Restaurant Balla
By Franz Scheurer
The Star’s tagline ‘A little piece of Milan with Sydney’s best view’ is very well chosen as the views from Balla are stunning and Stefano Manfredi really has influenced the way Sydneysiders eat since he opened Restaurant Manfredi in 1983.
The restaurant looks back towards a western skyline of the CBD, which is not such a familiar view. It’s a bright and cheerful space with comfortable chairs, enough space between tables not to feel your privacy is compromised, a huge, very open kitchen and I love the old movie lights distributed as props throughout the large dining room. A fantastic private dining room completes the space and all that is needed now is good service and great food…
Fear not! The staff is friendly and quite knowledgeable (and happy to find out from the chefs if they don’t know something) and the food is excellent. Stefano Manfredi’s touch is evident in every morsel of food that passes your lips and head-chef Gabriele Taddeuci keeps the burners humming and the quality consistent. This is one of the best aspects of this restaurant: the food is utterly consistent. Always good, never a bad dish and therefore one of the places I would recommend to friends without hesitation.
Try the ‘Cacina al forno’, a baked chickpea tart that is so good I could eat it every day. The ‘Lingua di vitello con salsa verde’ a dish of thin, just grilled slices of veal tongue served with a salsa verde is sublime and the ‘Crudo di pesce’, raw fish dressed with lemon and olive oil from the Lake Como region is so fresh it almost jumps off the plate. You might want to try a selection of Manfredi’s salumi and I can highly recommend the lardo and the salamino Balla. Balla doesn’t just serve pasta, they probably serve one of the best couple of pastas in this town. Try the ‘Ravioli verdi’ tender, slippery ravioli filled with wild greens or the lovely ‘Cannelloni alla melanzane’, cannelloni with ricotta, eggplant, leeks and tomato; you won’t be disappointed. They use a wood-grill for their meats and wether you try their lovely veal shoulder, pork cutlet or the duck breast, they are all perfectly seared, pink in the middle and well rested. A carnivore’s delight.
The wine list is presented on an iPad and yes, they were the first ones to do this in Sydney and, contrary to all the others I’ve seen, this one works. It’s a comprehensive list with a few real gems. It’s a total delight to peruse the wine list, so much so that you might get into trouble with your dining companions for ignoring them.
Balla is a terrific package; everything works and it’s consistently good. If I had any complaint at all it would be the type of music played; it’s neither background, nor conducive to conversation nor really ignorable; it’s a little annoying. This is however a very small point; everything else wants me and my tummy to go back.
Score: 8/10
Would I go again: Yes!
Best dish: Cacina al forno
Noise: 78 db
Would I recommend it: Absolutely
Value for money: good
Restaurant Balla
Level G, Harbourside,
The Star,
Pyrmont NSW 2009
Tel.: 1800 700 700
Or book on-line http://www.star.com.au/bookings/Pages/restaurants.aspx?resID=5