A new Bondi tapas bar is set to open this Sunday, arriving at a moment when the beachside suburb could use a reason to celebrate. Besa, a Spanish-inspired venue from the team behind celebrated Sydney restaurants Nour and Aalia, opens at 75–79 Hall Street on 1 March, bringing a hatted chef, weekend DJs and a menu built around serious drinking food.
The venue is the latest from ESCA Hospitality Group, whose portfolio also includes Japanese bar-restaurant Joji and charcoal chicken spot Henrietta — with one Henrietta already operating nearby in the Hall Street Hub precinct that Besa is joining. The group’s executive chef, Ibrahim Kasif, who earned chefs’ hats at Nour in Surry Hills, has developed the opening menu alongside head chef Alan Kropman, whose background includes time at the iconic Bondi restaurant Sean’s Panorama.
The 65-seat space — compact by design — takes its cues from the buzzy, high-density bars of Madrid. Architect Matt Darwon has fitted the room with deliberately torn acoustic panels on the ceiling, which co-founder and creative director Ibrahim Moubadder says resemble flowers. Warm timbers, circular booths and deep red tones give the interior a moody, cinematic quality that sits apart from Bondi’s usual sun-bleached aesthetic. Kasif himself described the space as feeling like a film set.
Besa — Spanish for “kiss” — slides into the former home of Pasticceria Papa, next door to newcomers Salumeria and chocolate bar Cocoa & Bean, and across the street from Harris Farm and the perennially busy Da Orazio. It joins Alzado, the Spanish restaurant that launched late last year at Hotel Ravesis on the corner of Hall Street and Campbell Parade, making it the second Spanish venue to set up in the suburb in recent months.
The food leans into the “good drinking food” philosophy Kasif described during the menu’s development. Standout dishes include a fideua negra — squid ink egg noodles served with grilled chicken and aioli — along with blue mackerel and Spanish pickles on butter leaf, a dish Kropman brought to the table himself. Rather than a full dessert menu, Besa will rotate a small selection of daily specials, drawing from options including Basque cheesecake, crema Catalana and churros. The cocktail list takes its inspiration from the classic Spanish novel Don Quixote.
The opening is also a show of confidence in Bondi at a difficult time. Moubadder, who has personal history with the suburb as a young immigrant and has watched it incubate food brands including Oporto and Fishbowl, said he witnessed the direct impact of the December 2024 shooting on trade at Henrietta, which opened just weeks before the incident. He expressed concern for fellow operators who have continued to feel the effects on foot traffic.
Besa is open for lunch Friday to Sunday and dinner Tuesday to Sunday. Moubadder has floated the idea of a future sibling venue in a Sydney city laneway, though nothing has been confirmed.
