Nour owner to open Lebanese chicken shop in Surry Hills

When an upmarket Middle Eastern restaurant plots a spin-off Sydney chicken shop, expect plenty of harissa in the chicken marinade and sides of shawarma spring rolls and kibbe sang choy bao.

Nour restaurant owner Ibby Moubadder can be revealed as the mystery buyer of Pizza e Birra, a few doors along from his Surry Hills restaurant.

The postcode 2010 pizza stalwart closed for business last year after Moubadder snapped it up, with his Henrietta chook concept slated to open there in April.

"I grew up in Lebanon and chicken is big there. Harissa and lemon juice in the marinade, and condiments like garlic sauce and fatoush. We drive out [to the suburbs in Sydney] all the time for chicken," the restaurateur explains.

For the record, Moubadder's local favourite is Charcoal Kingdom in Kogarah.

"It'll be a funky Lebanese charcoal chicken shop [with] 70 seats," he says.

A well-known Sydney chef is believed to have helped with its opening menu.