First Look: It’s Ube Everything at CBD Filipino Cafe Halaya

Filipino flavours are more common in Melbourne than ever, with Askal , Pecks Road and Enelssie all opening in the CBD in the past two years. As diners become more familiar with the cuisine, some venues are becoming more confident about adding their own flair to the classics. All-day cafe and bakery Halaya is one of them.

Behind the new-ish Spring Street spot are pastry chef Laurice Fajardo – who trained in Manila before moving to Melbourne, and also runs Filipino cottage bakery Pastry Plus – and designer-turned-hospitality-operator Elbert Estampador.

Last year, the pair opened Ceree in the same space, serving traditional food such as sweet Filipino spaghetti and silog – a breakfast dish of garlic fried rice and fried egg with sides like tapa (cured meat), longganisa (pork sausage) and tocino (sweet cured pork). But in early May, they shut the doors in order to refocus. On August 10, they reopened as Halaya, with a sharper vision and stronger identity. “We wanted something that was more representative of us,” says Fajardo.

The new cafe is named for ube halaya – a dessert made by mashing the purple yam that’s often used as a component in other sweets. It’s a staple of the menu and “a nod to Filipino desserts and that nostalgic feeling of home,” says Fajardo. “It just felt more fitting [than Ceree].”

House-made halaya is found across the menu in the ube cloud (layers of milk, cream and halaya) and in pastries such as the ube cinnamon scrolls (filled with halaya and slathered in a deep purple-coloured ube icing).

The refreshed fit-out mixes limewashed walls, brown tiles, and olive-green details – a subtle nod to Filipino bakeries that give it a homey and minimalist feel. And Ceree’s small grocery section has been replaced with a pastry fridge. It’s filled with classics with an ube twist: ube Swiss rolls, ube langka (jackfruit) Basque cheesecake, ube buco tart (a play on the purple yam and coconut pie) and more.

The approach to the savoury menu has also changed since the cafe’s Ceree days, with more mash-ups and less focus on strictly traditional cooking. There’s a garlicky longganisa sub in a soft buttered roll; and rice bowls that reimagine silog with beef slices and pork belly adobo. Other items add a Filipino spin to brunch classics. French toast is made with ube-filled shokupan and topped with polvoron (a crumbly Filipino shortbread) and okoy (fritters) are served with calamansi (a Filipino citrus) yoghurt.

“A lot of our regulars don’t have a Filipino background, but they still recognise the flavours,” says Estampador. “It’s brunch, just from a different perspective.”

Halaya
285 Spring Street, Melbourne
(03) 9329 8000

Hours:
Tue to Sun 8am–4pm

@halaya.melbourne
halaya.com.au