Now Open: Adhika Brings Takam’s Fresh Filipino Edge to the Morning Slot

The team from Adhika is sorry about the wait, and thanks you for your patience.

The Filipino cafe only opened in Rushcutters Bay last week, and it’s already drawing crowds. But when you consider the fact that it’s run by the team behind Darlinghurst’s Takam, it’s hardly a surprise.

According to co-owner Giannina Abiva, the Tagalog word adhika means dream or purpose. Abiva and her four co-owners – Aileen Aguirre, Nonie Ferrer, Chris Lumapas and chef Francis dela Cruz – have a shared dream: educating Sydneysiders about the breadth and depth of Filipino food.

“As Filipinos, we’re very passionate when it comes to our hospitality and our food, so that’s what we want to share with everybody,” Abiva, who also manages Takam’s front of house, tells Broadsheet.

The concept of a more casual cafe has been on the backburner for more than three years now – something more casual, with faster service, so more people can get in on Filipino dishes.

For brekkie, that could mean beef tapa – pan-seared, soy-marinated meat that arrives on a wooden tray together with individual dishes of pickles, sauce, dressed leaves and rice hedged with toppings and crowned with a fried egg. Or caramelised crumpets with whipped cream, banana halaya (jam) and red currant jelly. There are also boards of picky bits – customisable combos of house bread, spread and pickles, plus extras like pimento spread, tinapa (smoked trout) rillette and tins of Ortiz sardines.

Your brekkie sanga needs are covered with pan de sal buns – from Starlight Bakery in Doonside – filled with melty cheddar cheese and a Japanese-style omelette, or patty melts with cheese, egg and embutido (a pork meatloaf typically known for its inclusion of whole boiled eggs). There’s also a roll stuffed with hamon bulakenya (made with Byron Bay Pork’s pork neck), a fried egg, barbeque sauce and greens.

In the first run of services, one firm favourite emerged: the chilli egg bicho, with longganisa (a spiced sausage) mince mixed through a rich sauce. “It is fried eggs with the soft, runny yolks, and then you’ve got a Filipino sambal, which is more tomato- and onion-forward, compared to the sambal in Indonesia and Malaysia,” says Abiva. “You still get to taste the longganisa.” It arrives with a round, golden bicho (soft fried bread) topped with herbed cream cheese and toasted seeds.

“I’ve had a couple of guys saying it’s very good hangover food with the sausage, the egg and deep-fried bread,” she says. “It’s a really good hearty breakfast.”

In Filipino style, the drinks lean sweet. A trio of lattes – purple ube, Milo or leche flan, using leftovers from Takam – come hot or cold. There is also a fluffy, dreamlike, extremely photogenic green-and-purple ube matcha.

The space is homey with wood-panelling, chequerboard flooring and shelves decked out with trinkets like clocks, lamps, toy cars and welcoming maneki-neko cats. And it’s small, with 10 seats inside and 10 outside – cue the lines.

Despite being run off their feet, Abiva and the team are thrilled at the positive reception.

“The momentum for Filipino food is really going very, very well, especially here in the city. People would always say that they can only find Filipino food out west, but that’s changing. Right now, here in Darlinghurst, on the same road as Takam, there’s this one Filipino place called David’s Kusina, then there’s Smoky Cravings under the Coca-Cola sign. The more Filipino restaurants, the better it is for the whole scene.”

Adhika
59 Bayswater Road, Rushcutters Bay

Hours:
Mon 8am–3pm
Wed to Sun 8am–3pm

@adhika.syd