Lauren SamsFin editor, deputy editor AFR Magazine and fashion editorJun 23, 2026 – 5.00amSitting outside Florentino on Melbourne’s Bourke Street, Rebecca Yazbek is running through all the problems she encountered when, in October last year, she took over this slice of culinary history. “We’ve had a perception challenge here. We’ve had an operational challenge here. It needed renewal, it needed revival. Our first iteration was to keep the same format so we could understand the current customer,” says Yazbek. She smiles knowingly. “There just aren’t enough of them right now.”Yazbek is the restaurateur behind Nomad in Sydney’s Surry Hills and Melbourne as well as the stately Reine & La Rue on Melbourne’s Collins Street (awarded two chef hats by the Good Food Guide last year). She has 340 staff. She has three children, the eldest of whom is 10. To take the edge off, she runs marathons (impressively, too – in 2025 she ran 42 kilometres in four hours and nine minutes).Subscribe to gift this articleGift 5 articles to anyone you choose each month when you subscribe.Subscribe nowAlready a subscriber? Lauren SamsFin editor, deputy editor AFR Magazine and fashion editorLauren Sams is the editor of Fin Magazine, The Australian Financial Review’s luxury quarterly edition. She is also the deputy editor at The Australian Financial Review Magazine and the fashion editor. She writes about the business of fashion and beauty.Fetching latest articles
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