14.5 / 20 How we score Filipino $$ $$ “You guys look amazing tonight,” says the waiter at Takam in Darlinghurst. Actually, I can return the compliment.
I’ve walked past this Victoria Street site for years, since it was a pizza joint called Danny’s La Bussola, and it’s never looked this good. Takam began here as a tiny Filipino diner , taking it one step at a time, before chefs and co-owners Aileen Aguirre and Francis Dela Cruz closed to do a complete renovation. Now there’s a dominant marble bar, marble-topped tables, bentwood chairs and a small mezzanine dining room above.
The menu is built on their belief that Filipino food, long ignored by mainstream diners, is ready for its time in the sun. In Melbourne, the vinegary, smoky, spicy cuisine is already in the spotlight, particularly at Serai (have the charred cabbage tocino) and Askal (have the pork belly humba with black beans). To close the gap, the Takam team has taken on partners Ralph Libo-on and Michael Mabuti of Askal, and opened with a strong cocktail program and a short but considered natural wine list.
Aguirre and Dela Cruz left the Philippines in 2016 to chef on Orpheus Island, before moving to work in Sydney, most recently at Crown Towers. They are both hands-on cooks – smoking their own mackerel (in paperbark), preserving their own calamansi – and thoughtful custodians of Filipino cuisine. The thoughtfulness extends to reflecting their Australian home by incorporating native ingredients.
There’.
