Surry Hills rallies with Chow Bar and Nomad

After being pushed to the kerb in recent years by fast-track food suburbs, the opening action returns to Surry Hills this week with two big arrivals.

Former Claude's chef-owner Chui Lee Luk opens the doors at Chow Bar & Eating House, at the former Bentley Bar site on Crown Street. "The interior looks totally different. It is now like a cross between a pub and a Chinese gangster den," Lee Luk says.

And Al Yazbek's 150-seat Nomad is opening on Foster Street after a number of delays. The discovery of asbestos wasn't the only hurdle. "Finding out there was not enough power into the site and being told by Energy Australia we would have to build a sub-station on the roof at a cost of $300,000," Yazbek says. It feels like a cellar door with a restaurant, Nomad having an in-house Master of Wine, Rob Geddes, on hand for wine advice.