$5 skewers and a ‘secret' menu: Your cheat sheet to the city's latest Filipino restaurant
Eating out Just open
After success with pop-ups, an up-and-coming chef is spotlighting real-deal Filipino flavours at his new spot off Smith Street in Fitzroy. It's all about hearty brunch, snacky night menus and wallet-friendly prices.
For the last few years, Filipino chef Fhred Batalona has been sharing the food of his homeland through pop-ups (including at the now-closed Epocha) and his catering business Barangay, while working at venues including Richmond's Bar Pigalle (now-closed) and Orlo in Collingwood. In mid-April, he went bricks and mortar, opening Palay in Fitzroy.
Who's behind it?
Batalona has opened Palay with Ralph Libo-on and Michael Mabuti, who are involved with some of Melbourne's favourite Filipino venues including Askal and Kariton Sorbetes.
What should I eat?
'One thing that's happening with the Filipino [food] movement is that we're trying to fuse it so much,' says Batalona. 'But the dining culture is changing ... People are now looking for something a bit more just true and authentic.'
That's what he's aiming for at Palay.
The star of the brunch menu is arroz caldo, a nourishing Filipino chicken rice porridge that reminds Batalona of home. In place of the traditional glutinous rice, Filipino head chef John Salang uses arborio, leaning into his experience cooking Italian food. It's flavoured with a heady hit of ginger and fish sauce before the warming bowl is topped with boiled eggs, fried garlic and chives.
From 5pm, a Filipino 'tapas' menu kicks in. Sydney rock oysters are dressed with an adobo sauce that 'slaps you in the face'. Sizzling sisig combines pig's ear, cheek and belly into an unctuous dish that gets extra smoky from being fired by the grill, then the wok.
What if I'm vegan?
From sisig to lechon (suckling pig), many popular Filipino foods are meaty. But Palay has a 'secret' vegan menu to cater to plant-based fans. The above-mentioned arroz caldo uses vegan chicken stock and adobo fried tofu can be added. And instead of serving Filipino liver spread with the house-baked pandesal (quintessentially Filipino bread rolls), the vegan alternative is an umami-rich mushroom paste.
How much does it cost?
'We want people to be able to come back,' says Batalona, so currently nothing on the menu's over $30. And if you're on a budget, you could just pop in for a few skewers: the inihaw (grilled) section is priced between $5 and $7.
And to drink?
While Palay awaits its liquor licence, it's all about non-alcoholic samalamig, the kind of cold, refreshing drinks sold by street vendors across the Philippines. A rockmelon version is made by infusing the flesh into sugar syrup, then adding water and ice.
Where should I sit?
The front window is where it's at to get a sense of how the space has been brightened since it was Oko (and before that, Hell of the North). Palm-tree wallpaper wraps the bar, giving it ' White Lotus vibes', and the ceilings are all pastel hues.
What can I buy to take home?
A small retail section is stocked with locally roasted Akasya Kape coffee beans sourced from the Philippines, and imported condiments like Saint C calamansi extract. Soon, Palay's housemade banana ketchup, a staple Filipino condiment, will also be for sale.
What else should I know?
Once dine-in service hits its stride, the team will introduce takeaway coffee and Filipino baked goods, including fresh-out-the-oven pandesal in flavours like ube (purple yam).
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
9 News
4 hours ago
- 9 News
World's biggest TikTok star leaves US after being detained by ICE
Your web browser is no longer supported. To improve your experience update it here BREAKING Pentagon launches review of AUKUS pact Khaby Lame, the world's most popular TikTok personality with millions of followers, has left the US after being detained by immigration agents in Las Vegas for allegedly overstaying his visa. The Senegalese-Italian influencer, whose legal name is Seringe Khabane Lame, was detained Friday at Harry Reid International Airport but was allowed to leave the country without a deportation order, a spokesperson for US Immigration and Customs Enforcement confirmed in a statement. Lame arrived in the US on April 30 and "overstayed the terms of his visa," the ICE spokesperson said. TikTok star Khaby Lame has left the US after he was detained by ICE officers. (Scott Garfitt/Invision/AP) The Associated Press sent a message seeking comment Tuesday to the email address listed on Lame's Instagram account. He has not publicly commented on his detainment. His detainment and voluntary departure from the US comes amid President Donald Trump's escalating crackdown on immigration, including raids in Los Angeles that sparked days of protests against ICE, as the president tests the bounds of his executive authority. A voluntary departure – which was granted to Lame – allows those facing removal from the US to avoid a deportation order on their immigration record, which could prevent them from being allowed back into the US for up to a decade. Lame, who is Senegalese-Italian, has more than 162 million followers on TikTok. (AP) The 25-year-old rose to international fame during the pandemic without ever saying a word in his videos, which would show him reacting to absurdly complicated "life hacks." He has over 162 million followers on TikTok alone. The Senegal-born influencer moved to Italy when he was an infant with his working class parents and has Italian citizenship. His internet fame quickly evolved. He signed a multi-year partnership with designer brand Hugo Boss in 2022. In January, he was appointed as a UNICEF goodwill ambassador. Last month, he attended the Met Gala in New York City, days after arriving in the US. immigration TikTok celebrities USA World CONTACT US
Perth Now
19 hours ago
- Perth Now
Patrick Schwarzenegger and Margaret Qualley to team up for romantic drama
Patrick Schwarzenegger is to star in Love Of Your Life. The White Lotus actor will reportedly appear opposite Margaret Qualley in the upcoming Amazon MGM Studios movie, which will be directed by Rachel Morrison. Julia Cox wrote the script, and according to the Hollywood Reporter, the emotional drama follows a young woman (Qualley), who loses her husband goes on a journey to find a way to move on with her life, while Schwarzenegger will play an old friend and former lover. Ryan Gosling and Jessie Henderson will produce Love Of Your Life through their Open Invite Entertainment banner, which was previously known as General Admission. Filming is scheduled to begin in Europe in August. Meanwhile, Patrick recently admitted he'd love to take the lead role in the upcoming American Psycho remake. One fan wrote on X recently: 'Patrick Schwarzenegger, I've found your breakout role.' To which, the actor replied: 'I'd love nothing more [wink].' Luca Guadagnino is making a modern version of the 2000 Mary Harron horror classic - which starred Christian Bale as Patrick Bateman, a New York City investment banker who leads a double life as a serial killer - and recently teased 'the script is coming out very handsomely' for the flick. Appearing in a video segment at CinemaCon, the filmmaker said: 'We are really working hard to bring to the screen a new adaptation of Bret Easton Ellis' American Psycho, a book that I deeply love that is something that influenced me so much. '[Writer Scott Z. Burns] is doing an incredible job. The script is coming out very handsomely.' Although Guadagnino didn't reveal any of the cast for his American Psycho movie, the director teased he was currently in 'conversation with very exciting performers to play the leads." Last December, it was reported that Austin Butler would play Patrick Bateman in American Psycho. The new film won't be a direct remake of the 2000 movie, with Guadagnino's version poised to be a new take on the story that will have a more significant erotic emphasis than the original picture. Lionsgate film chief Adam Fogelson previously described the director as the 'perfect visionary' to helm the new cinematic iteration of American Psycho. He said in a statement: 'We are thrilled to add another elite filmmaker to our upcoming slate. Luca is a brilliant artist, and the perfect visionary to create a whole new interpretation of this potent and classic IP.'
Sydney Morning Herald
a day ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Two journalists, an eclectic restaurant and Taylor Swift: Inside the making of Jac Maley's new book
Lunch begins with an editorial intervention. 'I want to say, for the record,' Jacqueline Maley – ever the journalist – announces. 'That this was on my vision board before Tay Tay came. I was so on the zeitgeist.' We're dining at Pellegrino 2000, tucked inside a historic terrace in Surry Hills, where the vibe is old-school Italian with a wink. Chianti bottles sit like trophies, tomato tins masquerade as rustic decor, and ropes of dried herbs and spices dangle above the bar. An eccentric collection of framed artwork lines the walls – including an image of the Michelin Man, beaming over the room like an ironic deity, blessing the carb-loading faithful below. It's theatrical, yet charming. The perfect setting for a pop star – or, in Maley's case, her second novel, Lonely Mouth. Long before Taylor Swift and her gal pal Sabrina Carpenter turned the restaurant into pop culture real estate when they spent the first night of their Eras and Sydney Zoo tour here, Maley was already a regular. She started visiting for the relaxed refinement and crema caramello alla banana (accompanied, no hyperbole, by an entire plate of cream!), but she kept visiting once she realised Pellegrino 2000 also served up perfect inspiration for a novel. 'It's one of my favourite Sydney restaurants,' Maley says. 'The restaurant I had in mind for the novel was elegant and cool, but it was never going to try too hard or be like a white tablecloth place. I love good food, but I hate any stuffy atmosphere.' Maley would sit at the bar, sketching details in a notepad, absorbing the restaurant's textures and rhythms. In Lonely Mouth, Pellegrino 2000 becomes the inspiration for the fictional Bocca – an Italian restaurant with a Japanese twist and a trattoria-meets–art deco aesthetic, located in Darlinghurst. Her narrator, Matilda, works there as the manager: a sharp and solitary 30-something nursing an unrequited crush on the restaurant's bad-boy owner, Colson, and quietly shouldering the aftershocks of her mother leaving her and her sister, Lara, when they were children (made doubly traumatic by the fact it happened outside the Big Merino rest stop at Goulburn, off the Hume Highway). As a menu reduces a sauce, so too does a plot summary flatten Lonely Mouth. It's a novel, rich with humour and sharp observations, about desire – for food, for love, for life – and what happens when that desire gets swallowed. It's about sisters, and mothers and daughters. And Bocca becomes more than a backdrop: it's a space where chaos meets order, appetite meets discipline, and everyone's slightly hungry for something they can't quite name. 'I knew I wanted to set the novel in a restaurant. I thought it would be a dynamic setting,' Maley says. 'I wanted it to be very realistic. I really wanted the restaurant to be like a character in the book, to be so atmospheric, it would take people there.' How many times did she visit Pellegrino 2000? 'You should ask my accountant when I put through my next tax return,' Maley quips. Mercifully, we avoid the worst part of Lunch Withs – the stilted pas de deux over the menu, the self-consciousness of wondering if one's contributions to the ordering are too much, too little, too indulgent, too virtuous. Maley takes full control, like someone who has asked far tougher questions than 'shared plates or mains'? To start, we opt for a pillowy focaccia and truffle-parmesan, an unexpectedly punchy caponata due to pickled celery, and a lush buffalo mozzarella, adorned with figs and honey. The wine stays on theme – a glass of Italian Pinot Grigio and a sharp Catarratto. Photographer Steven Siewert hovers nearby like a set designer reworking a diorama – moving errant phones out of frames, opening blinds for better light, repositioning cutlery with surgical precision. 'It is weird to be on the receiving end of what we usually do to other people,' Maley says. She has a deadline for her own Lunch With interview, with a senior public figure, looming. After completing an arts law degree, Maley started at The Sydney Morning Herald as a cadet in 2003. She comes from media stock: her mother, Judy, to whom Lonely Mouth is dedicated, worked at the Herald; her great-grandfather and great-uncle were political journalists; and her brother, Paul, was a reporter at The Australian. Maley's a senior writer, columnist, podcast host and newsletter editor and, today, the unfortunate soul sitting on the wrong side of the notepad. Yet, Maley's not entirely unprepared. This isn't our first time at the Lunch With table together. When her debut novel, The Truth About Her, came out in 2021, we met for breakfast in a courtyard of a cafe that was a little more toast crumbs than terrazzo tables. Now look at us: dining in a hot spot frequented by actual celebrities. For everyone's sake, I suggest Maley consider setting her next novel in a five-star resort. 'We're cosmopolitan ladies of the world now,' Maley retorts. 'I think we need to really level up. I'm thinking ... Denmark. What's that place? Noma.' The three-Michelin-star restaurant serves 20-course meals and regularly tops lists of the best restaurants in the world. For Lonely Mouth, Maley became something of a restaurant obsessive – fascinated by the ecosystems they contain and the quiet dramas unfolding between courses. She interviewed chefs and hospitality managers, read a stack of chef memoirs, watched YouTube videos of kitchens in action – and, for balance, quite a bit of The Great British Bake Off (the latter more for pleasure). In full Daniel Day-Lewis mode, she even picked up a few waitressing shifts. 'They were sort of a bit bemused, but they were nice about it. I just did what I was told. I think the other waiters were like: Who is this lady? But everyone tolerated me,' Maley says. 'People open up when you take a real interest in them, their lives, what they want to do, what they have done, the thing they are passionate about, and ask them to explain it to you. People were really giving that way, even though it was a weird ask, and no one really knew what I was doing.' It wasn't quite Down and Out in Paris, but the experience gave Maley what she needed: a feel for the choreography, the repetition, the small tensions and quiet triumphs of restaurant life. What surprised her was how much it resembled a newsroom – fast-paced, hierarchical, and always one dropped order away from chaos. 'It's a structured environment, but it attracts people who are unstructured in other ways. It's a little like journalism and a newsroom in that way,' she says. 'Journalists are not people who want to work a 9 to 5 job, they're in for the experience and the adventure. We're solo operators, but we have to work within an organism, which is the newsroom. Newspapers are very hierarchical, even though we're all recalcitrant personalities who don't like being told what to do.' With classic recalcitrance, I break the fourth wall to ask our off-duty journalist if she's enjoying her turn in the Lunch With hot seat. 'Are you checking in?,' Maley jokes. 'It's going great for me, but am I giving you what you need?' A master of the form, I ask Maley for her Lunch With advice – she's got the recipe down, but I'm probably still chopping onions. 'Just get them really drunk,' she deadpans. 'It's quite high pressure, I think. It's like a social interaction on the surface, but your journalist brain is constantly working. ' A pause in proceedings: the main. Pappardelle with stracciatella and truss tomatoes so ripe they look ready to explode on impact. Maley unfolds a paper napkin and tucks it, bib-style, into the relaxed collar of her blue silk shirt. She catches my eye – the journalist's brain, even now, still quietly whirring. 'Can you not put this in the piece?' A pause, a sigh, a smile. 'No, you can, if you want.' The same brain – always scanning for angles and incoming alerts– makes it hard for Maley to write fiction while working her day job. Journalism brings a constant overload of information, paired with the nagging sense you're always missing something important. And while her reporting and novels both circle themes of gender and power, she doesn't see them as flexing the same muscle. Her ideal writing conditions are long, uninterrupted stretches away from work, not trying to wedge sentences between school drop-offs, play dates, early dog walks and breaking news alerts. Annual leave became writing leave – less a break than a change of deadlines. There was also the pressure of following up the success of her first novel and being contracted to a deadline as part of a two-book deal – a deadline she fell so far behind on that she can't even precisely remember when it was. 'I didn't take a holiday in years,' Maley says. 'So I ended up, at the end of it, realising it's quite hard to juggle all of this. It took a toll on me in terms of stress levels, and so that was something that I wouldn't want to do again. ' She's got ideas bubbling away – another novel, maybe a non-fiction project – but for now, she's letting them simmer. And at least restaurants are just restaurants again, no longer research sites in disguise. Loading 'I love cooking, I love gardening. I want to take my dog for a walk, I want to watch TV,' Maley says. 'When you're writing a book, every time you're home, it's always there. And now I'm like, I want to do non-intellectual pursuits for a while.' But first, we have a joint byline to get. As a friendly waitress delivers an unplanned – but not unwanted – tiramisu, we seize the opportunity to try to get a scoop. Did Taylor Swift enjoy a tiramisu when she dined here? The response, cool and non-committal: 'Taylor Swift, who's that? I couldn't possibly say.'
