A team of Filipino hospitality professionals led by chef John Rivera (ex-Amaru, Lume, Rockpool) is set to open their first restaurant, Askal, in late summer, where they’ll celebrate the full regional gamut of Filipino food.

Askal will be a multi-level restaurant and bar on Melbourne’s Exhibition Street, with drinks in the hands of Ralph Libo-on, responsible for the Filipino-forward cocktails at Serai, a hatted contemporary Filipino restaurant in Melbourne.

Rivera, who co-founded Kariton Sorbetes during the pandemic and grew it to three ice-cream shops, is excited to add another strand to the city’s growing Filipino food scene. With a menu that traverses the country’s archipelago, he hopes to push the public’s perception beyond lechon (roast suckling pig) and rich, fatty food.

“The Philippines is so diverse with its colonisation and geography,” he says. “Up north, you’ve got a lot of vegetables and ferments and preserves, and then down south closer to Malaysia, you’ve got more curries and more spices. We’re looking to showcase the different regions and cuisines, and a different take of what Filipino food is.”

He says the food will be home-style and familiar to those who grew up with it, but with a little more technique involved.

Sisig – a northern dish of fried pig’s head and egg – will be transformed into a more premium version with abalone and pork jowl, presented at the table on a sizzling platter. Charred brassica satti plays on a grilled meat dish accompanied by a spicy gravy, while the oxtail, toasted peanut and annatto stew kare-kare will be used as a filling in savoury doughnuts.

Dhenvirg Ugot (ex-Society, Paul Bocuse) is Askal’s executive chef. Rivera will be culinary director, as he juggles Kariton responsibilities and a young family. Carlos Consunji (ex-The Recreation, Serai) is restaurant manager and the fourth partner is builder Michael Mabuti.

Mabuti has just started on the fit-out of the 1860s building, which will be an earthy space dominated by timber, concrete and other organic materials, including chandeliers made from oyster shells that the team is sourcing from The Philippines.

They all knew each other but didn’t realise they had the same vision for a restaurant that honoured the breadth of Filipino culture, according to Rivera. The name askal refers to the word for street dog, which they saw as an apt symbol for the adaptability and resilience of Filipino culture over centuries of colonial rule.

The menu will also include nods to their own families’ food traditions, with leche flan made according to Rivera’s grandmother’s recipe, ube cake made by Rivera’s sister, and a sticky, citrussy grilled pork chop that honours Libo-on’s dad, who opened Auckland’s first Filipino restaurant.

Askal will open in late summer or early autumn, with a ground-floor dining room, private dining on level two and, later, a bar on the top floor.

167 Exhibition Street, Melbourne, @askal.melb