A week or so ago, I asked a friend for advice about where I should take Robert and Sandra for dinner. Sandra and Robert are visiting from Sweden at the moment, and so I wanted to show them somewhere a little funky, a little groovy, but with excellent food and wine, as that’s something they both really enjoy. My friend was quite emphatic that we should go to “Nomad” in Surry Hills.

They’ve been open “about four months” according to one the staff I asked last night. So far there’s only one negative review I’ve read. Someone who loved the food, but who complained about the service. Others have raved about the service, so I’m guessing either the person in question had an unfortunate incident, or maybe they have unrealistic standards. As an aside, I really hate reading unrealistic online reviews from people who are paying for a budget experience, but expect five stars.

The food at “Nomad” was actually quite reasonably priced. Amongst three of us, we ordered five plates of food and a nice bottle of wine. The total cost for the meal was $65 each (including the wine), so we went home not feeling at all still feeling hungry ripped off, as you can sometimes at restaurants in Sydney.

As we consumed our meals throughout the evening the quality and experience improved. The meals we chose were an empanada (ok), calamari with squid ink (getting better), haloumi (home made), and chorizo (top notch). The wow factor meal of the night, for its flavour, texture, and inventiveness was a variation on tabbouleh. “What’s the crunch in the tabbouleh”, Sandra asked when our waiter returned. She told us, though I don’t really remember now. All I can say is it’s worth going back to Nomad purely for the tabbouleh.

That said, I might pop along on Tuesday for their wine tasting night. We chatted for a while with a staff member called Chen, who told us about the wine tasting night, and their wine tasting dinners. He spoke with real passion about the “age of the winemaker” and how many people go to restaurants these days for the wine, not so much for the food.