A tearoom in Tunis

The Gate Resto-Lounge is located in the Berges du Lac neighbourhood of Tunis, an affluent area of the city that has developed around the Lake of Tunis since the 1990s and is now home to offices, embassies and luxury stores (north zone, Lac 1). The Berges du Lac 2 area is still undergoing expansion and boasts exclusive housing, cafes, restaurants, mixed-use buildings, sports areas and the Tunisia Mall shopping centre. Well known for the beauty of its urban and natural environment, the area is also a popular destination for people looking for venues like The Gate, which offers a contemporary, international-level service while maintaining the distinctive features of traditional tearooms, the archetypal meeting places of the oriental world. Even today these locations continue to be highly popular amongst groups of friends, families and couples in search of a place to chat, listen to music and concerts, drink, eat and enthusiastically follow the national and international football matches shown on the ever-present television screens. Each tearoom has its own unique atmosphere and, in many cases, its own regular clientele.
The Gate in particular is a high-end tearoom that successfully combines the traditional and contemporary aspects of the capital. With a spacious indoor room and a large outdoor terrace with garden, it offers two types of spaces that are both popular with today’s Tunisians: a traditional, reassuring tearoom/salon and a trendy, colourful outdoor lounge area. The imposing entrance leads into a linear, immaculately designed interior space hosting typical elements of the traditional tearoom revisited in a contemporary style: small armchairs and sofas, low tables and, in the evening, a typically dark, suffused atmosphere created through a combination of LED spotlights set into the false ceiling and small suspension lamps. It is a quiet space with an intimate, welcoming atmosphere that is brightly lit during the day thanks to the large windows looking out on the exterior area and the lake. While the outdoor lounge area follows an international minimalist style with steel structures, pale wood coloured paving and contemporary furnishings, the interior maintains a reassuring classical design in terms of its spatial organisation and choice of furniture. Customers can sit around the low tables on old-fashioned armchairs and sofas with a wood structure and fabric upholstery, immersed in a sober, uniform ambience with floor and wall coverings inspired by traditional timber. Consisting of more than 500 square metres of porcelain tiles supplied by the Italian company Blustyle by Cotto d’Este, the flooring in the food & drink area combines the aesthetic appeal of a natural material with the outstanding technical performance of porcelain. The varnished wall panels coordinate harmoniously with the Barrique collection tiles used on the floor. The collection is based on research into the authentic appeal of wood, a mix of prestigious timbers including oak, walnut, spruce and larch. The rustic, living wood of barriques, steeped in history and passion, lives on in a floor covering designed for customers who appreciate warm, elegant spaces in harmony with the pure soul of nature.