I had to wait 40 minutes for my food. A guy ahead of me waited 50 minutes for fish. Another guy had a legit nutty. I felt like I could never remember a time when I wasn't waiting for food. But when it came, it was SO good. I would have waited all over again. We got the Fouta, Malak Brochette, and fried plantains. Every bit of it was delicious. My four year old devoured the Fouta and Platains. My husband and I could have eaten 2x the skewers--not because we weren't satisfied, but because it was awesome. So if you want a genuine taste of Africa--both the flavor and the pace, I *highly* recommend it! read more

Balabe - Food Trucks Near Me

See all

They're currently having a pop up shop in City Hall (451 S State Street) and I'm loving it! I've been there a few times already and I definitely have to recommend the Mafe Poutine. The owner is super friendly and came out to ask us how the food was personally. The decor is super cute too. Definitely check them out. read more

Balabe - Firire alloco - Food Trucks Near Me

See all

After working in a food truck you can understand what is the difference between quality food and what's just slanging something to eat. This cool chef not only has the vibes, he's got the qualities to back it up. Fast, delicious, and flavorful to boot. read more

I called Balabe a few weeks in advance to inquire on catering services for my work place. Communication with Ibou was really smooth and he was able to provide different options the employees could have such making the food gluten-free, vegan, and vegetarian. On the day of the catering event, Ibou came and had to go boxes labeled with each employees name on it. This took out any guesswork for me which made me appreciate the small details he put into the catering service. He provided a bottle of dressing for the salad and 2 chili oil bottles for the food if people dared to eat spicy. The plate that I got was called Yassa which was chicken in lemony onion sauce with rice and salad. The Yassa plate was super flavorful and easy to eat and the dressing was to die for! I would highly recommend trying out Balabe if you're in town. Follow them on social media and find out where they're at with their food truck. If there's something I can dock points away is how expensive it was to cater. If I were to add up the total price of tax, tip, and delivery, the total came out to be about $26 per person just for a plate. read more

Balabe - Yassa Plate- chicken in lemony onion sauce with rice and salad - Food Trucks Near Me

I'm on a crazy elimination diet right now and starving. Walking around waiting for my daughter's ballet show to start. And there's a food truck event nearby! I perused all the truck's menus and determined that plantains were the way to go. I know I can eat them and I know I love them. They weren't listed a la carte so I asked if I could get them alone and they were all for it! The blackened ends of the plantains were the yummiest. The seasoning was slightly spicy but totally tolerable and I'm quite sensitive. The salt with the sweet of the plantain and a little oil flavor was exquisite. I can now be happy the rest of the night. read more

Balabe - Fried plantains! - Food Trucks Near Me

You know it's good when you can pull the chicken off the bone with a spoon. Tender, perfectly cooked chicken. insanely good food. Flavorful and filling. Try the curry! It was wonderful. Service was fast. read more

Balabe food truck was at the Station in PG tonight and I decided to give it a try. First off, the owner or the chef was a great guy. He gave me some samples and I gotta tell you, peanut butter stew and the curry were on point. I had the firire alloco and I am super impressed. The chicken was tender and I got four pieces. I believe it was jerked chicken and it fell off the bone. It came with a side of fries, slaw, fried plantains and was topped in sweet or pickled onions. On top of that was some yummy sauce that brought it all home. I almost went with the shwarma but I got out of my zone. If you see this truck, go give it a try, it's not a normal food truck, it brought me back to the Caribbean. This is really a 4.5 star review fyi. read more

Balabe - the side of a food truck - Food Trucks Near Me

See all

We were a party of 4 tonight at TF Brewing, and were blown away by how great the food was. The Fouta, fried rice, slaw, fried plantains, and veggies were so flavorful with the perfect amount of flavor and spice. We are from Hawaii and had never had plantains. For you Hawaii and/or Filipino people- they reminded us of little apple banana lumpia bites :P I would have normally been a little hesitant to try foods I am unfamiliar with and unable to pronounce, but the guys running the truck were super polite with a great sense of humor. We really appreciated the impressive first introduction to Senegalese cuisine and look forward to visiting them again when we're back in town. read more

Wow, some of the best food I've had in the valley. Just simply amazing. Please come to TF brewing again! read more

The weekly food truck at our office was Balabe--in all honesty, I probably would not have tried it otherwise. But I am really glad I did, and if I ever come across this Senegalese cuisine truck again, I'll be sure to partake. Honestly, I couldn't even tell you the name of what I had (there was a little miscommunication between me and the gent taking my order--probably my fault), but it was a splendid mistake. Essentially I had three pieces of grilled dark meat (two legs and a thigh), several plantains, fries and a small salad, all for $13. The food was quite good, especially the chicken and plantains. This is a food truck absolutely worth a try, and as far as food trucks go, it was a decent value. read more

See all

I drove down from Alberta last night so it's hilarious to me that I found more poutine in SLC. Balabe was parked outside Fisher Brewing on a Sunday and it was delicious. The peanut butter based poutine I got reminds me a lot of home and Filipino Kare Kare. It was delicious. If I wasn't from California I'd come here more often. 10/10 recommend. read more

Balabe - Maffe Poutine - Food Trucks Near Me

Long wait to order, wrong items prepared, some proteins very dry and overcooked. I think if it weren't for the African festival it would have been a bit more organized. They ran out of items, some things didn't have prices. We picked a bad day to be hungry and expecting a quick meal. read more

See all

Sooo good. Love getting to experience different flavor profiles. We ordered the tamate' with lamb and the dakar chicken shawarma. It was at Murray Park for food truck night and Balabe did not disappoint. Portions were large and prepared well. Each dish came with small side salad and we ordered a side of couscous. The lamb was tender and had a perfect amount of char to it. The special sauce that came with the shawarma was delightful and had a nice zip to it. I would definitely recommend Balabe to anyone looking for something different than your regular food truck fare. You can tell that they care a lot about what kind of product they are putting out there for you to taste and I am excited about the next time I get to have some. I'm thinking the poutine. read more

See all

Tried this out at the Made in Utah festival because there were very few other options and I hadn't had it before. My impression is that they may have too large of a menu for their truck and what they are able to handle. A lot of the menu items are just pictures on the window of the truck without prices on them. As I waited for my food, I heard the cashier give two different prices for the same item to different customers. I was also given a price for another side item that did not match what was listed on the specials board. These inconsistencies in addition to the longer wait times for food will make it difficult to be successful. The food itself was pretty decent, but nothing that will leave me craving to return. It is certainly worth a try if you have never sampled Senegalese food before. read more

See all

This is exactly why food trucks rock. We get to try a foreign cuisine and discover why something so different is so good. Service was excellent and the attendee/cook was very helpful. I will watch for this orange truck and visit again and again. Well done! read more

Balabe - On the menu, this was Mafe - a peanut butter stew with veggies over couscous and excellent grilled chicken. - Food Trucks Near Me

We just had this food truck at an end of year school event, and the food was delicious. The food is prepared fresh onsite, so it takes a little longer to get a meal (10-15 minutes in some cases), AND the food is well worth it! Food is served with a smile and nice and hot and tasty and a lot. I'm still eating it today. I ordered the Kaolak Brochette and it was tender and delicious. I'm always in for a taco food truck, and I have now expanded my horizons; the flavors are wonderful. read more

This stuff goes insanely hard completely insane-o mode it's so good just go get some.

We really enjoyed the level of spicy heat in the chicken. So good! Our first experience with Senegalese food and it was delicious! read more

Oooooh so good! I got curry with chicken, (on the menu as "Curry Thiou", with options of red or yellow curry). It was $12, but it was definitely worth it to me. The spices on the chicken and the curry were just at the right spice level for me - enough to be controlled by a bit of water. The veggies were cooked perfectly soft for the usual bendy plastic utensils haha. Fantastic meal! I did not mind the price one bit. If I see this truck again, I'll likely drop everything and go eat. read more

Balabe - Curry Thiou, with chicken. - Food Trucks Near Me

We ordered through Chefpanzee, a local food delivery service. The food was amazing. Best delivery we've had in a long time. We ordered the Curry Thiou and the Mafé and loved them both. They call the Mafé a stew, but I think of a stew as soupy, and it was more of a thick savory dish served over rice. Highly recommend! I'm in Salt Lake City. I don't know why my location says San Fran. read more

Ordered the (spiced, ground-style) beef Dakar Shwarma at the Brews and Food Truck public event at Gateway. Was very pleased to get a well-filled schwarma that doesn't taste like the usual shwarma offerings, along with a side salad and fried sweet plantains -- a very good value for $11. Only docked them a star because the service was running quite slow. There was a good event crowd, but they also have a broad menu for a food truck. So probably wasn't the perfect mix for prompt service. They were friendly enough, though, that I'd try Balabé again. read more

I went during Craft Lake City, and they were the most disorganized food truck I've been to. The cashier didn't know the prices of things (seemed careless too), and it took over 40 minutes and a lot of headache to get my food. They said it was electricity program, which is fine, but I wish they'd notified us beforehand as I can save my $30 and get something else instead. After standing there for over 30 minutes and every other customer struggling with getting their food as well, I told them what I ordered. They actually didn't have any of the items ready, so at that point, I didn't care what I got- I just wanted some food. I ended up with 2 lamb dishes, but I was charged way more (for the dishes I originally ordered). I got two combos for $30 which is a lil much for food trucks. That and the almost hour wait in the sun and everyone being so negative (customers were upset and they didn't say anything that substantial in terms of apologies) really ruined my mood for the rest of the festival. I also don't really like lamb. So I didn't find the food impressive. I hate giving bad reviews, but I wish they were more apologetic and/or give part of my money back? Food trucks are always a gamble I guess read more

Gonna be a new regular. Amazing food. Service was great, food was better. Made fresh. Good food takes time so I didn't mind the wait. Got the fish and jollof rice with lamb. read more

Really good food. The wait is a lengthy but it's worth it for fresh food. No recommendations, try it all if you can.

so so good. I had the peanut sauce on couscous and have been thinking about it for the last 2 days. WHERE IS the truck????

The service was great, very friendly, food was so delicious. We had the yellow and red vegan curries and they were amazing. The plantain is very tasty. I highly recommend this food! read more

Love this place, I have tried everything! The chicken is def my favorite. It is flavorful but not in your face, the spicy onions over the fries are to die for read more

All hail Balabe! I've tried just about everything on their menu, and it is all SO GOOD. The owner is super sweet, and you get large filling portions for a super reasonable price- easily enough to have leftovers for the next day. This is one of my favorite food trucks, and I will always cop a plate when I see jt. Definitely worth checking out! read more

The Vegan Maffe was sooooooo good! New favorite food honestly!! Peanut sauce was rich but didn't overwhelm the fresh carrots and sweet potatoes. Grab a beer at Fishers and a ridiculously good lunch at Balabe! read more

Never had Senegalese food before so this was my first experience! The ingredients seemed to be fresh and the food was super flavorful. I got the curry thiou with fish as the protein, The fish was fresh and cooked perfectly. The Gentlemen in the truck were super nice as wel. read more

One star for three reasons. 1-They overcharged us. Either that or they have the most expensive Dakar Sharwarma I've ever seen. Part of the problem is, on over half of the items they don't have prices listed. So let's reverse engineer. The bill was ~$30. My wife's Yassa did have a price listed of $10. We ordered 2 drinks at $2 each which means my chicken wrap would be $16. The lamb chop full dinner on the menu was $16 so we either got overcharged or I picked the lowest value item on the menu. 2-They got the order wrong but this is minor. My wife ordered the Yassa over rice and got couscous. I got my food over rice which I really don't like. Wait, you're thinking, you ordered a wrap. How was it served over rice? Well, that's because: 3- it was over half an hour wait before I went back to the window to ask if our order had been lost. We noticed about half a dozen people that had ordered after us getting their food and nothing for us. When I went to the window the lady taking the orders asked the cook and sure enough, there was our order still yet to be filled. Well, the sauce for the Yassa can be complex and take time, right? No. It's because my Sharwarma hadn't been started yet. We had waited 35 minutes because a chicken and vegetable wrap wasn't ready. The cook said if we could wait 10 more minutes he could get to making my wrap. Or I could get a skewer meal in about 2 minutes. And he graciously wouldn't charge the difference. Which reinforces my idea that I got over charged for the Sharwarma in the first place. I opted for the skewers which took another 5 minutes, so by the time all was said and done the total wait time between ordering and receiving food was 40 minutes standing in Liberty Park in the sun. I will say that the food was pretty good when we finally got it but certainly not 40 minute wait good. read more

The peanut butter soup was very good, and everything on the menu looks amazing! The chicken that came with it was perfect, just enough char to crisp the outside but still moist inside. Excellent flavor. read more

Ordered a couple of shawarmas at the African festival yesterday. The food came out an hour later which is understandable. However, what was not acceptable was the meat being overcooked and underspiced. Disappointing! read more

Pretty good food, but took an insane amount of time for the orders to come out. Granted, it was the 4th of July and it was packed, but they should have been able to handle it or at least given people a heads up. Took over an hour to get my food after ordering. read more

The food was sooooo good. I got a chicken dish, Firere Alamoco or something like that. It was chicken with onions on top, with such a good seasoning. It came with fries which were good, and fried plantain. There was also a small salad. Everything was very good. I can't wait for this truck to come back to my work so I can try the poutine! read more

The food is great! There is a little bit of a wait but you cant rush good food as they say. The people who run the food truck are also the nicest people. 10/10 highly recommend read more