Two terraces, a kitchen that runs as long as the coals do, and a format the group
now intends to export.
BUCHAREST, Romania, Aug. 31, 2026 — Komodo Lounge, the shisha
lounge and Asian restaurant on Calea Floreasca in Bucharest, will open a venue in
Bali in November, its first outside Romania, followed by Dubai and Istanbul in the
fourth quarter of 2027.
Each will carry the format built in Floreasca: a full kitchen and a tableside
shisha service run by trained shisha masters, in rooms designed for long evenings
rather than fast turnover. The openings take the group from two venues to five.
Bali returns the brand to where much of it originated. Komodo Lounge is named for
the Komodo dragon, native to the islands east of Bali. Its Floreasca interiors
— reclaimed Javanese teak, hand-troweled lime plaster, woven rattan ceilings
— were drawn by a Canggu-based studio. Its shisha masters learned the craft
in Canggu, under Russian shisha specialists, in a discipline built around heat
management, pacing and the line between smoke and vapour.
“Bucharest taught us to defend an evening that takes five hours, in a city
that does not naturally allow for one. Istanbul and Dubai have understood that far
longer than we have, and Bali is where our team learned it. These are less new
markets than older ones.”
[SPOKESPERSON NAME], [title] at Komodo Lounge
Komodo Lounge Floreasca, at Calea Floreasca 60, opened as an Asian restaurant with
a sushi counter and a shisha service at the same table, a combination more commonly
sold separately in Romania. Sushi is cut to order, the grill runs signature plates,
and the cocktail list is built on banana, yuzu, papaya and matcha. The venue is open
daily from noon to 4 a.m., a few minutes from Barbu Vacarescu, Dorobanti and
Aviatiei. Its terrace, which the venue describes as the largest in the
neighbourhood, seats guests among tropical planting and rattan furniture, and serves
the full menu, cocktails and shisha outdoors in the warm season.
The shisha program travelling with the group is its most distinctive element. A
trained master stays with the table for the length of the session, working from more
than 100 dark and blond tobacco blends, preparing each bowl by hand and changing
coals on his own timing rather than on request. Three formats are served in
Floreasca: a classic shisha, a non-alcoholic cocktail-vase shisha and a premium
fruit-bowl shisha. Hendra, who has six years behind the coals, and Adit, who trained
alongside him in Canggu, lead the service.
“Six years ago the ambition was to work in a good lounge in Canggu. Coming back
to open one is not something the job usually offers.”
Hendra, shisha master at Komodo Lounge — quote pending sign-off
Dubai and Istanbul place the group in two cities with established shisha cultures
rather than emerging ones. Istanbul’s nargile houses predate the format by
centuries, and Dubai supports a dense late-night hospitality market in which shisha
is ordinary rather than novel. In both cities the group will compete on the kitchen
and the room as much as on the shisha itself.
The name is borrowed from Varanus komodoensis, the largest lizard alive,
which has waited on a few volcanic islands east of Bali for some four million years.
Local fishermen called it ora; European naturalists arriving in 1910 called it a
dragon. What the group took from the animal was not its size but its pace: long
stretches of stillness in the shade, movement only with intention.
The group also operates an Eastern European brasserie in Bucharest’s Old Town,
which continues to trade.
Addresses and reservation details for the Bali, Dubai and Istanbul venues will be
announced ahead of each opening. Reservations in Floreasca open 30 days in advance
at komodolounge.ro, and parties of eight or more are asked to call the venue
directly on +40 731 555 558.
About Komodo Lounge
Komodo Lounge is a shisha lounge and Asian restaurant on Calea Floreasca in
Bucharest, Romania, serving sushi, grill plates and signature cocktails alongside
premium shisha prepared at the table. Built for long, unhurried evenings and named
for the Komodo dragon, the group also runs an Eastern European brasserie in
Bucharest’s Old Town, and opens in Bali, Dubai and Istanbul.
Media contact
[CONTACT NAME], [Title], Komodo Lounge
reception@komodolounge.ro · +40 731 555 558
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