Balena FromMe2U

{Spicy Sausage Pizza}

I have been wanting to dine at Balena ever since June when I tried to eat here for my birthday. I finally ate here on Friday and let me just say wow. It was absolutely amazing. First of all the atmosphere is stunning. It sends off this inviting, trendy, vibrant, warm feeling right when you walk in. They have excellent cocktails here. You're making a mistake if you don't start off with one of their specialty drinks. I ordered an old-fashioned and it was excellent. The ingredients were muddled perfectly with the right amount of sugar. 

Most of the items on the menu are meant to be shared. We had a large group so we were able to try a good portion of the menu. First off, the pizza was sensational. The spicy sausage pizza with tomato, onion and mozzarella was heavenly. It had the right amount of spice - so good I could probably eat it once a week. We also ordered the mushroom pizza with fontina, taleggio, scallions and thyme, which had such a unique flavor. 

{Mushroom Pizza}

Next, we ordered pasta galore. The pasta dishes at Balena are brilliant. Each dish is so unique.

{Hen Egg}

{Bavette Pomodoro}

{Rigatoni Pork Ragu}

{Tagliolini Nero}

Each of these pastas were amazing, but the shining stars were the tagliolini and the the hen egg. The hen egg pasta was egg noodles with sage and brown butter. The dish was simple, yet having never had egg noodles in an Italian dish truly made this dish so unique and radiant. I have always wanted to try squid ink noodles, and the tagliolini just blew me away. 

{Grilled Prawns}

Lastly, we ordered the grilled prawns with finger chiles, grapes & aioli. I love prawns, especially grilled prawns, so I knew I was going to love this dish. It had just the right amount of flavor without dominating the flavor of the prawns too much. 

I would go back to Balena in a heartbeat. Can I go back tonight?

My only complaint is the service. Our waiter was not very attentive, took a very LONG time to serve us our wine and didn't check in with us as often as I would have liked. Other than that I absolutely loved my dining at experience at Balena and would highly recommend it!