What is it? Three of NUR’s chefs met during a time at renowned Nordic restaurant NOMA, including head chef Nurdin Topham who trained under Raymond Blanc. And in the words of chef Nurdin “A modern gastronomic experience should not just be tasty, but nourishing to our bodies. And that food, true to NUR’s philosophy, will be sourced locally and responsibly as far as we can.” Sounds good right? And it is. Fresh local produce is this chef’s “modern interpretation of luxury” and we like it.
The food: Only just having opened its doors, we attended a NUR tasting kitchen off-site to savour the labour-intensive cuisine that has been arduously sourced, ponderously planned, delicately crafted and served with finesse. This food was loved before it hit the table and the painstaking effort in every dish is immediately obvious in every moreish morsel. If we sound like we’re singing its praises, we are. We loved everything about NUR from the careful consideration that goes into the preparation of the ingredients, to the simplicity of the end result. Fresh, colourful food, thoughtfully sourced and lovingly prepared.
The menu: There are two set menus to choose from at NUR: the “Light” 6-course menu at $788 or the “Feast” 9-course menu for $988. The menus will change with the seasons, availability and the whims of the foraging chefs. On the menu for our experience was a tiny beetroot taco with watercress foam that was a pleasantly crunchy adventure for the palate, while the dehydrated carrots served with a fennel and cumin cream dip were wonderfully sweet accompanied by radishes that had literally just been plucked from the ground that day and needed nothing to accentuate their raw newborn flavour. A 29 ingredient salad was a plethora of colourful fragments from organic lettuce and baby corn to shaved carrots, flower petals and crispy bread shards. It was a sweetly delicate salad that stood barely dressed in lemon on a mountain of flavourful fresh ingredients. Soused heritage tomatoes from Zen Farm in New Territories made for a simply delightful starter that we could have eaten a whole punnet full of. A tiny column of pear and cucumber pickled in jasmine kombucha was refreshingly tart, while the organic poached egg on a bed of mushrooms and quinoa was flavoured intensely by the shitake mushrooms. The ten-grain sourdough bread is made in house and served wonderfully warm with a mushroom butter and the Wagyu beef cheek served with shredded radishes was cooked perfectly and added a nice meaty edge to the meal. A strawberry granite with crème fraîche ice cream was the most beautifully light ending to a gorgeously flavourful meal that certainly did as they hoped and combined nutrition with simply remarkable food.
The verdict: You can taste the love in this food.
3/F, 1 Lyndhurst Terrace, Central, 2871 9993
