Askal
Filipino restaurant · Melbourne
167 Exhibition St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
"Askal is credited with boosting Filipino food’s prominence in a city where it’s long been underrepresented. Cuisine aside, it’s whipping up some of the most inspired dishes around. Large groups pack out the flashy-but-unstuffy room, sharing plates of pancit canton under iridescent oyster shell chandeliers. Start with the cured tuna dish sinuglaw, reimagined as a one-bite snack with lap cheong and black sesame, and king prawns grilled in crab fat and brightened with kamias, the sour fruit. Desserts are worth sticking around for—the owner is behind a string of Filipino ice-cream parlours—and you’ll need cocktails, too: the tequila and salted durian sour is one of many electrifying tropical drinks on pour." - ellen fraser
"Askal is credited with boosting Filipino food’s prominence in a city where it’s long been underrepresented. Cuisine aside, it’s whipping up some of the most inspired dishes around. Large groups pack out the flashy-but-unstuffy room sharing plates of pancit canton under iridescent oyster shell chandeliers. Start with the cured tuna dish sinuglaw, reimagined as a one-bite snack with lap cheong and black sesame, and king prawns grilled in crab fat and brightened with kamias, the sour fruit. Desserts are worth sticking around for—the owner is behind a string of Filipino ice-cream parlours—and you’ll need cocktails, too: the tequila and salted durian sour is one of many electrifying tropical drinks on pour." - Ellen Fraser
