Jonathan Manglinong cooks dishes from his home country, the Philippines. Photo: Tenele Conway.
When one of Australia’s leading food publications ran a headline stating that Goulburn’s Tambayan Grill is serving some of the most exciting food in NSW, I was more than a little intrigued.
Having grown up in Goulburn, I’ve felt that it’s better known for its ample fast food choices than its culinary cred, and this Filipino restaurant, located in a petrol station, seemed an unlikely candidate to put Goulburn on the nation’s food map.
So of course, I went along to try it out.
What I found was not new or creative cuisine; it’s not innovative or Michelin, and its setting is certainly far from fancy.
What it is, though, is unapologetically, wholeheartedly and unashamedly Filipino with no exceptions, and that is exciting.
This isn’t the closest that you’ll get to eating in the Philippines – this is exactly the experience of eating in the Philippines.
Goulburn’s Tambayan Grill lives in a former roadhouse. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Let’s start by setting the scene.
Tambayan Grill is on Goulburn’s forgotten piece of highway. Long bypassed, the far reaches of Sydney Road would be a wasteland if it weren’t for the well-worn trail to the town’s original McDonald’s. Be it myth or legend, it was once known as the busiest McDonald’s in the Southern Hemisphere thanks to the passing snow traffic.
Just a stone’s throw across the road is an old 24-hour roadhouse that used to service the all-night trucker trade.
With the bypass officially opening in 1992 and the primary highway hub, including the Big Merino and a new McDonald’s, having moved to the southern side of town, the former highway has been in gradual decline for many decades. This includes the old 24-hour roadhouse, in which Tambayan Grill has taken residence.
Next to the bowsers of the still active petrol station makes for an unpretentious dining experience, and as I’ve said it more times than I can count, that is my favourite way to dine.
It’s in this unusual location that restaurant owner and chef Jonathan Manglinong has built his homage to Filipino food, and it’s quite fitting. Roadside dining is a big part of the experience of the Philippines, where carinderia (small eateries serving affordable dishes), lechon stands (spit-roasted pig sellers) and grills are common on major and minor roads across the islands that make up the water-bound nation.
Tambayan Grill is a taste of the Philippines that’s hard to find. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Many of these carinderias serve ready-made food in a style called turo-turo, which simply translates to point-point, as people point at the dishes on display that they want to order. While Jonathan has some bain-maries for ready-made food, his menu is primarily cooked to order.
As Jonathan has evolved the dishes he cooks, the printed menus are now largely defunct, and he writes up the daily menu on a whiteboard to account for the changing nature of it.
For a one-person operation, the menu is vast. If you aren’t familiar with Filipino food, there is little explanation as to what dishes like inasal, sisig, longganisa, balot and panga are.
I recommend taking your time and doing a little work with Google to get a feel for what is on offer, or have a chat with Jonathan and ask for a recommendation.
There was no question as to what we were going to eat.
During a two-week trip where we rode motorbikes across the island of Palawan, we fell in love with pork sisig, and Jonathan serves the real deal, complete with face meat on a flaming hot platter.
You’ll find no prime cuts in this rich and creamy dish. What you will get is finely chopped cheeks, jowls, ears and often snout, mixed with onions and peppers and topped with a raw egg waiting for you to mix it through so the hot platter can cook it.
This dish is all about texture, and Jonathan has nailed it, avoiding the grittiness found in some versions.
If cheeks and jowls don’t sound like your speed, I say, close your eyes and eat it anyway. If you didn’t know what was in it, you wouldn’t know, and I would argue that most people will like this dish.
For those not willing to cross the offcuts rainbow, there are more approachable dishes like BBQ skewers. We had the chicken, which came with a vinegar-soy dipping sauce to cut through the sweetness of the marinated meat.
The BBQ chicken skewers are a safe place to start on the menu. Photo: Tenele Conway.
There is also fried chicken, a staple of Filipino dining made famous by their homegrown fast-food chain, Jolibee’s.
If you want to skip the fried component, go for the chicken inasal, where the chicken is rubbed with spices and then grilled.
Or dive into a sinigang, a sour soup based on tamarind, and in this case comes with a choice of fish, including salmon, king fish or Murray cod.
Accompanying your meal, you’ll find a wide range of Filipino groceries, which occupy the rear half of the premises. A wander down the aisles and freezers is worth it, as you’ll find all manner of specialities that make up the exciting cuisine of the Philippines.
Tambayan Grill is located at 53 Sydney Road, Goulburn and is open 5 days a week from Wednesday to Sunday. Check Facebook for opening hours.
