One of the key aspects of Phase 2, which began on July 1, allows restaurants across Qatar, including those in tourist spots such as Souq Waqif, Old Souq Al Wakra and Katara – the Cultural Village, among others, to reopen with limited capacity.
F&B outlets across Qatar have been exerting efforts to follow and implement precautionary measures set by the Qatari authorities such as social distancing practices, requiring customers to show the ‘Green’ status on Ehteraz app, monitoring of body temperature and regular cleaning and sanitisation.
“With precautionary measures remaining in force throughout all reopening phases, we have a very positive outlook on the impact of the lifting of restrictions on restaurants as well as on consumers at this stage,” Mondrian Doha executive assistant manager Mikel Ibrahim told Gulf Times, noting they started to witness a rising local interest in bookings and reservations even before the outlets were allowed to reopen.
He said Morimoto, Ella Mia and Smoke and Mirrors began welcoming guests (pre-booking required) on July 1 while Walima will reopen on July 15. Strict sanitary and hygiene measures are in place, complying with government directives.
Ibrahim noted that all their F&B outlets provide hand sanitisers across restaurant facilities, place safe-distancing stickers on restaurant floors and redistribute the furniture, leaving no less than 2m between each table and allowing a maximum of five people to sit at each table (excluding members of a single family).
“These are in addition to reducing the restaurant’s capacity to 50% of the maximum number of diners and encouraging customers to pay using credit cards rather than cash. Menus across all our outlets will be digital, adhering to very strict rules of sanitisation,” he added.
It is learnt that many hotel restaurants under Katara Hospitality have witnessed a surge in interest in bookings since the date of the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions was announced.
A number of restaurants, cafés and food outlets at Katara – the Cultural Village, like L’wzaar, are also back in business, offering an array of delicacies to customers.
Apart from takeaway orders, the drive-thru facility at popular fast-food chains in the country such as McDonald’s and KFC has been attracting a large number of commuters who find such an option safer.