MELBOURNE | Myla Valdejueza opened her West Footscray Filipino restaurant, Busog, late last year. It’s become a hit amongst locals looking to get their fix of traditional Filipino food, with a modern touch. “Busog” is a Tagalog word that refers to the feeling of being full and content after a big meal. With the tasty food, generous servings, and keen pricing of the food at Busog, you’ll definitely be busog by the end of your dinner.
Busog is a family affair. Running front of house and helping out in the kitchen you’ll usually find one if not all of Myla, and her children. They’re passionate about the restaurant and the food they’re serving to customers. On a given night you’ll see Filipino expects and families enjoying a taste of home, and locals from other cultures, keen to experience a cuisine that’s new to them.
The menu is a showcase of the greatest hits of Filipino cuisine – traditional dishes presented with flair. The overload lumpia platter is a great way to start. It’s a spread of chips and lumpia (Filipino spring rolls) filled with a mix of pork and prawn, beef mince and cheese, and taro leaves. Dipping sauces come in the form of banana ketchup, and coconut sauce. Sticky marinated meat skewers are another great choice.
For larger dishes, my pick is the pork hock kare kare. It’s a large fried pork hock, with crispy crackling, and tender, fall off the bone meat. It’s served with vegetables inside a bowl of rich peanut curry sauce. Shrimp sauce on the side allows you to adjust the saltiness to your taste. To go with it, order a side of garlic rice. Fluffy white rice infused with chunks of soft, slow-cooked garlic cloves.
Noodle fans should check out the palabok. It’s a punchy share bowl of vermicelli noodles, mixed with a thick seafood sauce, and topped with steamed prawns, crumbed and fried fish, tofu, pork mince, and pork crackling.
Other classic dishes on the menu include things like the sour tamarind soup, sinigang; sizzling crispy pork sigsig; and assorted mix plate silog. And yes, there’s lechon.
For dessert, there’s things like traditional lechon flan, a version with ube halaya, and turon (crispy banana spring rolls). For me, it’s hard to go past the classic halo halo, a parfait of shaved ice, evaporated milk, vanilla ice-cream, ube jam, sweet palm seeds, nata de coco, jelly, macapuno, and leche flan.
To drink, there’s Filipino inspired cocktails and mocktails, plus anything else you might want off-menu as long as Busog has the ingredients behind the bar. There’s also Filipino beer, sodas, and a few other things.
Busog
1/553 Barkly Street
West Footscray
Victoria 3012
Australia
Telephone: 0432 175 128
E-mail: n/a
Website
Open
Wed – Fri: 12:00pm to 9:00pm
Sat – Sun: 11:00am to 9:00pm