The counter
Nomikai
飲み会 — nomikai — is the Japanese word for the drink after work. Not a dinner, not an occasion. Alba's is the counter and the few metres around it: the taps, the stools, the wall of steins, and a Polaroid of everyone who has sat there.
The idea
A counter, not a floor.
Nomikai is not a second restaurant. It is the bar counter on the ground floor and the space immediately around it — where the beer is, where you stand up rather than sit down, and where nobody assumes you booked.
Everything above it at Alba is composed: the grill, the sushi counter, the tasting seatings behind. This is the part of the house that is not.
Getting in
Walk in, or send a message.
The counter is on the ground floor of the Alba building on Dubai Opera Plaza, through the same entrance and the same valet. For a larger group, or to ask what is on this week, message the house on WhatsApp.