Rebecca Yazbek is bringing Nomad to Queensland, adding a third state to her expanding portfolio – in another big play after her partner made national news.
The way Rebecca Yazbek tells it, she’s used to taking leaps.
Her first, as far as restaurants go, was opening Nomad in Sydney in 2013. An interior architect by background, she had no hospitality experience at the time.
Then there were the Melbourne openings of Nomad in 2021 and the sumptuous Reine & La Rue in the heritage-listed former Melbourne Stock Exchange building in 2023, and the purchase of Victorian dining institution Grossi Florentino last year.
In that sense, opening Nomad in Brisbane, in the space previously occupied by Gerard’s, is just another leap for the Edition Hospitality founder and chief executive.
But the move feels up there with Florentino in terms of ambition, particularly when seen through a local lens: Gerard’s was adored by Brisbane restaurant goers and had proper national clout before it closed this year.
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“Johnny [Moubarak, Gerard’s owner] was an incredible operator, and it was an amazing restaurant,” Yazbek says. “Fourteen years. The Gerard’s space should be an iconic restaurant [regardless of the operator], just like Ezard [now Nomad Melbourne] should be, and Florentino is.
This next move will mark another major step for Yazbek after what’s been, at times, a startling 24 months.
She’s rebranded her business, bought Grossi Florentino from a then-embattled Guy Grossi – following an investigation by this masthead – and before that, navigated charges against her husband and business partner, Al Yazbek, for displaying a Nazi symbol at a pro-Palestine rally in Sydney in 2024. He later made a public apology and stepped down from his role as co-director of the group.
Now, taking over yet another institution feels like a statement of intent: “The first time I looked at Brisbane sites was 10 years ago. I know because I had a four-month-old strapped to my chest who just turned 10,” she says.
“You do those big leaps and hope for the best. I don’t think about the worst case. I think, ‘if we do what we do really well, then people will come’,” she says.
Apart from retaining Gerard’s rammed-earth walls, J.AR Office’s Jared Webb is returning to the premises he redesigned in 2023 with a simple brief: “Do Nomad for 2026 in Brisbane. Go!” Yazbek says. “He understands that space. He understands the environment.”
For those familiar with the space, Nomad will feel more open, with a lengthy bar, a large wine wall, and a kitchen that better communes with the restaurant floor. There will be Australian art and Australian pottery, and while it will feel like a Nomad, “it’s not a replica”, she says.
In charge of food is Edition culinary director Michael Greenlaw and current Nomad Melbourne head chef Jeremy Swann. The venue manager will be long-time Nomad Melbourne staffer Robbie Pyke-Marcou, and drinks will be overseen by group bar manager Felix Woods and group sommelier Steve Senturk.
Like the other Nomads, the still wines by the glass will all be Australian. “It’s a great opportunity to put wines in front of people that they haven’t necessarily seen before,” says Yazbek.
The food is yet to be finalised, but it’ll be the same wood-fired approach of the Sydney and Melbourne editions, but informed by Queensland produce.
“For 10 years, Nomad was all I did because that’s what I knew and that’s what I loved. So pushing to see how far we can take that is really exciting.”
Nomad Brisbane is scheduled to open in late spring.
Matt Shea is Food and Culture Editor at Brisbane Times. He is a former editor and editor-at-large at Broadsheet Brisbane, and has written for Escape, Qantas Magazine, the Guardian, Jetstar Magazine and SilverKris, among many others.From our partners
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