Chef's Pick
Coal-Fired Ribeye
Thirty-day dry aged ribeye over white coals, finished with rosemary butter and sea salt.
$32.00
22 years
Behind the pass
Executive Chef
Marcus Adeyemi
“A tasting menu is not a performance. It is eight chances to give someone exactly what the ingredient deserves, in the right order, at the right temperature.”
Open fire cooking
Harbour Lane kitchen
9 awards
Biography
Marcus Adeyemi opened the first Babuka counter on Harbour Lane in 1998 with a single grill, twelve stools and a chalkboard menu rewritten every morning.
The training came first: four years on the fish section of a harbour hotel, two more running the grill at a steak room that never turned its coals off, and a season in Naples that taught more about dough than any book could. What survived all of it was a stubborn belief that the ingredient should lead the plate.
Today the kitchen serves two rooms and a delivery counter, and Marcus still walks the market every morning before service. The seasonal menu is written by hand each day, and every new chef spends their first week on prep before they touch a section.
Experience
1998 – now
Founder & Executive Chef, Babuka
Built the kitchen, the brigade and the sourcing network from a twelve seat counter.
1996 – 1998
Grill Chef, The Coal Room
Ran a permanently lit coal grill across three services a day.
1992 – 1996
Fish Section, Harbour Hotel
Learned to buy, break down and cook everything the boats landed.
On the menu
Signature dishes
Three plates that have stayed on the menu through every seasonal rewrite.
Chef's Pick
Portside Seafood Platter
Day boat prawns, oysters, dressed crab and smoked mussels with lemon and sea herbs.
$38.00
Sale
Herb Roast Half Chicken
Free range chicken brined for a day, roasted over thyme and finished with pan gravy.
$22.00$25.00
The rest of the brigade
More of our chefs
Lena Sorokina
Head of Grill
Tobias Rune
Sous Chef
Amara Okonkwo
Pastry Chef
Diego Salvatierra
Pizza Master
Come and eat with us
A table at Babuka is always worth the trip
Book a seat in the dining room, or order the same food to your door from the express kitchen.