Newcastle West is waking up.
Antojitos is packed every night of the week it's open. Down the road, a third coffee shop, Core Espresso, just opened on Hunter Street between Estratto and Bank Corner.
Bar Mellow is bustling, and now a little Filipino restaurant has appeared, offering meaty mains and a traditional, tasty dessert.
On January 26 this year, Vicky Fernandez opened The Palace, for the second time.
They launched last year, then closed again to make some changes and renovations. Now they're back with nine staff, including Fernandez's daughter, Lovely.
Previously, Fernandez ran Raj's Corner in Hamilton. Now this is her full-time business.
Originally from the Philippines, she's lived in Newcastle for more than 20 years.
During this time, she and her family have owned and run various businesses. She's the owner, the cook, the host, and the waitress at The Palace. Her partner is a chef as well.
I have never been to the Philippines and know nothing about its food. But this restaurant is in my burgeoning neighbourhood.
I'm intrigued.
I first visited several weeks ago for dinner only to learn that, for now, their vegetarian options are limited.
Fernandez tells me this is common for Filipino food. I made do with quite a generous vegetarian dumpling entree and some tasty garlic fried rice.
For the meat lovers, they have options such as chicken or pork adobo (braised chicken or pork cooked in soy sauce), pork sinigang (pork cooked in savoury tamarind soup-based mix), pork sisig (chop grilled pork cooked with egg) and more.
They also have curries, noodles and chopped suey.
"We have a lot of meat," Fernandez says.
"We have fresh Lumpiang Shanghai. We have to make it every day.
"The dough is not steamed, it's like a spring roll."
Her staff keep telling her they need more vegetarian food, so they hope have more on the menu shortly.
They also plan to get a liquor licence and they'll soon be registered for UberEats and Menulog.
I was full after the dumplings and rice, but thought I might have room for a dessert called Halo-halo. It's $10.90 and described as "shaved ice with coconut jelly, mixed with fruit and topped with purple yam ice-cream".
The waitress asked me if I wanted creamed corn with it. I have never been asked this question about a dessert before.
I decided to have it on the side of whatever I was getting.
Much to my shock and delight, out came a massive ice-cream bowl with a thick milky, chunky substance.
Atop sat a hefty scoop of purple yam ice-cream.
I was instructed to mix it up. As I started to do so, I was fascinated, and a little bit alarmed, by the different bits and pieces floating around in this enormous new experience.
There were sweet black beans, pieces of fruit, chunks of flan and sweet mouthfuls of shaved ice.
My taste buds didn't know what had hit them. The savoury creamed corn offered a complementary twist, balancing out the rainbow in my mouth.
"I think it's more common in most Filipino restaurants," Fernandez says of the dessert.
"In my country it's hot, that's why they love it, why they make them.
"There is more ice and ice-cream. Everyone in the restaurant, they like that one."
Halo-halo, I later learn, is traditionally spelled haluhalo in Filipino, which roughly translates to mixed or mixed-up.
The dessert, originating from Japanese influence on the country, began as a mung bean, ice, milk and sugar dish.
Filipinos added more traditional foods over time, and now the treat has completely evolved.
Halo-halo's key difference is that its ingredients are always under the ice, not on top of it.
I have now had Halo-halo twice, and I can't recommend it enough.
It's not just about the taste, it's about the joy and surprises of slowly devouring it.
I'm happy to add The Palace to my growing list of cool places to dine in Newcastle West.
Staff are warm and chatty, making it very easy to drop in and say "halo".
The Palace, 701 Hunter Street, Newcastle West. Open Wednesday - Saturday 5:30pm - 9pm and Sunday 11am - 3pm.
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