The Team Behind Pyrmont's Nativo Are Opening a Full-Scale Mexican Restaurant and Mezcal Bar in Glebe This Week

Glebe Point Road's impressive culinary roster is set to grow this Friday, August 18 when a new 60-seat Mexican restaurant and mezcal bar from a Michelin-trained chef arrives. Nu'u comes to Glebe from the Oaxaca-born team behind Nativo in Pyrmont — accomplished chef Manuel Diaz alongside his partner and agave expert Diana Farrera. While Nativo is a quick and simple takeaway-style spot, Nu'u will focus more on spotlighting Diaz's favourite dishes from his home country in an expansive new dine-in lunch and dinner spot.

Located within a Victorian-era terrace house, the new opening will bring a slice of the tight-knit culinary community of Oaxaca to Sydney — joining local favourites No 92, Different Drummer, Tom-Yum Tum-Gang, Jambo Jambo and Small Talk on the bustling strip of Glebe Point Road. The Nu'u space will include a welcoming terracotta-coloured dining room centred around a chef's table and open kitchen, plus an al fresco terrace looking out over Glebe Point Road.

The word Nu'u is used by the southern Mexican indigenous Mixtec group to mean land when referring to harvesting produce. This connection to land sits at the centre of the restaurant's menu of share plates, all of which draw inspiration from the Oaxacan region of south Mexico and lovingly incorporate native Australian ingredients.

Expect big flavours from dishes like pulpo escondido (grilled octopus on a bed of hand-ground chilli paste with huitlacoche and tostada), memela del mercado (grilled maize dough with marinated pork shoulder, bone marrow beans and Oaxaca cheese) and chile relleno (poblano chillis stuffed with shiitake picadillo and served over mole verde).

Diaz's breadth of experience comes from working across some of the most renowned restaurants in Mexico, as well as the Michelin-starred La Chevre d'Or in France. Since moving to Australia, he's occupied kitchens across the Milpa Collective Group's collection of Mexican favourites like Sonora and Carbon, and headed up Bar Patron as the Executive Chef before opening Nativo last year.

While the food is the star of the show, the drinks list is also impressive, with Farrera, a certified mezcologist, leading the charge. The lover of all things agave has been working with top bartenders from Oaxaca to create a cocktail menu that showcases artisanal small-batch mezcal. Each creation is named after famous Oaxacan women — from philanthropists to fictional figures — and each drink will highlight a different flavour profile within the mezcal.

The bold flavours emerging from the kitchen will be complemented with bold pieces of art around the venue including wood-carved figures from San Martin Tilcajete by the Jacobo & Maria Angeles atelier, custom-made weaving artworks from Teotitlan del Valle, red clay pieces from Atzompa and a painting celebrating bush medicine plants from The Artery in Darlinghurst.

Nu'u by Nativo will open at 29 Glebe Point Road, Glebe on Friday, August 18. It will be open 5–10pm Tuesday–Thursday, 12pm–late Friday–Saturday and 12–4pm Sunday.

Images: Nick de Lorenzo