[EVENT: insider peek] Cafe Nuba @ 146 East 3rd Ave

Nuba has opened it's third branch in Vancouver over at Mount Pleasant just off Main Street. As of this moment, they are open for lunch but will expand to dinner service by April 29. Perhaps just in time when they obtain their liquor license.

In the meatime, they have generously lent a hand in providing Yelp Vancouver for it's April Yelp Elite Event by providing a sneak peak, a venue and good food and drinks. (Note: I did mention that they were in the process of obtaining a liquor license for their restaurant, but Yelp has obtained a temporary liquor license for this specific event which was prominently displayed.)

The theme of Nuba's third installation, as explained on their website, is Third World roadside cafes of the 1970's. With the muted colours and groovy interior, they will transport their patrons back in time.

The bar with it's funky wallpaper has their menu written on a chalkboard.

I feel like I'm in a movie set. They really put attention to detail in relieving the past.

Yelp members who recently earned their Elite status got a chance to take home the retro Yelp metal lunch boxes complete with a thermos inside. Fun times.
 

The specialty drink for the night was the "One Love" which was a concoction of organic ingredients including strawberries, raspberries, agave and Schramm's vodka. They also had beer on tap - Blue Buck - provided by local craft producer Phillips Beer.

 
Once the Yelpers started pouring in, the party started and the food seemed never ending.

 

In the meantime, we took a tour inside their massive kitchen. And like any respectable restaurant that cares and follows food safety, we all had to don aprons and hair nets before even stepping in the area. Once inside, time to wash our hands.
 

First stop was the grilling section where skewers for the night were being prepared.

In the other section, we were presented with large chunks of dough which volunteers were made to knead.

You had to use the whole weight of your body in order to tackle with these ones and have them flattened.

Once flat, these were inserted into a dough slicer.

The shape of the dough at this stage looked like a really thick Chicago-style pizza crust.

The slicer would cut the dough into more manageable pieces like these.

These pieces would then be rolled into a ball so it can be further flattened.

The flattening will be done by another machine after which the flattened pieces would then be baked.

Until it emerges into yummy pita bread - all fresh and all baked in-house.

How can you not resist grabbing one when it's right in front of you resting at the cooling rack.

Back to the front of the restaurant, the Yelp Elite members definitely came out in full force to show their love for Nuba.

Here were the grilled meats and shrimp drizzled with Tahini sauce.

Here is their appie version for the baba ghanooj - roasted eggplant puree on slices of pita bread.

We had slices of their "Veggie" pita - avocado, carrots, taboulleh and labneh (far side). While cucumber slices topped with tzatziki is another refreshing delight.

For dessert, they presented us with pita topped with fig jam, mint and feta cheese.

Oh, and they did serve their famous crispy cauliflower aka Najib's Special - cauliflower tossed in lemon and sea salt and topped with tahini. This dish went out so fast I didn't bother snapping a photo at this point.

Thanks to the Nuba team who prepared hard for this event and definitely gave more than 100% to make it memorable.