Rey's Place, Darlinghurst - Sydney

I can’t help but feel proud when a Filipino restaurant opens in Sydney. I love the comfort that I get from Filipino food with every bite. I was so excited when I found out Rey’s Place opened in Darlo.

  

The place is owned by Jon Bayad and named after his dad, Reynaldo. Some of you may remember Jon from Osaka Trading Co. The man behind the delicious food is Chef Shaun Oligo. Rey’s Place takes a modern approach to beloved Filipino classics. It was all familiar flavours but done in a very innovative way. The restaurant has a ground and basement floor. The space has a moody “en casa” style interior that’s also reminiscent of classic Spanish tapas wine bar with some touches of Filipiniana.

The inihaw na pusit ($18) is a chargrilled smoky squid stuffed with delicious chorizo paella. It also comes with a refreshing sweet mango salad. This was amazing! It’s pretty much a tapas style Filipino dish that you can easily pair with a fruity rosé or Sauvignon blanc style wine.

Another tapas style dish is their sisig bao sliders($14)! Braised and chopped crispy pork belly with ginger, garlic, and onion dressed in smoky adobar sauce in a soft housemade bao bun.

The lechon ($22) is their take on slow roast suckling pig. It comes with sweet liver-based housemade sarsa (sauce) and soy calamansi dipping sauce (toyo mansi). This is probably one of the best lechon-style dishes I’ve had in Sydney with it’s crispy crackling and tasty tender meat.

The kare kare ($25) is not presented in a traditional way but the main components and flavours are very present. It had chunks of braised buttery and tender oxtail with thick flavoursome peanut annatto sauce, umami packed shrimp sauce, braised eggplants and greens.

For dessert, we tried their modern take on turon ($10). It is a sugar glazed fried banana in filo pastry with ube parfait, shards of toffee and jackfruit. The turon was crisped on the outside with sweet soft banana on the inside . The housemade ube parfait was smooth and tasty. It was a great way to end our dinner.

It’s about time that refined-style Filipino food is introduced in Sydney. There are no gimmicks here. Just quality dishes, excellent service and a good range of booze.

Rey’s Place
163 Crown Street
Darlinghurst NSW
Ph: 02 9631 5938

Hours:
Tues to Sat 12:00 to 11:00pm

Belly Bao, Newtown - Sydney

 It took a while but I finally got to try the awesomeness known as Belly Bao. The bao masters have relocated to their own new spot in Newtown. Another good news is that they are open now from Wednesday to Sunday lunch and dinner.

The new space has a very chill and tropical small bar vibe. Owners Sylvia Tran and Kiren Chua have brought back all the Belly Bao favourites from the gua baos to fried chicken and their renowned baogers. Their original creation of Bao noodles, which are bao dough rolled and hand cut into noodles is a recent addition to the menu.

The slow braised pork belly bao ($7) is an amazing classic. A soft gua bao filled with super tender and tasty pork belly that was braised in masterstock. It also has coriander, crushed peanuts, mustard greens and mayo. The sweet, sour and umami flavours were well balanced.

 Their Belly Bao fried chicken ($16 for half bird) with added salted egg yolk (extra $3) was insanely delicious! The meat was brined for 24 hours. Aside from the amazing flavours from their Asian spice mix, the crispy batter coating had this extra umami and butteriness from the salted egg yolk.

 My favourite item on the menu is the baoger ($13), which is a bao/burger hybrid. It’s not your traditional burg but the Baoger is one of Sydney's best burgers that I’ve had to date. Easily within my top 3 right now. It consists of Angus beef patty, cheese, cos lettuce, onions, pickled radish and BB’s special tangy smoky baoger sauce. Their nicely seasoned smash beef patty has the most perfect meat to fat ratio in my opinion! The lightly toasted steamed soft housemade bao bun was amazing! The sweet and sour flavours from the pickles and onion were just right. Tip: Add extra patty ($3) and bacon ($3) to level up your baoger experience.

You will also find one of the best desserts in Sydney here in the form of their Gaytime bao ($9). It consists of Golden Gaytime ice cream, salted caramel, sliced bananas and shredded coconut in a golden fried bao! Need I say more?

I’ve been back twice already. The quality of food and service were excellent and consistent. I will need to try their bao noodles on my next visit.

Belly Bao
184 King Street
Newtown NSW

Opening hours:
Wed to Fri 11.30am-3pm, 5.30pm-10pm
Sat to Sun 11.30am-10pm