Barring any last minute hiccups, the new Yaletown location of Nuba should open today on the southwest corner of Davie and Richards. It’s been a long time coming too, as the celebrated Lebanese chainlet took possession of the old Blenz location back in October of 2015. The launch comes three days after the closure of the original Nuba location around the corner on Seymour Street. The new spot is about 1,200 sqft with 41 seats inside and another 24 outside on a sidewalk patio, so this it’s a significant jump up the old spot, which I always considered more of a hole-in-the-wall takeout joint. The other main difference is that there will be lunch and dinner services as opposed to one basic menu running all day. All of the popular mainstays – mjadra, falafel, hummus, tawook, Najib’s Special, et cetera – are represented on menus that will also include some new specials for daily rotation. As is typical with the local company, the interior design is bright and colourful with a sunny, Levantine aesthetic that borders on the psychedelic. It’s very Yellow Submarine meets 1960s Beirut, which is to say entirely its own, radical thing. Dig the tiled bar and the hideaway booth under the pointed arch. If you look closely at the latter you’ll see that it’s upholstered with woodland digital camouflage (the pattern is set to appear again in some finishing touches). The following shots were taken a couple of days ago, so I imagine it’s even brighter with the paper off the windows…

EXPLORE THIS NEIGHBOURHOOD