Bali Bali Restaurant

Restaurant · London, United Kingdom

Bali Bali Restaurant

About Bali Bali Restaurant

Bali Bali occupies a corner unit on Shaftesbury Avenue in London's West End, a few minutes' walk from Piccadilly Circus and within the pre-theatre dining corridor that serves Covent Garden's playhouses. The restaurant has operated at 150 Shaftesbury Avenue for over two decades, building a following among London's Indonesian community and pre-theatre diners alike.

The menu centers on home-style Indonesian cooking rather than a single regional cuisine, drawing dishes from Java, Sumatra and Bali. A rijsttafel, the Dutch-Indonesian rice table format that spreads several small dishes around a central serving of rice, lets diners sample multiple items in one sitting: options typically include beef rendang, chicken sate with peanut sauce, and gado-gado, a vegetable salad dressed in the same peanut base. Nasi goreng, the fried rice dish built around a fried egg and shrimp crackers, and a rotating selection of curries also feature. The kitchen accommodates vegetarian and pescatarian requests and adjusts spice levels to order rather than fixing dishes at a single heat level.

The dining room is modest and informal, suited to a quick pre-theatre meal as much as a longer group dinner; a dedicated pre-theatre menu is offered alongside a separate lunch menu for diners on a tighter schedule. Reviews describe the pricing as reasonable for central London and the service as attentive, with regulars returning for the rendang and sate in particular.

Bali Bali sits inside the West End's dense restaurant row, surrounded by theatres including the Gielgud and Lyric, making it a practical stop before or after a show. For the Indonesian diaspora in London, it is one of a small number of restaurants serving Indonesian home cooking rather than a pan-Asian menu, and it draws a mixed crowd of homesick expatriates and curious locals encountering rijsttafel for the first time. The restaurant takes reservations directly and through major booking platforms, useful given its proximity to evening performances and the resulting weekend demand.

Address

150 Shaftesbury Ave, London WC2H 8HL, London, United Kingdom

Opening hours

Friday
12:00 PM - 10:45 PM
Monday
12:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Sunday
1:00 PM - 9:30 PM
Tuesday
12:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Saturday
12:00 PM - 11:00 PM
Thursday
12:00 PM - 10:00 PM
Wednesday
12:00 PM - 10:00 PM

Contact

Category

Indonesian Restaurant in United Kingdom

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