“A bold, fun new Pinoy sanga and coffee joint” is how Ross Magnaye and Shane Stafford describe their new venture, Panaderia Serai. “Panaderia” means bakery, and Serai is, of course, the restaurant that made the chefs’ names, and the basic idea is Filipino bakes and sandwiches infused with the big flavours, spice and sass that have become Serai’s signature moves.
Pandesal will be at the heart of things, the Filipino salt bread (pan = bread, sal = salt) the vehicle for the sandwich action. And the guys aren’t kidding about the bigness of the flavours and ingredients. The menu lists a lamb-shoulder sanga (the Kalderata, with rich tomato, olive and red pepper gravy), a lechon (Western Plains pork belly and smoked pineapple palapa splashed with Mang Tomas sauce), and a braised beef shank (the Bulalo, with bone broth dip and bone marrow butter) alongside the fractionally less hectic chicken adobo with cucumber and green papaya and a melt made with lion’s mane mushrooms in a sweet tocino glaze.
You will naturally want to double down on all of those with the equally dainty sides: coconut hashbrowns, adobo-salt hand-cut fries and chicken-skin chicharron.
Serai’s Jason Antonio will be head chef, while Ayu Prayita, who counts celebrated Bali restaurant Room4Dessert among her credits, is head baker and pastry boss. “We’re taking inspiration from the local humble bakeries in the Philippines but also places like Panaderya Toyo in Manila and Panadería Rosetta in Mexico,” says Antonio.
On the coffee side, you can expect beans from the Philippines and roasting profiles popular in Manila, as well as signature drinks such as a caramel-driven turon iced coffee and a “velvety” calamansi Mont Blanc. Catch all this and more on Hardware Lane in the CBD from 11 August.
Panaderia Serai, 1/27 Hardware Lane, Melbourne, @panaderia.serai