Melbourne’s first Filipino cocktail bar is here, and it rocks.
Let’s cut to the chase here. When it comes to nibbles, if we’re talking specifically small nibbly things in bowls like nuts, Inuman dominates the entire eastern seaboard of Australia. They are so far ahead of the game they oughta give masterclasses in this stuff. Or just bag it up and sell it to everyone else. We’re talking fried almonds with chilli garlic crunch. We’re talking Boy Bawang (AKA Filipino corn nuts) with crisp salt-and-vinegar saltbush. We’re talking macadamias with burnt coconut and lime leaf. We’re talking the lord’s gift to bar nuts, and then some. They also have real food, and it’s very good, but these snackins are like nothing else.
You also definitely want to try the house remix of the Gilda, that classic Spanish snack on a stick. Here, it’s white anchovy, pickled ginger and a cocktail onion on a stick (and yep, it’s every bit as good a complement to a WAM Martini as you think it is). See also the crisp chicken-skin sandwich.
Something more substantial? The duck and cockerel terrine is what you need, with a winning Pinoy twist in the banana ketchup that comes with it. A sweet? Yes indeed. Hit the young-coconut sorbet doused in Lambanóg, the Filipino palm liquor.
