Chillout, its owners say, is the Middle East’s first ice lounge. The Canadian-designed bar-restaurant is the latest venture in this desert Gulf emirate, which has been transformed by a mania for the biggest, first or most outlandish.

Gulf men in traditional white robes with wives covered in black cloaks, teenagers eager to experience their first cold blast and westerners who miss the chill are flocking to the lounge to hang out in what amounts to a freezer.

Everything is made of ice: the walls, tables and chairs; cups, glasses and plates; the art on the wall, the sculptures depicting Dubai’s skyline, the beaded curtains, the two-metre-chandelier and the bar.

But not everyone is so impressed. Some rush out after only a few minutes in the minus six degree temperature.

The $17 cover charge gets you one drink and the rental of a hooded parka, woolen gloves and insulated shoes.

While the new, $3 million hangout, which opened in a Dubai mall in June, is expected to become a must-see tourist destination, it also is expected to draw criticism coming from a country where, according to the World Wildlife Federation, the average person puts more demand on the global ecosystem than any other in the world.

Mike Ebenezer, business manager at Sharaf Group, which owns Chillout, insists it consumes only as much energy as a cold-storage facility for frozen foods does, which Dubai has hundreds of, he said.