Nomad

Visited Nomad on Monday night with the family to celebrate my brothers University graduation.
The hostess when we arrived was so surly and rude we wondered if we had made the right decision to dine there for a celebratory meal. However the server who actually looked after our table was fabulous, her knowledge of the menu and accompanying wine list meant that our choice of meals and drinks were perfectly paired.
Our table of five ordered the Chef’s premium menu shared menu and the food was all delicious. The courses were all well timed so there was time to enjoy and savour without feeling rushed or wondering when the next one was coming.
So what started as a questionable first impression ended up being a lovely night out.
If you are dining alone or in a pair the bar next to the open kitchen looked like the place to be with the chefs entertaining cooking the main attraction.

Came to Nomad for lunch with my Girlfriends!
Amazing food excellent wine, the head chef even came over to great us! Possible the most exquisite food I have eaten in Sydney to date I could not fault a dish & we ordered 11! A absolute must visit, can not wait to book a dinner reservation

This is one of those moments where a 3.5 star option would be perfect. But since it’s not, and since I can’t quite give it 4 stars, we’ll have to settle with 3…
The good: The atmosphere was great, with a warehouse feel that managed to feel both expansive and warm at the same time. As far as the food, three dishes stood out as pretty exceptional:
1. The charcuterie had a cured waygu beef on it that truly melted in your mouth.
2. The lamb main course was fantastic, cooked perfectly to medium rare and with a smashed pea garnish that was perfectly complementary.
3. The cauliflower. I wish I could remember what was on it, but it was basically a large chunk of a head of cauliflower with a combination of flavours (vegetable, tangy, grilled) and textures (soft, crunchy, etc.) that was awesome! Maybe the best cauliflower I’ve ever had!
The bad: First, the cocktails were very disappointing, in both quality and quantity. I had a mezcal-​based cocktail that tasted more like smoke-​flavoured juice than it did like alcohol. My wife’s gin-​based cocktail was also unoriginal, and too tangy at the expense of every other flavour. Second, the food was relatively unoriginal. For a $ 65 tasting menu, I though the first few courses were a bit bland, with the mortadella and the sourdough standing out particularly by not standing out at all.
Bottom line: I don’t know. I really want to like this place more, but it was just far enough below the bar that I don’t think I’ll be back, especially with places like 4Fourteen within walking distance, and at the same or lower prices.

There was a time when you could judge a restaurant by how fulfilled you are afterwards, not hungry or over done, a feeling that they deserve the business and it’s obvious r why they are so busy. Well. I took 14 people to this joint and then Mc Donald’s afterwards. Some of the meals were unpalatable and certainly not fulfilling. Then to top it off 10% service charge just because I gave them 14 customers? What’s that? $ 1100.00 and then Maccas ! I would never go here again

Nomad is really good. Really really good. I like the tapas approach to menus in general and Nomad’s is really interesting. I went for lunch with just one other person and we happily finished off 5 dishes. It would only be better with a larger group where you get to try more things. And I couldn’t have wine, that would have been even better. Wagyu skirt steak, kingfish, haloumi — all super yummy. Décor is spacious brew pubby — very pleasant. I definitely want to go back with a group and for dinner.

I celebrated my birthday here and it’s one of the best decisions I have ever made!
Like converted warehouse, Nomad still provides a warm and inviting atmosphere. The tables arent too close to one another, so one can still have a decent conversation with your dining partners.
And of course, I chose the premium chef’s selection ($ 85 per person). Every course was well thought of, in terms of flavour combination and plating). Like a lot of fellow Unilocalers, my favourite courses include:
Goat cheese churros — who would thought that goat cheese will go with churros!
Duck & rabbit rillette — both meat shine through and the pickled pear completes the dish as it’s refreshing and light. Just wish there were more brioche.
Brussels sprouts (side) — O.M.G, I bet they put a lot of butter in this but it is doesnt matter. Worth every calorie!
I can go on and on on how good every dish I had was sooooo good (except for lettuce salad [side], that was really sloppy, and tasted blend). YOU YOU YOU just need to try it for yourself.
Even though this restaurant is pretty big, I’m sure it’s pretty packed everyday, so make sure you make an advanced reservation so you wont be disappointed.
Great place for a date/​friends gathering/​special occasion celebration !

Delicious, fresh, hipster, exciting, and modern! Great place to go on a date or with a small group. The staff are knowledgable and the food pairs well with the drink selection.

Since my last review, I have come and gone to Nomad multiple times. It is one of my favorite eateries to frequent. Tonight was the first time I have tried their new Winter menu — Amazing.
We ordered the goat cheese churros, smoked eel croquettes, scallop with celery heart, black garlic moreton bay bugs, raw kingfish, eggplant, barramundi, spatchcock, roasted porchetta and Wagyu steak. All fabulous dishes, although I would rank the flavors of the egg plant and the scallops up top. In general I prefer the Summer menu, but my appreciation for the way Nomad presents and cooks their food has not wavered one bit.
The stand out of the night had to be dessert, we ordered the Banana and the Valrhona Chocolate, both delectable. The Banana was cooked over a crisp and included salted caramel and hazelnut complements — Perfection without pretentious flavors. The wine pairings on the dessert menu was also a nice touch, given Nomad’s comprehensive wine list, I will give these a chance soon.
Til next time!

I can’t think past Banana Kataifi … trust me, I have tried. I refuse to budge! This dessert was a real game changer. Where do you go from here? This dish was INSANE! I was even inspired to make these at home. I’ll get to that in a bit, but for now, WOW, Nomad, a restaurant that has been on my bookmark list for as long as I can remember — I can finally say I have been and here it is, yes, I’m making this call, but Top 5 in Sydney for me!
We came here to celebrate a birthday and given this is a share plate restaurant, we began the onslaught of food starting with the Okra, the Cannellini Bean dip and the Goats Cheese Churros with truffle honey — dear god, every dish just as good as the next — the bean dip was without fault, so creamy and a must pairing with every other dish (in fact, we kept it out for the next lot of food that came through). The Okra (hands down, my absolute favourite veg) was crisp and had a very mild spiciness to it. The churros with cheese — YEP — mention ricotta and whip in the same sentence and I’m done — whipped ricotta was everything!
The next round saw us salivating over the Barramundi, the wood roasted porchetta, the spatchcock, the broccolini, BBQ cauliflower (with a load of grated cheese over the top) and the grain tabbouleh — without getting into detail about these individual dishes, let me rate them in order of how audible our ‘oooohs and ahhhhhs’ were: Spatchcock, broccolini, porchetta, tabbouleh, barramundi and cauliflower. Spatchcock was so tender, I was expecting some blood to pour out of the thigh — cooked to absolute precision.
Final round was dessert of course — highlight as far as I’m concerned. We ordered the Banana Kataifi, the Valfhona Chocolate w coconut and the Passionfruit meringue. I’m completely biased reviewing dessert since I’m such a tart for sweets ;) Let’s start with the Valfhona — a very modern twist on a bounty. and who doesn’t love a bounty? Its suggestively moist. This could easily be the sexiest dish to share with your paramour, the ganache glistening off your bottom lip as you barely bite into it — as I said, incredibly delicate and just heavenly. The meringue I can’t quite recall but I have no doubt it was just as good as the «bounty». The Banana Kataifi — OH MY, a caramelized banana wrapped in kataifi (shredded pastry), baked until delightfully crispy, drizzled with salted caramel and hazelnuts — can you find a better dessert? I have had my fair share of kataifi in my lifetime but it is often filled with nuts and drowned in sugar syrup — this was next world for me, I was in a permanent state of rapture.
The service here is exceptional — could not fault. I can’t wait to get back there.

Not a great first experience.
The food was interesting and unique, however there was a 1 hour and 10 minute gap between our starters and main, which is kind of a downer when the people sitting to the left and right of you are getting served dish after dish.
There was also a good half hour wait on trying to order a drink from our waitress at which point my partner had to physically grab the waitress by the shirt in order to grab her attention.
We were then sent the bill which we were charged for a dish that we ordered but simply didn’t arrive.
It was also my partners 30^th birthday and I feel I should’ve probably picked somewhere else to have dinner.
Disappointing.

I love it when I can give 5 stars — it is for me a rare accolade and seriously, means it blew me out of the water.
NOMAD has been on my bookmark list since they opened — but the stars just never quite aligned. Well, finally they did and we got a couple of seats at the Chef’s Counter for an early sitting.
First off, bit hard to find, but when we did pleasantly surprised — the fitout is retro-​grunge-​chic-​NYC loft or something, very hipster, with staff ditto.
Straight to our seats and greeted with water and a very pleasant server who was the making of our night. The menu is wide and we wanted to eat SO much of it, so she said tell me what you are thinking and I’ll see what makes sense.
Well, we (erm, ok, «I») were thinking a lot — churros w goats cheese, pastrami, smoked pork empanadas, charcuterie, rilletes, roast pork and cauliflower. At her suggestion we had half servings of the churros, pastrami and empanadas, dropped the rilletes and away we went.
Sitting at the Chef’s Counter was awesome — I love to watch! The head chef, Jacqui, stayed calm throughout and patiently took staff through anything that was unfamiliar or needed correcting. The quiet clap of hands for service was a contrast to the dull roar of the crowded restaurant which was at capacity, and evidently is every night. All the staff seem to be having a good time, despite getting slammed, and a number of the sous chefs were happy to chat as they worked as long as chef wasn’t talking :-)
The food. OMG died and gone to heaven.
Churros and goats cheese with truffled honey — rocketed right up the list of all time faves. Who knew? Charcuterie plate of house made yummies and sourdough with pickled veg — faultless. Smoked pork empanadas were crisp handmade and full of smokey goodness. Pastrami was some of the best I have had served on a lovely little flatbread, likewise house made and cooked on their gorgeous charcoal grill. The roast pork was stunning, although honestly it could have been hotter, as could the cauliflower. But it was so good I didn’t care — the BBQ cauliflower with almonds and currants was a mind-​blowing revelation. I love roast cauli but with almonds? Again, who knew.
Combined with a fantastic red wine selected by the server, the savoury dishes were seriously outstanding.
A look at the desert menu, she says? Be rude not to, says I (while my companion groaned and held her stomach while begging for mercy).
Soooo glad I did. The Valrhona chocolate with coconut and coconut cream was like some fantasy re-​incarnation of a Bounty bar that is possibly my all-​time favourite desert — and folks I have had a few — just sayin. How something can be so chocolatey and coconutty and not sickeningly sweet is beyond me, but this was sublime.
So, seriously, don’t go, stay away, they haven’t got a table, walk on by. Leave it for the rest of us please.

What a great vibe! Busy and buzzy.
Food was great and an interesting menu. An excellent cocktail selection & wine list.
As long as you like the sharing style you should enjoy the experience. The skirt wagyu and roasted potatoes were perfect after the haloumi & tomato salad which was exceptionally tasty. The churros with goats cheese so light and matched perfectly with smoked eggplant. Yum.
Desserts: a great range with matched wine suggestions. Chocolate coconut fondant caused a fight at my table. The passion fruit meringue was a modern twist.
There seem to be no bad seats and you could even sit around the bar at the open kitchen which would be fun if you were alone or in a pair.
Timed seating so they move you sling quite quickly which could be intimidating. Staff were mainly quite friendly.

Nomad, an itinerant, rootless, individual given to wandering from place to place primarily in search of food.
You’ve just located the Mother Load. Make a nest and settle in.
This place is dishing up some of the best food in Sydney or anywhere else, for that matter. It is a perfect spot if you are young and hip, or remember when you were. It is inviting to all food nomads.
The physical plant is slick and sleek as a seal pup. Tables are comfortably sprinkled around an open kitchen which is alive with cooking bees buzzing in the hive. No wasted motion, and it looks like a choregraphed ballet as they prep and plate. Better than front row for the Moisayev Dance Company.
Tuna with Babaganoush Cream and Cilantro, Grilled Beef Tongue (usually like making out with yourself) with Prosciutto, White Anchovy with Fennel Slaw, were all steller. These opening acts were follwed by Fois Gras and Chicken Liver Mouse with Iranian Plum Jam. Peace in the Middle East on a plate.
The charcuterie was a beautiful selection of the kitchen’s favorites, all cured in house in their meat aging locker which was bigger than my college apartment and right next to the cheese ripening cabinet. Small wonder the staff at Simon Johnson told us to pay up and go to Nomad without further delay.
The blessing and the curse was that we could not stop ordering or eating way past the full tank mark. It was like trying watch only one episode of Breaking Bad at a time.
Next, came Pork with Cracklins, Lamb Collars with Moroccan Eggplant, and Grilled Squid with Nduja Sausage. I could go on reliving this food orgy but it is making me shake.
Each and every dish was well thought out, expertly created and brought out by a polished professional staff with good humor and good sense to know when to hang and chat and when to monitor the table from a distance. Our server knew when to suggest and guide and quickly figured out that we were like the office floozy who simply can’t say no, mate. Goodonyer mate.
So, if you are a culinary nomad or a fickle foodie bagging hot spots and bragging rights. Head here and return often. Nomad isn’t going anywhere. Nor should it, because it is an epicurean’s oasis.

Ehhh… Not too impressed. The atmosphere… The staff… All stand out very nicely. But the food? Man the presentation Is great… But the flavor in everything I had really wasn’t good. I can’t even give the food here another chance… I can’t waste two nights worth of potentially awesome meals.
Well my two dishes… The goat cheese appetizer and the pork belly… Were average at best. The goat cheese ‘sticks’ were flavorless and not really tasty, although the goat cheese itself was tasty.
The pork? All I taste is salt. Like it was over-​brined or something. Take away the salt? If you did… No flavor. Really bland and just salty. Texture? The outside crispness of nice! But the inside is super chewy and tough. Now, on the side, they had a few tiny homemade sausages… Now those were tasty! Although too salty. Oh and dessert? Coconut and chocolate… Again no flavor. No coconut flavor, chocolate tasted like Hershey’s (that’s a bad thing) and just was a dud of a dessert. Looked nice though!
Did a salt container break in the kitchen? Did I swim in manly beach too much today and have leftover salt in my mouth? What’s going on god?
Holy crap… I just realized that if the service sucked… Or they were all stuffy and pretentious (like Pendolino… Now THAT place has epic food but man they are dicks!) I would give them a 2. Ok I am doing it… Really bad food experience. Damn I wanted to love the food. I wish I wasn’t a picky bastard sometimes. Sigh.

I really wanted to be thrilled with Nomad. I mean, who spends $ 100 per person on a meal and doesn’t really WANT to love the whole experience? Just putting that out there.
I made a reservation for 6pm and arrived about 10 minutes early, unbeknownst to me that they don’t even open ’til 6. The door was wide open, there was a staff member at the little desk the host stands at. I greeted him warmly, only to be told glumly, with a big long finger literally pointed in my face shooing me away that «We aren’t open, our doors are closed to the public until 6pm. You can go next door and get a drink and wait»… I was so shocked and taken aback by the rudeness. I sort of didn’t even want to go after that, but this was for a friend’s birthday and I didn’t want to ruin her night by having us wander around looking for somewhere «good» to eat.
Our waitress wasn’t great. Nomad is a place where they have to «explain» the food and «how» to order, and she sounded bored and like she was reciting something memorized. Which she obviously was, but you shouldn’t sound that way. Especially when we are among your first customers of the evening.
The food was good. Highlights included the spatchcock, the goat cheese churros, the housemade halloumi. The cauliflower dish we had was way too heavy with nuts and dense with spices. It was just OK. And the pork empanadas were just OK. And you get two little empanadas for… $ 20+. Yah, really.
Dessert was incredible — it was a passionfruit meringue cheesecake thingy. So, like a deconstructed cheesecake pavlova. Delicious.
Finally, we had finished our dessert and on less than half a glass of wine each when the bill arrived just after 8pm. The waitress didn’t even have the grace to allow us to pay and finish our mouthful of wine each and be on our way before she reminded us that we had to scoot, because you only get 2 hours. Uhhh, yeah… we’re on our way, don’t worry. I mean, WHERE is the hospitality? I just forked over $ 200 for a «good» meal, but really, nothing absolutely spectacular, and you can’t even let me finish my wine in peace? There was a table for 2 that had been empty right next to us the whole time we were there, so if someone really needed to be seated, it could have happened. Just the arrogance and cluelessness in these types of restaurants can sometimes be staggering and very, very offputting.
I would not recommend and would absolutely not be back. We stopped by Longrain’s new «Subcontinental» reinvention after we walked out, and the warmth and friendliness with which we were greeted was a night and day experience (and consistent… Longrain is always great in every way).

From Order To Table: Perfectly timed. Like a twist in «House of Cards».
Service-​ometer: Cookie cutter service. Amazing looking staff.
Stomachability: Like a home cooked dinner from mum where she gives you wine from the cellar you never knew she had.
I really enjoyed eating at Nomad. Our table was assigned a waiter who gave amazing service, recommendations and was entertaining as well.
It has a refreshing modern Australian cuisine not often found in Sydney. Great meat, great sides and nothing is overpriced. Fantastic wine list too.
Great ambiance and plenty of room.
Would recommend.

Hohkay, Nomad…
Superlatives? Every single one that the English language permits.
Service? Attentive friendly smart informed tattooed.
Food? Eclectic flavoursome generous special rich intelligent fulfilling.
Space? Industrial shabby chic modern nonconformist open comfortable
Wine? Stacks of great options by the glass and a Henty Chardonnay for my bushman brother. Mark chose a brilliant Mornington Pinot delicious
Value? Didn’t pay — don’t know. Would need to be outrageously expensive before it could be said to be poor value and I know it wasn’t. It could have been expensive and I would still rave.
Rating? The easiest 5 stars I have given since Berta and Starfish.
Must haves –charcuterie, churro, kingfish, carrots, bugs, pork
Go

Beautiful restaurant, amazing inside with a huge open plan kitchen pumping out some pretty special food.
Came on my own and sat up at the bar which is directly looking into the kitchen. Great eye opener if you’ve not seen the inner workings of a busy city restaurant pumping out hundreds of covers a day. Shout out to the salad boys who made some serious looking leafy efforts, a basic lettuce and parmesan looked superb. Also wanted to mention the girl cutting asparagus for the entire 2 hours I was there.
Service was excellent, recommending various dishes off the small plates menu. There are larger offerings available. A churros with goats cheese and honey was very very special. The steak tartare was very traditional and excellent. Beautiful spring asparagus with lemon were very tasty and well presented.
Wine is a little pricey but had a great local selection.
Very impressed. I bet it gets most busy on the weekend. Check it out.

Great atmosphere, but can get noisy. Awesome winelist and very interesting and tasty food. Food is meant to be shared, so come as a group as it will increase the fun. Beetroot salad, bone marrow, churros are all excellent choices. We’ll be back to try the rest.

Nomad, wow… I mean WOW. A trendy restaurant that actually lived up to the hype and more! We started our meal with their own house made charcuterie board and churros with goat cheese (sounds wrong, tastes amazeballs). Followed by the jersey milk haloumi that confused me a bit as it was not over salty or squeaky… say whaaat, and wood fired pork that was cook to perfection. Icing on the cake was the was the dessert (see what I did there?) as we were there for the Christine Manfield’s dessert event.
The only criticism I could make was that their food is served ‘to share’ which really means the dishes will get served as they are cooked rather that diners getting their food at the same time. Generally not too much of an issue but that we weren’t told, so service seemed slow and we spent a good 10 mins staring at 1 main whilst waiting for the other one, and by staring I meant drooling. Awkward.
All in all, the food was spectacular even for Sydney standards, good wine list, well made cocktails and funky/​hip environment. Winner.

Amazing.
Everything about this place is hip, refined, and hopefully made to last. I attended Esther’s fiancé’s birthday celebration and it could not have gone better, especially with a group as large as ours. I’ve never heard of Nomad, and I’m glad I hadn’t because I didn’t have any expectations.
The vibe is really cool, and while you don’t have to dress to impress I would cause I wouldn’t feel right otherwise. I would definitely bring a date here.
We were seated in the back and it felt like we were in our own little area, without having to talk over others or hear conversations from other tables. Acoustics are great here.
The service was awesome, our waitress was very attentive, personable, and stopped by often, taking into consideration everyone’s individual taste.
The food from the «Feed Me» menu ($ 55) is a blend of Mediterranean/​Middle Eastern tapas. I found myself saving some hummus on the side to dip with everything because it was pretty damn good. They have fresh sourdough made on sight that you can see them cutting in the back, which was next to our table. I really enjoyed the BBQ carrots (who knew carrots could taste so good,) the Haloumi and eggplant, and the fish. I’m not even a fish guy… make sure someone can fillet a fish though unless you like bones.
I’d most definitely come again… especially before this place rightfully blows up.