Restaurant Nur

For a lot of fine dining restaurants, the idea of eating healthy is mutually exclusive with gourmet cuisine. If fatty foie gras and lavish amounts of melted butter make the dish taste better, then why not throw it in? But for NUR’s Head Chef Nurdin Topham, fine dining goes far beyond heavy ingredients and imported fancies.

“For me, modern luxury is all about being able to eat fresh ingredients that have come straight from the farm – food that’s not only tasty but nourishing to our bodies.” Says Nurdin. “The word NUR actually comes from my name and it means light in Arabic. It’s the feeling that resonates in our food. It’s what we want our guests to experience when they eat here.” Nurdin explains.

This idea of eating light led Nurdin to focus on the cutting-edge dining concept of “nourishing gastronomy”. But until now, we had no idea what that was…

“Nourishing gastronomy is the art of gastronomy” Nurdin tells us. “It’s everything from selecting fresh ingredients to the final product, married with a respect for nutrition. Too often chefs do not know about nutrition, but I firmly believe a modern gastronomic experience should be both tasty and nourishing. It is the mission of our kitchen and it is my life’s work.”

True to Nurdin’s philosophy, the food served at NUR is sourced locally and responsibly as much as possible. It is fresh, colourful and always full of nutritious delights. But one thing that the chef humbly fails to mention is just how beautiful and incredibly tasty his food really is.

Inspired by artisanal food production, each plate dished up at NUR is a visual masterpiece. The intricate and expert presentation is perhaps the result of Nurdin’s decade spent at Raymond Blanc’s two Michelin-star restaurant, Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons, or the stage in NOMA’s kitchen – currently voted as the number one restaurant in the world. Or perhaps it was his time at Denmark’s Nordic Food Lab in Copenhagen; a non-profit organisation dedicated to the exploration of the ‘deliciousness’ of raw foods. Whatever it was, the food at NUR is truly inspirational, both to eat and to drool over.

The Food

As much as NUR is inspired by the Scandinavian and Nordic way of preparing food, the cuisine is completely its own. The concept of nourishing gastronomy means Nurdin implements the best culinary techniques with nutritional science that leaves you feeling light, satisfied and totally inspired.

The chefs have spent half a year researching and developing dishes, exploring Hong Kong’s rich culinary heritage and edible landscapes to conceive tasting menus that offer Hong Kong a nourishing gastronomic dining experience unlike any previously had in the city.

Take NUR’s “snacks” for example. For us, a snack is usually something fried or rather sinful, but here, the trio of treats see a beetroot taco topped with an airy watercress emulsion, some slow-cooked, dehydrated carrots with a glazed, caramelised sweetness and rounded Nashi pears with cucumber that has been marinated in a floral jasmine kombucha.

Then there’s the main course of Halibut Tomatoes. This colourful gastronomic garden is both simple and complex at the same time – simple in its natural, farm-sourced ingredients, but so complex in the way it was put together. The tomatoes are from the Zen Organic Farm and they come in all different shapes and sizes – green, yellow, red; sliced, skinned or whole. A Pat Chun vinegar and white soy is then gently poured over the top, making the flavours of the oh-so-fresh halibut sing with zest.

To finish, home-grown herbs from NUR’s own garden are carefully and artistically scattered across the plate.

Even the chocolate dessert leaves you feeling clean and green – something we never thought was possible. Bitter chocolate crisps and hazelnut sprinkles leave no room for sickly sweetness, brightened by an orange sorbet and dots of citrusy purée. And not a single craving for a creamy cheesecake or stodgy apple pie…

(www.nur.hk)

MEET THE CHEF

Head Chef Nurdin Topham brings the concept of Nourishing Gastronomy to life after accumulating over 18 years of experience as a chef. He worked over 10 years at Raymond Blanc’s two-star Michelin restaurant Le Manoir aux Quat’Saisons; two years in the kitchen, five years as the Personal Development Chef to Raymond himself and three years as the Head Tutor at The Raymond Blanc Cookery School. He then went on to work at NOMA – the world’s number one restaurant, before he returned to London feeling inspired, and established The Topham Suppers Club with partner Salma.

 

More recently, Nurdin spent time at Copenhagen’s Nordic Food Lab in a research and development capacity exploring the deliciousness of foods with a focus on natural fermentation. That, along with his experience in some of the world’s most innovative kitchens, has fully enabled Nurdin to conceive a restaurant concept which is not only nourishing gastronomy, but nourishing a casual fine dining experience with a conscience.