Restaurant to Try: Bali Bali, Soho

Two or three times a year, my old college buds and I meet for a much-needed catch-up. Every time we get together, it's just like old times - and of course, the meet-ups usually involve nattering over a good meal.

This time around, we had tickets to see Stomp! and had decided to go somewhere nearby for a pre-theatre lunch. It feels like an age since I last tried out a restaurant for the first time. So I was pretty excited about going to Bali Bali, an Indonesian restaurant near Soho.

I've never tried Indonesian food before and after looking through their website and reading positive reviews on numerous other sites, I had pretty high hopes.

I have to tell you straight away: I was not disappointed!

As soon as we arrived, we were greeted with the friendly faces of a waiter and waitress. The restaurant is pretty tiny (probably only around 20 small tables) and it felt like we were being welcomed into their home - you definitely get the warming family-run feel here. It'd probably feel too crowded if you go for dinner though as the tables are set pretty close together.

Now, my friends have never tried Indonesian food before either so we were all umming and ahhing alot over the menu. There's a set lunch and pre-theatre menu but loads of options on the main menu too, divided by the meats, a surprisingly large veggie section plus rice and noodle dishes.

In the end, we asked the very patient and helpful waitress for some recommendations - she pointed out the Rijstafel option, where they do a selection of 7-8 of the most popular dishes from the menu. We chose the one that includes seafood dishes too, to get a good mix. They were even accommodating to my low threshold for highly spiced foods, pointing out milder dishes to swap for the hotter ones :-)

Now I've got to apologise for the pics here - the dishes arrived in such quick succession on our little table that I had to abandon my camera to help make room for the food! I was sharing the 8 dishes of the Rijstafel with Nathan, but there was also a large main dish each for Hafeez and Pawanjit to fit on the table too!

(from top left) Ayam Panggang Pacak (mild coconut chicken), Semur Daging (beef in Indonesian sweet soya sauce and chicken and beef satay

Egg Fried Rice

Udang Mente (stir-fried prawns with cashews and veg)

The dish at the top of this post was fried squid in garlic and chilli (I just took the chillies off!) and we also had a fish in tomato and garlic sauce dish too. The 8th item was a HUGE basket of prawn crackers!

I'd definitely recommend this place. If not just for the authentic food and lovely service, but for the great value for money too - our bill came to under £20 a head - not bad for 8 dishes, eh! I'd like to go back soon please :-)

Other restaurants I've tried that you might like to read about.