as the roasting showcase. The space is designed to blur the lines between coffee shop, restaurant, and creative hangout.

What sets the atmosphere apart is the curated vinyl soundtrack. Spiritual jazz selections by Tarik Omar play through a high-end Hi-Fi system, making the soundscape as intentional as the coffee. It's the kind of place where you notice the music because it's genuinely good, not because it's loud.

Nightjar is pet-friendly, has outdoor seating overlooking Alserkal's gallery laneways, and is wheelchair accessible. Open daily 8 AM – 8 PM, it works equally well for a morning flat white, a working lunch, or a late dinner surrounded by the creative energy of Al Quoz.

Insider tip: Visit on a weekday morning before the galleries open — you'll have the communal tables to yourself with the vinyl playing low, and the nitro cold brew is at its freshest from the first keg of the day.