Panlasang Pinoy

The tiny restaurant-grocer has a massive following in south-west Sydney’s Filipino community. Every weekend locals and people who’ve travelled a long way line up to get whatever’s on the barbeque and in the bain-maries.

What makes this place special is the range of dishes available. On top of the standard range of most Filipino restaurants, there’s an ever-changing roster of hard-to-find specialities.

On the barbeque you might find pork intestines, chicken feet, lechon (barbequed suckling pig), lemongrass-and-tomato-stuffed whole squid, sticky pork skewers, fish balls, chicken skin, blood jelly, or chicken inasal (chicken marinated in lime, annatto vinegar and lime for three days). In the bain-maries may be laing (a taro leaf and coconut stew), longanisa (Filipino chorizo) fried rice, sour fish soups, or bitter melon and mung bean stew.

Depending on the day you might also find the Philippines’ infamous street snack and beer pairing, balut (a fertilised duck egg that’s been left to develop for two to three weeks so it’s soft enough to eat the bones), or a rare taste of northern Filipino food like bopis (barbecued spicy beef lungs) or pinapaitan (a bitter stew with gallbladders, bile and either goat or beef).

Come here on a Saturday night and you’ll likely find an acoustic band squeezed in between the tables and grocery shelves. If not, there will be karaoke instead.