Baba Ghanoush is Belly-Up

04 Oct Baba Ghanoush is Belly-Up

Short Black by Scott Bolles (The Sydney Morning Herald)

With its Palestinian head chef and Israeli executive chef working side-by-side, a Lebanese owner and a fresh take on Modern Middle Eastern, Nour sounds more like a UN project with a SBS-TV film crew in tow than a new Surry Hills restaurant. When it opens later this week its Lebanese-leaning menu will be decidedly un-Sydney like. Co-owner Ibby Moubadder has banned baba ghanoush, tabouli and belly dancers.

When I moved to Australia I couldn’t believe the Lebanese places all seemed to have the same menu. I wanted to do something different...

…he explains. Moubadder and business partner Eleanor Harris have a good track record in Sydney, as the team behind Newtown’s Cuckoo Callay. At Nour, they’ve brought together Palestinian chef Nader Shayeb (Moro, London) and Israeli chef Roy Ner fromthe Sydney-based Russolini Group.