Baba’s Mezze, Barton Street, Bath

Baba’s Mezze didn’t host a flashy opening night party, or promote a soft launch week on social media, or send me a lengthy press release telling me what to write when I was bribed to write about it. It just simply opened its doors on Barton Street (which is, in itself, turning into one of Bath’s liveliest foodie thoroughfares, extending the established Saw Close scene in one direction just like Kingsmead Square has done in the other)… and suddenly, it was there. And suddenly, it was busy. And suddenly, Bath’s got a brand new restaurant that honestly isn’t like any other restaurant in Bath. And instantly: I love it.

It’s clear from the off that the seasoned team behind this new venture know pretty much know all there is to know about hospitality in the true sense of the word; they know that a genuinely warm welcome that starts with the staff who greet you and extends across both the environment and the menu with apparently effortless ease is at the heart of any good restaurant’s success. It’s hard to believe, though, that on the evening I visited, Baba’s had been open for less than a week – it felt long-established and very happily ‘bedded in’ without a single hint of that Changing Rooms vibe that all too many new ventures can’t seem to get past for at least six months.

But Baba’s isn’t trying to get us all to leap onto one of those ‘shock of the new’ bandwagons that bigger, glitzier new jaunts opening around it are currently trying so desperately hard to flaunt. To the contrary, Baba’s is all about tradition, and integrity, and authenticity – and its backstory substantiates that statement.

Quite simply, two Bens of Persian and Greek origin have put their passion for Persian/Mediterranean food and wine together. They’ve put Mehdi Parastesh (a long-experienced Iranian chef, from Tehran) in the kitchen, put proper, authentic middle eastern mezze and big chunks of meat*, cooked over charcoal, on the menu (*stress ye not, non-carnivores! There’s plenty for you to choose from too)… and put their years of experience in the hospitality industry together to create the kind of super-mellow, seductively convivial Mediterranean bistro experience that Bath so richly deserves. The wine list is as considerately thoughtful and evocative as the food, and the people who serve you as clearly happy to be there as you will be… and I can’t emphasise strongly enough just how right being there feels.

Seated at a table by the window in Baba’s beguiling little dining room (love the Souk lighting! Love the big Persian rug! Love the overall warmth of the decor, and the clear generosity of spirit about the whole vibe), we started with a selection of mezze to share: rich, smoky, velvety Baba Ganoush. Plump charred chicken wings thrilled up with molasses, and pomegranate, and coriander. Creamy, indulgent Black Truffle Olivieh – a beguiling combination of chicken, mayonnaise, crispy shallots, salted cucumber, dill, potato and intense, deeply umami black truffle; if you choose just one dish from the mezze menu (which you won’t/shouldn’t, ‘cos that’d be a crazy thing to do), make it this one. And then…

Lamb Shashlik: juicy lamb chops, blackened and grizzly from the charcoal on the outside, soft and pink within, with the overall texture of rich, rich butter. Jujeh Kebab: chicken breast marinated in earthy-sweet, floral saffron and just the right amount of yoghurt and lemon to make the fillets tender, tender, tender, but not too tender to maintain its integrity over those hot, hot flames. The requisite side dishes, meanwhile, were centre stage superstars in their own right: buttery, steaming saffron rice, and thick Persian flatbread (I’m thinking, Barbari?), the warm, crispy, sesame seeded crust yielding to a pillow of warm, yeasty, can’t-leave-it-alone contentment. We didn’t want to leave any of it alone – so we didn’t.

Suddenly, Bath’s got a brand new restaurant that honestly isn’t like any other restaurant in Bath.