Manila in Canberra has you covered for breakfast, lunch and dinner (with some coffee and cake in between). Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Manila in Canberra is a family-run Filipino bakery, bar and restaurant which has recently opened on City Walk.
Ambitiously opening for breakfast, lunch and dinner, the menu spans a wide selection of Filipino favourites, with plenty of specialty breads and cakes.
Co-director Richlyn Joy Vergara told Region that the aim of Manila in Canberra is to showcase Filipino food to Canberrans and make everyone feel welcome.
“We’re all migrants here and the Philippines is rich in history, so our theme is food with a story,” Joy said.
“We want our guests to feel like they’re home, no matter what nationality they are. We hope they stay not just for the food, but for the experience.”
The family previously ran Papa J’s in Dickson, before looking for something with better foot traffic. Joy’s Uncle is Joemel Naboya – the eponymous Papa J – who is the head chef in the kitchen.
Joy runs front of house operations and is also the in-house baker, making cakes, sweets and breads.
Charred meats are a big part of Filipino cuisine. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
On a recent visit with a friend, we opted to try a few grilled meat dishes – Filipino food is meat heavy – with a palabok noodle dish and garlic rice.
Joy told me palabok noodles are a traditional dish, often served with a range of seafood but here they’ve chosen prawns.
The thick, chewy rice noodles are dressed in a rich sauce flavoured with annatto (made from the seeds of the achiote tree) which adds a vibrant colour and peppery flavour. Topped with a generous dusting of pork crackling, the bowl has a strong pork flavour with shrimpy undertones. We enjoyed it, but found a little went a long way!
Inasal is a dish of grilled chicken flavoured with lemongrass, served with a soy dressing.
The chicken skin was beautifully charred and the meat gorgeously tender. We realised that our place settings didn’t include knives: we didn’t need them.
Everything at Manila in Canberra is so tender there are no knives needed. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
The grilled pork was marinated with soy and vinegar and also beautifully charred and a delight to eat with spoonfuls of aromatic garlic rice. I was especially impressed with the char considering the kitchen is fully electric.
Next time I’d order the eggplant salad to add some vegetable goodness to all that meat, but if I was feeling particularly indulgent I might just have a chicken adobo loaded fries.
Although too full to have dessert – I’ll be back for the flan – I took home a few baked goods.
Cheese mamon is a soft cupcake topped with a light grating of cheese; Filipino desserts often contain cheese and this one straddled the line between savoury and sweet in an intriguing and moreish way.
I also enjoyed a pan de coco: a round baked dough filled with sweetened coconut and perfect with a cup of coffee. The egg pie slice is another winner: smooth, baked custard with a flaky pastry and a bargain at $2 a slice.
Filipino treats like cheese mamon, pan de coco and egg pie slice are baked fresh. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Breakfast at Manila in Canberra is different versions of a dish called silog, based around garlic rice with varieties of grilled meat, fried egg and some pickles.
“Filipinos love rice: we eat rice at any time of day! At home, the reason we’d have garlic rice for breakfast is because it would be the leftover rice from dinner, fry with garlic and you put an egg and whatever meat was leftover from the day before, and that’s breakfast,” Joy says.
You can choose grilled chicken, pork, marinated beef or house-made longanisa pork sausage to accompany your breakfast rice and pickles. In fact everything at Manila in Canberra is house-made, from the cakes to the sausage to the accompanying sauces.
It’s the kind of care and hospitality you’d get as a guest in Manila and we’re lucky enough to have a taste of it right here in Canberra.
Manila in Canberra is at 190/260 City Walk. On weekdays it is open from 8 am to 3 pm, then from 5 to 9 pm; on weekends it’s open from 9 am to 3 pm, then from 5 to 9 pm. Follow Manila in Canberra on Facebook or Instagram.
