First Look: Mada Brings Hard-To-Find Filipino Pastries to Collingwood

Collingwood’s new Filipino bakery, Mada, has been a decade in the making. It started in 2016, when Marishell Evangelista – then working as an accountant – began baking ensaymadas in her home kitchen, sharing them with friends and a largely Filipino customer base built through community forums online.

“I wanted to bring the taste of Filipino ensaymada to Melbourne,” she says. “When I first arrived in Australia, in 2012, it was hard to come by.” The spiral-shaped treats – buttery brioche-like buns with sweet toppings and grated cheese – have a nostalgic quality for the self-taught chef. “Cheese was a luxury growing up,” she explains. “It’s like a little reward after a big week.”

By 2022, the business had grown from a home operation into a coffee van, The Weekend Ensaymada, which appeared at fiestas, festivals and other events around Melbourne. It even travelled to Bendigo and Sydney. Along the way, Evangelista took a patisserie course, formalising her skills before going all-in this month with a permanent home on Gipps Street.

“Collingwood was perfect,” she says. Diners there “are known for their curiosity and openness to trying new things, and we’re introducing something uncommon to the Australian palate”.

Ensaymada itself has travelled a long way over the centuries. In its birthplace of Mallorca, it’s traditionally made with pork lard (ensaïmada means “enlarded” in Spanish). The dough is rolled into sheets, slathered in lard, then coiled into its distinctive swirl shape. When ensaymada reached the Filipino archipelago, lard was replaced with butter or margarine, and layered with a very Filipino salty-sweet combination of sugar and queso de bola (Spanish Edam cheese). At Mada, it has evolved again, with Evangelista using locally sourced butter and cheese, including Pepe Saya.

The Collingwood team – led by Evangelista and co-owners Marie Balonso and Allan Evangelista, head chef Liezel Cabildo, plus baker and chef Ian De Leon – makes everything by hand. The ensaymada dough is proofed for 24 hours, resulting in soft, pillowy buns. Variations include the original Mada, with whipped butter, cheddar and sugar; an ube (purple yam) flavour; the pan de coco, a twist on another Filipino snack, with coconut and brown sugar; and the standout yema, made with a creamy Filipino egg-yolk custard. Similar to dulce de leche, it’s a winning counterpoint to the salty cheese on top.

The offering has expanded beyond ensaymada to include almond Spanish bread (a milky roll with a sweet filling), crinkle cookies, and a few savoury options. The adotilog is a highlight: a structured pandesal (Filipino breakfast roll) filled with chicken or beef adobo and topped with an egg, sunny side up. 

To drink, there’s coffee, traditional tablea (Filipino hot chocolate), ube lattes, caramel lattes, iced Yakult with calamansi, and sea-salt mochas. The sea salt comes from Evangelista’s coastal home province of Bolinao, Pangasinan, which is known for its traditional salt production using clay salt beds, or banigan. It’s a small but meaningful detail for the pastry chef – a little bit of home carried into her new life.

Mada Bakery Cafe
95 Gipps Street, Collingwood

Hours
Mon to Fri 7.30am–3pm
Sat & Sun 8am–2pm

madabakerycafe.com.au
@madabakerycafe