Halaya, Melbourne CBD
Location: 285 Spring St, Melbourne VIC 3000, Australia
Featured Items: Beef Short Rib Kare-Kare ($30.60), Rice ($6.00), Ube Champorado ($22.40), Ube Latte, medium with oat milk ($8.10)
Note: Prices are in AUD. A 10% weekend surcharge applies on Sundays, plus a small service charge.
Verdict: The ube champorado steals the show with its creamy, thick texture and sweet strawberry compote. The kare-kare is good but a little watered down and needs more bagoong.
Happy Sunday! It was our first Mass together in Melbourne, at St. Patrick's Cathedral at 8:00 AM. Afterwards, we walked over to Halaya, a Filipino coffee shop with a heavy focus on ube.
Of course, I was here for the kare-kare. I know, it's an unusual choice for brunch, but I really needed my kare-kare fix.
A Little History: From Ceree to Halaya
When I visited Melbourne two years ago, this exact spot was Ceree, and I had kare-kare here too. I thought the kare-kare at Ceree was better. This version is a bit more watered down and needed more bagoong, but I'm still happy to have my kare-kare.
The beef short rib kare-kare ($30.60) is made with tender, slow-braised beef short rib in a rich peanut sauce, with roasted eggplant, leafy bok choy and shrimp paste. Rice is extra ($6.00).
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| Beef short rib kare-kare with roasted eggplant, bok choy and steamed rice: good, but it needed more bagoong. |
The Real Highlight: Ube Champorado and Ube Latte
The highlight of the meal was the ube champorado. If you haven't had it, champorado is a Filipino sweet rice porridge that is usually made with chocolate. This version ($22.40) swaps the chocolate for ube, so the glutinous rice porridge is a gorgeous deep purple, topped with crunchy coconut clusters, sweet strawberry compote and toasted milk powder.
It's so creamy and thick, and the texture is perfect. The ube flavour is not as strong as the latte, but the texture and the sweet strawberry compote on top are just right.
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| Ube champorado: creamy, thick and topped with strawberry compote, coconut clusters and toasted milk powder. |
As for the ube latte (medium, with oat milk, $8.10), it reminds me of the ube ice cream we get in the Philippines. It's sweet, with a hint of ube.
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| Ube latte: sweet, with a hint of ube, like Philippine ube ice cream. |
After brunch, we walked for about an hour around the CBD to burn it all off.
A heads up on pricing: all prices are in AUD, and because we went on a Sunday, there was a 10% weekend surcharge ($6.71) plus a $1.48 service charge. Our total came to $75.29 for the four items.
Have you tried ube champorado before? What's your favourite Filipino comfort food, and where do you get your kare-kare fix? Let me know in the comments!
So Far on This Trip:
- Joe & The Juice at YVR Airport (Terminal E)
- Pret A Manger at LAX (Tom Bradley Terminal)
- P.F. Chang's at LAX (Tom Bradley Terminal)
- Qantas Economy Inflight Meals, QF 94 LAX to Melbourne
- Melbourne Donut Festival and Queen Victoria Market
- North East China Family, Melbourne
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