Pandesal is a common breakfast food in the Philippines. Photo: Lucy Ridge.
Filipino cuisine is as diverse and multicultural as its history. With culinary and historical connections to China, Spanish and American colonisation and over 7000 islands across the nation, the Philippines has a broad range of influences and flavours to draw on.
In Canberra, we are fortunate to have some great Filipino cafes and restaurants, and it seems more are opening each year. The growing interest in this cuisine has seen plenty of creative and delicious dishes popping up all over town.
Here are some favourite Filipino venues where you can enjoy everything from breakfast to dinner, with plenty in between.
Breakfast
In leafy north Lyneham, there’s a cafe with a twist.
Cafe Luzon serves up specialty coffee along with Filipino-inspired treats and eats. The menu here is a fusion of modern Aus brunch classics with Filipino flavours: think French toast with jackfruit mascarpone and caramelised banana, and fluffy pan de sal instead of sourdough. The menu has plenty for those looking to escape avo-on-toast, but they can nail a brunch classic too. Region checked it out earlier this year.
For students looking to fuel their academic pursuits with delicious Filipino dishes, Tasa Coffee House on the ANU Campus is the place to be. There are grab-and-go sandwiches and wraps from the cabinet, but the menu really shines with comfort dishes like beef pares: a classic Filipino dish of slow-braised beef brisket cooked in a rich soy-based sauce. Tapsilog is another great choice, with garlic rice and dry-fried beef. A fried egg adds enough protein to keep busy minds fuelled. Read our review.
The chicken inasal is pretty epic. Photo: Kazuri Photography.
Lunch
Owned by the same team as Cafe Luzon, Northside Garden Cafe in Gold Creek dives deep into Filipino classics. Their all-day breakfast menu is full of great options, but the lunch menu is where the art of Filipino barbecue is on full display. Chicken inasal is a whole charcoal-grilled chook cooked to perfection, and BBQ pork skewers will have you floating through the air, nose-first, like a cartoon character in search of a pie. For vegetarians, the ginataang kalabasa curry is the place to be: slow-cooked pumpkin in a turmeric-and-coconut sauce with fried eggplant. Yes, please. See what we thought.
You can order whole cakes from Manila in Canberra, as well as individual baked goods. Photo: Manila in Canberra.
Baked Goods
Filipino baked goods are a whole genre unto themselves, and the place to get them is Manila in Canberra. With a dedicated baker on-site, the bakes at Manila in Canberra are more than delicious treats: they are memories, culture and tradition made real. There are staples like tinapay dinner rolls and soft breads, but the sweets are exceptional. Ube (purple yam) colours and flavours cakes and desserts. Pan de coco is a round baked dough filled with sweetened coconut and perfect with a cup of coffee. Soft custard is encased in a buttery crust for the simple (but divine) egg pie. See what we enjoyed.
Sharon May Maranan has a huge repertoire of Filipino specialties that she bakes from scratch. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Dinner and Dessert
By day, this space is called Black and White Cafe, but at night it transforms into Kamusta Filipino. This restaurant is testing the waters as a pop-up before eventually finding its own location, so now is the time to visit before word gets out.
The menu is full of Filipino classics: Chicken inasal, grilled pompano, BBQ skewers, and kare-kare (crispy pork in peanut sauce). All are cooked to perfection in an open kitchen where you can see the staff having a good time – which I believe makes the food taste even better! Their halo-halo shaved-ice desserts are perfect for warmer weather, and the leche flan tart is a family recipe. See what we had for dinner.
Regional recipes from are on display at Sharon May’s in Gungahlin. With over 7000 islands, Filipino cuisine is varied and diverse. The chef from Cebu brought Cebu lechon (roast suckling pig); there are sisig from the island of Pampanga and Luzon island specialties throughout the menu. That slow-roasted suckling pig at Sharon May’s ended up being Food Writer Tenele Conway’s favourite dish of 2025! And the desserts here are next-level as well; Sharon May herself makes a killer ube flan and fudgy crinkle cookies, and she is well known in the Filipino community for her dulce de leche (milk caramel) cake. Read all about it.
And of course, there is the iconic Lolo and Lola at Watson shops, which we shouted out recently in our list of oldies, but goodies. Check it out.
Are there other Filipino restaurants you love in Canberra?
