Surry Hills will welcome Nour, a new Middle Eastern restaurant from the team behind Cuckoo Callay in Newtown, on 7 October.
The menu will be designed to share and will have a strong focus on vegetarian dishes and Middle Eastern breads including Yemenite pastry, challa and Lebanese pita, all made in-house. Dips, pickles and preserves, couscous and dairy items including yoghurt, labneh, curds and ashta will also be made in-house.
Nour will be operated by Ibby Moubadder and Eleanor Harris, and the kitchen will be led by head chef Nader Shayeb, who’s previously worked at London’s Moro Restaurant. Ram Kimelfeld, from Tel Aviv’s Raphael Restaurant, will be senior sous chef, and Isreali-born Roy Ner, ex-Aria, is executive chef. Front of house will be managed by restaurant manager, Andrew Caron, who’s previously worked at Icebergs Dining Room and Bar and The Morrison Bar and Oyster Room.
Highlights from the menu include spiced kingfish bastirma and Arabic lamb tartar along with larger dishes like wood roasted spiced short rib with roast carrots, nigella seed and toum barnaise; and snapper with cuttlefish rice, tahini, nuts and leek. Desserts will include camel milk mouhalabieh with rose water, rhubarb and sumac; and Nour’s take on baklava.
Interior design firm DS17 has laid out the 120-seat restaurant, which features an open kitchen overlooking the dining room and a 20-seat bar that wraps around the kitchen. A private dining room can host 16, and the ex-Tokonoma site also offers seating on Crown Street and on the deck at the rear of the restaurant.
The cocktail list has been designed by Amir Halpert from The Owl House, and is also Middle Eastern influenced, with inclusions such as the Spice Road, Beirut Spritzer and Ramman. Ned Goodwin has put together a Mediterranean-inspired wine list featuring drops from Greece, Italy and Lebanon.
