Tita Carinderia cafe in the Sydney suburb of Marrickville aims to infuse Filipino cuisine with freshness while preserving its authenticity.
Owner Kenneth Rodrigueza tells SBS Food, "I don't want to mess around too much with the classics, but we're also trying to do something new with flavours that are familiar."
Tita Marlene
Rodrigueza named his cafe after his Tita (Aunt) Marlene, who passed away in 2021. Meanwhile, carinderia is a Filipino eatery that serves affordable, home-cooked food to the masses.
"[Tita Marlene] was the best cook," he says. "Unfortunately, she didn't pass down her recipes to us so we can't recreate the dishes she used to make."
Tita Marlene left an impression on her nephew, Kenneth Rodrigueza. Credit: Supplied
"Every weekend, my mum and dad kind of have their getaways, and all the kids stay with Tita Marlene. Best weekends ever.
"She wasn't a professional chef, but she was the one leading the kitchen. She was a great home cook who would make food for birthday parties and events."
A new take on longganisa
The Tita Carinderia menu includes classic Filipino breakfast fare, such as beef tapa (marinated beef) with egg, and sinangag (garlic rice), as well as reinventions like longganisa patties.
She wasn't a professional chef, but she was the one leading the kitchen.
"We make our own longganisa [Filipino sausage], but instead of having the shape of sausages, we form them into patties. Visually, they're different, but they still have the sweet, garlicky, smokey profile that we love."
The cafe offers a longganisa patty pandesal (bread roll), which features a patty, egg, cheese, banana ketchup and mayo in between freshly baked pandesal.
Tita Carinderia serves Filipino longganisa a different way. Credit: Supplied
Fresh is best
While it is commonplace to find packaged pandesal on Asian grocery shelves, the pandesal in Tita Carinderia is freshly baked.
"Luisa Brimble [food photographer and cook] is our resident pandesal maker.
"Our pandesal is vegan, and the way we make them is the way they are done in panaderias [local bread shops] in the Philippines, in the provinces – no butter, no eggs."
Tita Carinderia’s pandesal varieties include the classic: pan de coco, filled with grated coconut and brown sugar, and pan de coco with pandan.
Rodrigueza says the panaderia menu is set to expand soon, such as with Spanish bread, Filipino cheese bread and pan de regla or kalihim (bread with a filling of magenta-coloured pudding).
