Balla

Let’s all chant Balla Balla Balla! Located at one of the swankiest dining precincts in Sydney. The menu is a modern interpretation of classic Italian. Though the venue is quite poshy, the dishes served are simple and stunning using fresh and quality seafood, meat and vegetables. The floor-​to-​ceiling glass windows display an amazing view of Sydney’s harbour, the bridge and city. We indulged in an amazing three course pre theatre menu for $ 55 which included entrée, main and dessert. The food was simply divine served in a reasonable time frame by attentive, helpful staff. We’ll be headed back for sure.

Formal in its appearance, lively and crowded, this restaurant seems on that surface to be of a higher end in dining for Sydney.
Unfortunately the hype and experience were dull, the food was interesting, it’s presentation was lovely but the flavours didn’t quiet match the expectation presented by the beautiful plating.
The gnocci I had was nice, the serving size acceptable, however the Octopus I ordered was burnt and dry. Drinks were overpriced and watered down, as to be expected at the Star. The service was fine, nothing exceptional.
I wouldn’t recommend to my friends unless they had no other options.
If you must go to a restaurant in the Star, try Black.

#kningjaeats fancy modern Italian. Located in The Star, Balla has a relaxed and elegant ambience. The dishes are not really made for sharing since it’s made with such finesse and combining all the elements on the dish creates a delightful mouthful of flavour. They have an extremely extensive wine selection that you can browse on their ipads! and of course their knowledgeable waiters are more than happy to be of assistance for recommendations. Both times I’ve visited have been pleasant experiences.

Manfredi … job well done !!! Where do I start with this place? From the very moment you walk through the doors and onto what appears to be a catwalk strip up the middle of the restaurant for you to strut your stuff like a boss, you get a sense that this place is far from a high brow snooty fine dining establishment (no offence to those who enjoy these restaurants cause I know I certainly do but just wasn’t feeling it on this particular night). so of course I was beyond myself when I walked in here — perfect first impression.
I love the fitout of this restaurant — sooo much space and shapes and angles — for anyone that has been, you will understand what I’m talking about — round tables, rectangular tables, triangular tables, various levels, floor the ceiling windows, sharp corners on the bar, rounded steel in the kitchen, seafood on display as you walk through (bright hues of red and orange and white … arghhh stop me here).
The food, as expected based on his reputation as ‘The Godfather’ of italian/​australian cooking, was ‘bellissimo’ … there’s a vast number of wood-​grilled items on the menu at Balla which is ALWAYS a good thing. I decided on an all out seafood assault — entrée of the mildest Pacific oysters and a main of a wood grilled whole fish of the day (snapper) with salsa verde and salsa salmoriglio — solid effort on food.
Service was not the quickest but when we did manage to get a hold of them, they were super polite and highly knowledgeable. Ohhh not to mention have incredible accents *swoooon*.
I genuinely enjoyed this restaurant and no doubt will return at some point.