If you happened to be dining at Nobu Sydney on Monday night earlier this week, then you’d already know that some very kind stranger just pulled a MrBeast and shouted every single dinner. That is, every single bill was paid for, during that sitting, by just one person. And while that person’s motivations are unknown, it seems the city’s entire hospitality scene is talking about it right now and speculating as to who the very generous baller could be.
Nobu, which opened at Crown Sydney in 2020, has enough space for around 350 diners across several dining spaces. Assuming the restaurant was full on a Monday, and each head ordered around $100 worth of food, that would be $35,000 forked out from the mystery diner for his random act of kindness. Yet it’s unlikely the restaurant was full on the day.
According to Australian TV personality Sami Lukis, who was present on the fateful evening in question, there were around 10 tables (excluding hers) dining at Nobu during the fortuitous shout. That’s $3,850, which is still quite a lot to spend on a bunch of strangers who would already be quite well off. After all, Nobu Sydney is now known as one of the most expensive nights out in Sydney with some mains going for around $65.
“I certainly don’t want to sound ungrateful for my ridiculously lavish free meal, but as left the restaurant, I couldn’t help feeling this particular act of generosity seemed weirdly out of place in such an expensive restaurant,” wrote Lukis of Nine Honey.
“It’s probably safe to assume most people who choose to fine at Nobu are not doing it tough, so I wondered if those thousands of dollars could have been better spent elsewhere?”
According to Sami’s article, fellow diners on the receiving end of the generous shout included one of the Backstreet Boys and possibly local billionaire Mike Cannon-Brookes. I couldn’t think of two more deserving blokes.
A server ended up pointing out the altruistic man responsible for the Nobu shout to Sami. It was an “unassuming looking guy wearing shorts, a t-shirt, and a cap” who, upon being thanked by Sami, replied: “I’m just a regular guy from Western Sydney, mate.”
While the act is being picked apart online in some circles this week, not everyone is so keen on giving the man his props. As Sami stated, it feels incredibly out of place to gift free food to celebrities and seemingly well-off diners. Perhaps the altruism would’ve been better placed at Newtown Thai or something mid-range in terms of price, like Porkfat and XOPP.
