The underdog of South-East Asian cuisines finally has its moment (and here’s where to get it)

Whenever I walk past my local Filipino favourite, Greenknowe Cafe in Potts Point, I smile at the sight of it teeming with diners. Recently, I arrived at Tita, the new Filipino cafe in Marrickville, to be greeted by a 50-person queue during its opening weekend, but instead of feeling peeved, I was elated.

It’s often labelled the underdog of South-East Asian cuisines, but the past few years have seen a growing curiosity and appreciation for Filipino food in Sydney.

Veteran establishments like Mama Lor and Sydney Cebu Lechon in Blacktown have been serving traditional favourites like adobo and suckling pig in Sydney’s west for years (it helps to have NSW’s largest Filipino community at your doorstep).

More recently, newcomers like Takam and Kanin Project are reinventing the classics with fine dining degustations and innovative pop-ups at venues including PS40 and Jane in Surry Hills.

Filipino food can be a thrilling shock to the senses: rich, pork-heavy, punched with vinegar and garlic, and laced with the funky umami of fermented shrimp paste and fish sauce.

But it’s also simple and comforting (like arroz caldo, a rice porridge made with chicken stock and ginger), decadently sweet (with baked breads and corn-based desserts influenced by Latin American, Spanish and Chinese cuisines), and weirdly playful (Jollibee spaghetti with marshmallow hot dog skewers, anyone?)

From sticky steamed desserts to mix-and-match breakfast plates, here are 10 Filipino dishes everyone should try, and where to get them in Sydney.

Sisig

Sizzling Fillo, Lidcombe

Sisig is the dish that Anthony Bourdain described as the perfect gateway to falling in love with Filipino food. It has all the staples of Filipino cuisine: economical cuts of pork (like the cheeks and ears), vinegar, and a good squeeze of calamansi (a tiny citrus fruit native to the Philippines). The best part? It’s served sizzling hot on a cast-iron plate, giving it a crispy, caramelised char that’s complemented by a silky raw egg.

36 Railway Street, Lidcombe, sizzlingfillo.com

Pancit palabok

Let’s Chon, Sydenham

Go to any Filipino fiesta and you’ll likely find two things: a karaoke machine with Mariah Carey’s greatest hits, and a tita (aunty) who arrives with a steaming foil tray of pancit palabok: vermicelli noodles tossed in a thick shrimp gravy, coloured golden from annatto seeds, and topped with boiled eggs, prawns, ground pork and crushed chicharron (pork crackling).

This is exactly how they serve it at Let’s Chon, a no-frills eatery with suckling pig and other home-style Filipino classics in Sydenham.

7 Gleeson Avenue, Sydenham (located in Burgers Anonymous x Tacos Anonymous), facebook.com/letschonsyd/

Poqui poqui

Takam, Darlinghurst

Poqui poqui is an example of what the Ilocano cuisine of northwestern Luzon does best: simple preparation of fresh local vegetables. This comforting dish of smoked Asian eggplant is fried with eggs, tomatoes, onions and garlic, but for extra umami, add some fish sauce – a staple Filipino condiment.

Takam, Darlinghurst’s modern Filipino eatery, serves it as an omelette on top of mushroom fried rice and atchara (pickled papaya).

324 Victoria Street, Darlinghurst, takam.com.au

Puto bumbong

Filo Station, Croydon Park

Filipino desserts other than halo-halo are notoriously hard to find in Sydney, let alone the Christmastime delicacy of puto bumbong − a sweet purple rice cake prepared in a special tubular steamer. Sticky to the touch and coloured a luscious purple, glutinous rice is steamed in bamboo tubes, topped with grated coconut and muscovado sugar, and served on a deep green banana leaf − making it a feast for the eyes as well as the tastebuds.

Find it at Filo Station in Croydon Park, where you can order the traditional version or try their famous “Special puto bumbong”, which features grated cheese and slices of leche flan.

155 Georges River Road, Croydon Park, filostation.com.au

Sinigang

Mama Lor Restaurant & Bakery, Rooty Hill

Filipino cuisine, with its many stews and soups, has no shortage of comfort foods − and sinigang is one of them: a sour, savoury soup made with tamarind. While its ingredients vary across families and regions (my Dad loves to add pork and watermelon), sinigang is usually simmered with a hearty protein like pork, fish, or prawns, and vegetables like tomato, kangkong, eggplant, radish, bok choy, or beans.

Mama Lor in Rooty Hill serves their sinigang na baboy the classic way, with juicy pork belly, green beans, tomato and eggplant.

Shop 5/39-45 Rooty Hill Road North, Rooty Hill, mamalor.com

Turon

Lazza, Marrickville

While lumpia (the moreish deep-fried pork spring rolls) enjoys recognition beyond the Philippines, its sweeter counterpart, banana turon, remains lesser known. This street food snack is made by coating ripe banana and jackfruit strips in sugar, wrapping them in spring-roll paper, frying them to a golden crisp, and drizzling caramel on top.

Marrickville’s Lazza Restobar takes it to the next level by serving their turon with homemade ube ice-cream – the perfect dessert for any Filipino meal.

246 Marrickville Road, Marrickville, instagram.com/lazza_marrickville

Silog meals

Descanso, Newtown

Longsilog, tapsilog, cornsilog … these breakfast staples all have one thing in common: a delicious formula of sinangag (garlic rice), itlog (egg), some type of mouth-watering, salty meat, and condiments like vinegar, fresh tomato and atchara (pickled papaya).

Like many street side breakfast joints in the Philippines, Newtown’s Filipino cafe Descanso lets you choose from tapsilog (thin slices of cured beef called tapa), tosilog (tender, caramelised pork tocino that’s sweetened and cured in brown sugar and seasonings), and longsilog (a garlicky, Filipino-style pork sausage called longganisa) − all served with fried eggs and garlic rice.

Shop 4/32-72 Alice Street, Newtown, descanso.com.au

Lechon

Sydney Cebu Lechon, Blacktown

No Filipino culinary experience is complete without lechon, a slow-roasted suckling pig with crispy crackling on the outside and tender meat on the inside.

As the name suggests, Sydney Cebu Lechon serves it the way they do in Cebu, a province in the Philippines’ Central Visayas region: pork belly is tightly rolled with aromatics, then roasted and enjoyed with atchara, rice, and an addictive dipping sauce of vinegar and garlic.

4 Kerry Road, Blacktown, sydneycebulechon.com.au

Ube ice-cream

Tita, Marrickville

It feels like cheating to add a simple dessert to this list, but ube ice-cream has earned its place as a national culinary treasure. It’s a nostalgic childhood favourite for almost every Filipino, the key ingredient in popular desserts like halo-halo and ginataan, and the best-selling flavour at Magnolia Ice Cream (the country’s biggest dessert brand).

Ube (purple yam) tastes nutty and reminiscent of a creamy, earthy vanilla, and it works perfectly as the velveteen soft-serve that people queue for at Tita, Marrickville’s new casual Filipino eatery.

Shop 4/359 Illawarra Road, Marrickville, instagram.com/tita.carinderia

Kare-kare

Inigo’s Kitchen, Bexley

Kare-kare, which derives its name from “curry”, strays away from the Philippines’ usual culinary suspects of pork and vinegar. It’s a peanut-based stew that’s rich, creamy and spiced with annatto powder.

Although it’s originally made with oxtail, many restaurants now offer kare-kare as a vegetarian staple: Inigo’s Kitchen in Bexley serves it with crispy tofu and mixed Asian vegetables like okra, green beans, eggplant, and bok choy.

441 Forest Road, Bexley, inigoskitchen.com.au