Most restaurants decorate with plants; Botanica is built inside a greenhouse. In this El Gouna dining room, leaves, herbs and tomatoes grow hydroponically a few steps from the tables, and the kitchen cooks from whatever is ready that week. Founder Ashraf Fala developed the idea from O'Roots, the hydroponic farm he set up with his brother Fady during the pandemic.
The cooking is Italian-Mediterranean and moves with the harvest. Recent coverage has singled out the house galletto, a rock lobster catalana and a lemon delizia to finish.
In November 2025 Botanica hosted the flagship dinner of El Gouna's 35th-anniversary food showcase, cooked by visiting chefs including Norbert Niederkofler. Hours are not published, so check before you set out.
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BotanicaDining · El Gouna●●●●Dinner inside a working greenhouseClosed now3D tour →
This is where the Pier88 story began. Giovanni Bolandrini opened the first Pier88 at El Gouna's Abu Tig Marina in 2008, and the group that grew from it now reaches as far as the Giza pyramids.
The original waterfront venue has been taken apart and reimagined by Cairo's Studio Five as a floating, yacht-inspired pavilion on a steel pontoon. It is teak inside and ivory outside, with a central bar beneath a skylight, glass along the marina side and a rooftop deck looking out over the moored boats.
It suits an aperitivo as well as a long dinner, and the mood rises as the night goes on, helped by music evenings such as Sunset Sessions.
