Wednesday, November 24, 2010

Nuba on Hastings

Back from vacation and the land of the buffets! As I take this week to do some JC to make up for the food and free poured rum it seemed like a good idea to do some catch up on some past eating.

A few weeks ago the lovely Stoli Von Stingray and I went for some lunch to Nuba on Hastings. The last time I was at Nuba it was still in it's old spot where La Taqueria is now. When I used to work in the Gastown area (before it was hipsterville) there was some coffee shop there that I never went into. The bars on the window and the fact that it was in the basement made me feel like it would be eating lunch in a dark dungeon. Turns out I was wrong. It was really bright and clean. Good start.

Man oh man was it busy in there. It is a much larger space than I expected and every seat in the house was taken at lunch time. There was also a line up for the take out counter. The take out is weirdly located at the back of the restaurant and you have to stand around the table of seated people waiting for your order. A bit odd but busy so it must be worth it.

We started off with:
baba ghanooj 7.00
creamy roasted eggplant puree with citrus & tahini

nuba 002
So good! It was light and tangy and not greasy at all. Normally I am on team hummus but for this dip I will switch to team baba ghanooj. It kicked the hummous' ass in flavour and texture.

Stoli ordered:
falafel 10.25
victor’s secret recipe of organic chickpeas, fava
beans, veggies & spices. All plates come with served with taboulleh, hummus, salad, hot sauce, pita & choice of organic brown rice or roasted
potatoes. all served with tahini.

nuba 004

She really enjoyed the meal. I thought it was a bit expensive for a falafel plate but it was a really generous portion with more balls than I had expected.

I ordered the:
chicken tawook w. hummus 9.00 M
grilled mount lehman chicken thigh marinated in paprika, thyme, lemon and garlic confit with hummus and avocado.

nuba 003

It was in the appetizer section but after eating so much of the awesome baba ghanooj it was the perfect amount of food. The chicken was cooked perfectly and the hummus was good (but no baba ghanooj).

I was slightly worried that we wouldn't be able to get our food and back to the office in the one hour time frame I have, especially with a large group that ordered just before we did. Happily we received our food with plenty of time to eat. It did take us a while for someone to come to the counter so we could pay.

Good food, non dungeon atmosphere, speedy service and great company equals a great lunch experience.

Nuba (Hastings) on Urbanspoon

2 comments:

  1. The falafel plate was maybe too filling. Definitely go back for the baba!

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  2. Nuba kicks ass.
    For food it is my favourite restaurant in this 'hood. I've had some medicore service - which in this case translates to "bloody-fucking-awful-service-that-one-single-employee-noticed-and-bent-over-backwards-to-make-up-for-but-really-we-had-still-been-given-the-appallingly-bad-service-so-the-best-they-could-do-was-raise-our-experience-from-the-night-to-mediocre."
    Beyond that, it's only real problem is that it is SO popular that it's a nightmare to get a table, and for good reason - the food is awesome.

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