The Double Sunset: Drinks at the World’s Highest Restaurant

A.tmosphere, on the 122nd floor of the Burj Khalifa, is a restaurant whose existence seems designed to make a point. The point is altitude: 442 metres above sea level, allegedly the highest restaurant on Earth, with views that extend to Iran on clear days and to existential vertigo on all days. We booked for sunset, which the website warned was the most requested slot, and understood why when the sun began its descent.

Here’s what happens at 442 metres: the sun sets, dropping below the horizon in the familiar manner. Then, because the Earth is round and you are very high, it appears again — a sliver of orange that hovers above the desert before disappearing a second time. The phenomenon has a name (the ‘double sunset’) and a scientific explanation (the horizon at altitude is lower than the horizon at ground level). None of which diminishes the strangeness of watching the sun change its mind.

The meal itself was secondary, though secondary at At.mosphere still means impressive. The wine list takes the altitude seriously (champagne behaves differently at low pressure); the service achieves the difficult balance of formal and warm; and the tasting menu, while not revolutionary, executes with precision that the price demands. We spent AED 2,500 for two (£550), which sounds outrageous until you calculate the cost per metre of altitude (approximately AED 5.66). Value, in Dubai, requires creative accounting.