Bala Baya Restaurant Bankside — Restaurant in London

Turning off Union street onto the charming Old Union Yard Arches I knew I would be in for something special when I visited Bala Baya, a Tel-Aviv style eatery and bar offering Israeli sharing plates. On arrival, the first thing that struck me was the split level dining and the overall ambience which brought a wave of sophistication to the restaurant. The incredibly happy and friendly waiter who greeted us on arrival ensured me that this was also a very down-to-earth and comfortable place to dine! I felt this all the more when we were told that “all guests receive pitta and dip on arrival” and sorted us out with the greeting food and some water for the table immediately!

There are a total of 16 sharing plates on the menu, with seven being veggies, four fish and the rest a mix of lamb, chicken, pork and beef. So whatever your food preference, there most definitely is something for everyone! Some plates are quite small and others much bigger – for instance if you choose the Fish and Fennel you’ll get a whole seabass – and this is definitely reflected in the price. We were recommended to share about five of the smaller dishes between the two of us, so we chose:

Cauliflower – with crumble syrup yogurt £9

Smashed Roasties – with celeriac, macadamia puree, nutmeg and black truffle £11

Prawn Baklava – 3 King Prawns with bitter lime syrup, lime cream, Persian lime and pistachios £14

Pig & Pomelo – Pork belly with spiced caramel, kohlrabi pomelo and salted peanuts £11

Saffron Beef – braised beef with saffron dumplings, blackened tomatoes and pecorino cheese £16

All of the dishes were really colourful and flavoursome. I felt that some of the dishes, especially the smashed roasties, ,were quite on the small side for a sharing dish. The roasties were incredible and one of our favourites with the truffle flavours really making this dish something amazing. It just didn’t seem have as many roasties themselves in it as I would have liked! Our other favourites were the Prawn Baklava, the Pig & Pomelo and the Saffron Beef. The prawns were incredible, and although you only get 3 in the dish, they were huge! Really plump and meaty and we loved the combination of lime and pistachios on them. The Pork belly was how you expect a good bit of pork to be cooked – soft and succulent on the inside with that fabulous crispiness on the outside – definitely a winner for us! The Saffron Beef was juicy and soft and we loved the saffron dumplings! They made this dish quite rich and very filling, and you also get a really good sized helping of this too which is great.

As you can imagine, after devouring all of that we were pretty full! But the options for dessert were so intriguing that we just had to try one! So we opted for the most intriguing of them all – the Parsnip and Honey Semifredo with butterscotch and honeycomb (£8). We really weren’t sure what to expect as we both love parsnips but to us they usually reside within a Sunday Roast, so we were very much looking forward to trying them in a sweet way! I have to admit, they did not disappoint! On first observation, how colourful this dish was really struck us. Beautiful notes of purple edible flowers and yellow parsnips and honeycomb really gave this dish the “instagrammable look”, and it tasted just as wonderful! The thin pieces of parsnip were a crispy delight and were complimented so well by the gorgeous chunks of honeycomb and the smooth butterscotch ice cream. This dessert really was a lovely surprise to us!

We loved our time here at Bala Baya and thoroughly enjoyed the food. This is a great place to come to celebrate a special occasion or if you’ve got some cash to splash as it’s not the cheapest, but most definitely...

Had a great dining experience here. My review is not a 4 nor a 5 , it's a high 4.75/4.8 and because I had such an enjoyable experience I am rounding it up to a 5 for he purpose of the review instead of rounding down.

Attended last night for a friend's surprise 50th. Overall the food was excellent, the different variety of flavours was perfect, the amount of food we all ordered, the rate at which it arrived and the satiety at the end of the meal was perfect, spot on in fact.

FYI it's a bit like a tapas type experience but I would say the portion sizes are bigger.

Between us all we had a really good range of plates and the tartare, beef hummus, brisket doughnuts and prawn baklava dishes were superb (all 5/5+), cauliflower too.

Helpful feedback as to how some small improvements could be made would be as follows: the pitas (amazing flavour 5/5) would be better if 15-20% bigger. The dumplings flavours were amazing but personally the dough was a bit too doughy for me (overall 3.8/5) The dessert we had (burnt bafka) wasn't really hitting the mark compared to the rest of the meal we had. We didn't try the other desserts so something to look forward to at a revisit.

We asked if the birthday boy could have some sort of candle / surprise for him in the dessert round (he didnt actually order a dessert). Waiter obliged and put a candle in one of the desserts that someone else ordered, it was a pretty mediocre looking candle and we think it would have been a nice gesture for them to have given something small / sweet to the recipient directly HOWEVER these feedback items are quite minor and I would have no hesitation in recommending people come try this place as it was a great dining experience.

One final aspect, because the type of food, names of dishes, and price variations of each plate are so varied, we were all a bit bemused as to what to order at first. I think luckily what we ordered was spot on (there were 7 of us) but if say 2 people went I could see how they may order only a few of the cheaper dishes and think they haven't got enough, or only order the expensive dishes, have enough but could then think it is quite expensive. I wouldn't change this but we only found out what was on each dish by us asking before ordering aa opposed to being told. Whilst the staff did say to get 2 to 3 each, would be really good if they say when presenting the menus that each dish is different and give 1 or 2 examples of what you get on each plate and sizes etc. I get that photos on the menus would help but that may make the menus look a bit tackier.

Staff, friendly and helpful. Experience overall was really great. Thanks very...

Despite a visually appealing setting and thoughtfully designed interiors, the dining experience was deeply underwhelming and frustrating from start to finish. The set menu for two leaned heavily on vegetable based dishes, with the only two protein options being steak tartare and a single portion of fish. Unfortunately, both fell short. The fish was dry and lacked seasoning, while the steak tartare was overwhelmed by a mustard condiment which masked any other flavour.

A recurring and unacceptable issue was temperature. Every dish intended to be served warm arrived cold, including a single, oddly portioned potato rectangle evidently shared between multiple tables. This level of portioning felt less like creative plating and more like cost-cutting.

Service was equally disappointing. Waitstaff consistently backed into our table while serving adjacent guests, creating an uncomfortable atmosphere. At one point, a waiter’s lack of spatial awareness resulted in his body being uncomfortably very close to my face, not once, but twice. While not intentional, it highlighted a lack of basic consideration in a tightly packed space.

Drink service was no better. Despite being prompted multiple times for further orders, my cocktail arrived lukewarm and barely half-filled. For £13, one would expect a properly chilled and adequately poured drink. The suggestion that we might want additional drinks after that experience was perplexing.

Finally, the cost. At £166 for two people on a sharing menu, with only one drink each, the pricing felt excessive even by London standards, particularly given the subpar food and inattentive service.

Aside from the attractive décor, this was an unfortunately poor dining experience. Disappointing on almost...