The only diminutive aspect of Helen Graham and Marc Summers’s Bubala is its name. The flavours at their Middle Eastern-influenced vegetarian restaurant are huge.

No surprise then that the Sephardi dishes at their first restaurant — with a rather Ashkenazi-sounding name — were greeted with rave reviews from critics and diners alike when they opened in autumn 2019.

The food punched way above its weight and Graham and Summers were soon swamped with eager eaters. They admit the period after opening their restaurant on East London’s Commercial Street was hectic.

“Honestly, that first six months was a bit of a blur,” admits Summers, who is expecting a real-life baby of his own in August. “It was one of the sharpest learning curves I have ever experienced in my life,”says Graham.

“We didn’t have a proper structure and were doing pretty much everything. It’s only recently. coming back after Covid that we’ve built a business structure,” says Summers, who takes charge front-of-house while Graham mans the stoves. “It’s crazy now, seeing how many people are doing the jobs that I was doing myself!”

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Bubala Knows Best for a menu mezze

Only six months after they opened, the pandemic hit. Forced to close for the first lockdown, what had felt initially a welcome breather, started to drag into an uncertain future. They knew they needed to do something to provide work for their staff.

Like many others, they pivoted to internet cook-a-longs and home delivery via website Dispatch. “At one stage we were doing up to 400 boxes a week. We had so much to cook, we had to use the ovens at the Thai restaurant a few doors down. We’d wheel this huge trolley up and down Commercial Street, loaded up with ingredients and then with cooked food,” says Summers.

When they reopened, they introduced a set menu, ‘Bubala knows best’. “It was to protect ourselves against staff absences, but people loved it, so we kept it,” explains Summers. The £38 per head menu (veggie or vegan) is a mezze spread that would have any bubba kvelling. Despite the staff shortages felt by the rest of their industry, since reopening, the Bubala family has blossomed.

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Latke love: the Bubala spin on a potato latke

Their staff roster has increased to 35 and is about to grow again as they prepare to open their second venue — in Soho.

The plan for Bubala’s sibling started to evolve more than a year ago. It will sit on the old site of Italian restaurant, Vasco and Piero’s Pavilion; a venue that has special relevance for Summers: “My family used to love eating there — it was where my father celebrated his 50th birthday. I’d even asked for work experience there when I was 18. The chef talked me out of a career in food!” Even though the new Bubala —which opens on 11 July — will share similarities with their first, they have retained some of the heritage of the new site.

“It was 50 years old, so we had a lot to strip out — there were six levels of flooring. We’ve kept the lowest layer. We’ve got an open kitchen — all stainless steel — and a sharing table. For the table-tops, we’ve used London plane trees that were felled for the Kings Cross redevelopment — it looks amazing,” says Graham.

Their Soho menu will repeat some of the original dishes but with twists and additions. “We’ll always have hummus but with different toppings. The mushroom skewers are staying as they’re so popular. There’s a new malabi and a bigger snack section,” explains Graham.

Look out for some new, in-your-face flavours. “We’ve never done a baba ghanoush even though we’ve talked about it for nearly four years. The grill at Bubala 1 isn’t big enough for us to char the aubergines there. We’d also held off because we felt that when we did do it would have to be special.” They’ve added their trademark twist to the Middle Eastern classic. “We’ve made the aubergines really smooth and added miso, which gives it amazing depth. There’s also confit garlic and curry oil, which adds a vegetal, fruity contrast,” explains Graham.

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Dip in: we'll still be able to dive into the world class baba ghanoush

As well as aubergine-based dip, there’s a mushroom paté. “The mushroom butter is our nod to Marc’s classical chef training and our chopped liver acknowledgement” says Graham. “We make it with maitake mushrooms cooked down with onions and a really interesting spice mix of Baharat, sumac and white pepper. I feel white pepper is a quite an Askhenazi flex. My mum used in her kneidlach”. Giving it a Friday night vibe they serve it with [vegan] challah which sourced from a new supplier — a new, boutique London-based Israeli micro-bakery.

Bossy Bubala’s set menu (vegetarian or vegan) will still be on offer, but there will also be a la carte options for those smaller bites. And they’ll be opening early for pre-theatre diners.

More info here
Read more about Bubala here.