B’Stilla

There are not many Moroccan restaurants in Melbourne, so on the recommendation of a friend to try Moroccan cuisine, and a quick google search, B’Stilla was the first option.
It has a ‘small’ menu, however due to the novelty and little experience, the small menu option is not a negative at all.
The service was amazingly friendly and exceptionally helpful; willing to assist and recommend various options and preferences.
Whilst on the website it states that walk-​ins are available, due to the growing popularity of the restaurant, I cannot stress enough the importance to book early.
The food was exquisite and well presented and the option of 1 small dish, 1 dish, and 1 large (with optional side dish) was plenty for two.
A nice touch was to during the evening have the main dish brought to our table by the chef who was willing to chat briefly and of course appreciated any compliments on his creation.
I would certainly recommend this restaurant to anyone, and certainly will be going again.

Awesome food and great service! The octopus was so tender and lamb so full of flavour!

I love this place. I love that when its cold outside my stomach leads me here with a craving of a warm morrocan food matched with a delicious galss, or two of red wine.
This visit was my second. For entrée we had the grilled batbout flat bread. This is light and fluffy, with a gentle hint of tumeric, and served with a tomato and lemon jam, which was refreshingly tart. The «jam» is more like a thin dipping sauce but either way its delicious. We also had some of the pickled heirloom vegetables which were tart and made my tastebuds tingle.
Our main, which was more than enough for us to share was the beef short rib with carrot jam and herbs. Amazing. We also had some Cous Cous with apricots, raisins, cranberries and sunflower seeds. Brilliant!
The staff are friendly, the environment is warm and welcoming and I’ll keep coming back for some more of this Moroccan magic.

We had dinner there with a group of 9 and had to eat from the banquet meal at $ 45 a head for three mains. We were served merguez sausage and flatbread for starters, followed by lamb ribs, roasted heirloom carrots, beef shank and a seafood tagine.
The flavours were decent but nothing extraordinary, while the portion sizes were inadequate to share between 9 people. However, the ambience was nice, service was good and venue quite pleasant.

So much potential, but mostly wasted. I ate there on a Friday night with group of friends and we had the banquet which is a fixed-​price three course meal that the chef chooses for you. Started with a lentil soup and the some flat beard and an eggplant dish. The main was a delicious lamb shank cooked very well. Their house wine is also good and reasonably priced.
The problem is that the food is just average. Now I am no expert on Moroccan food, but B’stilla is supposed to be a good example of the genre and, if so, I probably won’t be in a rush to have any again. Surprisingly bland which kind of shocked me.
The real problem, and I hate to focus on this because it is probably not the norm, but our server was extremely rude and this put a damper on the entire dinner. While we were talking about what wine to get he pointedly reminded us that we only had the table until 8:30 so we should get on with it. He made similar comments later in the meal, interrupting us to do so. I’m sorry, i know we don’t have a table indefinitely, but he might as well have put stopwatch on our table so we could tell exactly how much time was left before we need to be expelled and the next bunch of suckers brought in to be abused. It would have been less invasive that way. I have never been treated so rudely in such a matter of fact way. Maybe this guy is just a jerk, but it says something about the establishment that they allow and, one suspects, encourage the kind of mentality in their servers.

Really tasty food and great service. The wine was good and the atmosphere was casual. The staff were knowledgable about dietary requirements and offered a gluten free menu which includes most items off the main menu.
Totally recommended.

B’Stilla were super accommodating of our big group (around ten people, oops) last minute booking request one Friday night a couple of months ago.
The complimentary sweet mint tea served as soon as we sat down was just the start of a wonderful meal. The food and beverages were delicious and the tapas style menu worked perfectly for us – I think we ordered nearly everything off the menu at least once, shoved it all into the middle of the table and let loose! The pumpkin couscous and apricot lamb ribs were particular standout dishes for me.
You know a mark of a good shared meal when you’re too full for dessert (despite desperately wishing it weren’t true). A great evening.

What a lovely way to spend dinner on a chilly winters night in Melbourne.
B’stilla’s moroccan menu certainly warmed me up and delighted my taste buds.
The venue is warm and welcoming and outdoor area is heated up very well too.
For starters we shared the Lamb ribs and chargrilled whole prawns. The lamb ribs were tasty and prawns were yummy flavoured with just the right herbs and spices as not to over power and still have a that great prawn taste.
Main course was Duck tagine served with vegetables (I loved the mini brussel sprouts) it also had prunes through the dish and these went so well.
The cous cous salad with pumpkin, chilli and coriander was an excellent side to accompany.
What I really enjoyed was those earthy flavours that I have been missing lately, I’m glad there B’stilla is around because of late, Melbourne seems like it has turned into a mini Mexico. I highly recommend you try B’stilla if you’re wanting to experience something a little different.
B’stilla has very reasonable prices and overall was really happy with our dinner.

Table of 12 for a friend’s farewell dinner — took the banquet option — best value for money I’ve had on ages (Sydney or Melbourne) and so close to Chapel Street — great food (the seafood crockpot was to die for), great service and BYO — we were very happy and full at the end of the night — totally recommend!!!

B’Stilla (Bas-​tee-​ya) is the new restaurant from Jason Jones, chef and co-​owner of Mexican hot-​spot Mamasita, and has recently burst into life just off Chapel Street in South Yarra. Wanting to try something new, Jason has turned his attention to Morocco and, like Mamasita, aims to serve authentic yet approachable dishes. Moroccan food is all about the balance of savoury, sweet and spice, something that needs to be handled carefully, and it is safe to say that the food at B’Stilla is in good hands.
The space is modern and spacious, befitting its South Yarra location, with an open kitchen and outside seating. The drinks list is short and to the point, with mostly Australian wine and beer. The wines tend to be lighter to match the food, and the Crittenden house wines are very well priced and available in various sizes via eco keg. The service is friendly and casual, which fits the concept well, and staff are approachable when navigating a cuisine that may not be familiar to most people (a glossary as part of the menu also helps).
The menu is designed to share, with many of the dishes coming as entrée size, making it easier to cover more of the menu in one meal. Several larger dishes offer a more substantial choice, such as the beef short ribs and three different tagines. There are a large number of vegetarian dishes, which happily stay away from boring clichés, making it a perfect choice for non-​carnivores and carnivores alike. The spicing is subtle in most dishes, with the freekah salad delivering the biggest chilli hit, but a housemade harissa is on hand if you want more of a kick to any dish.
The grilled batbout flat bread is light and fluffy, with a gentle warmth of tumeric, and served with a tomato and lemon jam, which was refreshingly tart. The restaurant’s namesake, the B’Stilla, is spot on (as it should be). Layers of crispy, flaky pastry (think filo, brik), encasing a slow-​cooked and lightly spiced filling of pigeon and duck. The icing sugar and cinnamon dusted on top perfectly sums up Moroccan cuisine; that delicate balance between savoury, sweet and spice. Delicious.
Moving into main territory we opt for the goat tagine (there is also a vegetarian and seafood option), and the goat was cooked until it was falling off the bone (as there’s nothing worse than overcooked goat). The spicing is spot-​on, and the sauce left at the bottom of the tagine is unbelievable (make sure you have couscous or bread to mop up every drop). The beef short ribs were rich and meltingly delicious, a carrot jam adding a rich sweetness with preserved lemon giving that salty acidity.
The sides and salads come in small and large sizes, making it easier to try as many as you want. The freekah salad with apple, celeriac, chard, green chilli and almond already seems to be a favourite and certainly has the necessary spike of heat to leave a good impression. The couscous with apricot, smoked chilli, coriander and preserved citrus has a wonderful perfumed flavour with a gentle smokiness.
The desserts sound simple, but are one of the highlights of the meal. The flan (crème caramel-​style, not the pastry tart) is lightly scented of rosewater, rich without being heavy, with a sticky date purée and a crunchy and sticky walnut nougatine. The chocolate dish is spiced with star anise and dotted with sesame seeds, joining a strong espresso jelly which marries so well with the chocolate. The accompanying cinnamon crème fraiche is heavenly with the perfume of cinnamon playing off the sourness of the cream.
B’Stilla already looks like it is going to continue the Mamasita winning strike and I, for one, am so happy to see Moroccan food receiving the attention it deserves. It is a difficult cuisine to get right, with its tightrope of sweet, savoury and spice to balance just right, but B’Stilla has nailed it so far. It’s no-​bookings for tables under 8, so get down there now before there are lines out the door.

Hidden behind Chapel St this new gem is close enough to Chapel street to be convenient and far enough away to escape the noise, for those of us who aren’t height challenged, this is all of 20 steps!
There is something wonderful about new places, there are no expectations, no recommendations and you tend to allow a buffer in case they haven’t gotten it sorted yet. I would postulate that this is why I was so blown away by the experience at B’Stilla. As with it’s namesake dish, B’Stilla struck me as rather plain on the outside and yet upon entry, was a delectable surprise.
Upon sitting down I was pleased to find that they had organised to pour Australia’s own West Winds Gin, an excellent surprise that framed the rest of the experience perfectly. After attending to the most important part of the meal, the wonderful waitress walked us through all of the different choices we had. As with all Moroccan food sharing is advised and the dishes have been sized to accommodate this, this is fortunate as all of the food on the menu is scintillating and you’ll want to try as many varied dishes as you can.
At a minimum you have to try the heirloom tomato salad and the Harissa, it will make your life just a touch better.
Finally they brought the bill out and after several gins and a rather extensive selection of dishes I was expecting to pay upwards of $ 300 for the both of us. So when the bill came back at a freakishly cheap $ 75 I had to do a double take and make sure that they hadn’t left a couple of things off the bill.
If you’re in the area you should definitely come and experience society’s newest secret!

There’s lots to like about this new restaurant in the backstreets just behind Chapel in South Yarra.
Firstly, how many places are doing moroccan food these days? Not many. And how many do it in a nice environment with attentive and knowledgeable service without expecting you to auction off your first born to pay the bill?
Well I’m pleases to say my first visit to B’Stilla was a very good one and my dining companion and I ate very well for around $ 25 each. It helped that we were both «off the booze» that night and stuck to the mineral water, which at $ 2 for a bottomless supply, is an absolute bargain but even with a couple of glasses of wine thrown in this would be a terrific affordable dinner venue.
We started with the B’Stilla the signature dish. The texture was good but the seasoning was a little underdone for my liking and the little jar of house made harissa really came in handy to give it a little oomph. A note on that harissa — it’s delicious, add it to just about everything you eat here if you like a little more kick.
Next we had a side of the smoked eggplant salad which was a flavour and textural delight. I can see why some wouldn’t like it — it’s unctuous and slippery and very smoky, but I’m a huge fan of eggplant and will take it in just about any format. We moved on to the vegetables and chickpea tagine — rich from slow cooking and the heady mix of spices. This was exceptional, and the side of couscous spiked with fruit and spices was a great accompaniment.
I’m looking forward to repeat visits, perhaps with groups of friends so more of the designed-​to-​share menu can be explored.