Highlights
- According to the 2016 census, Filipinos made up 2.9% of Katherine's population.
- Agnes shares that even if there are a lot of Filipinos in Katherine, culinary representation is lacking.
- With her food van, Agnes hopes to boost the popularity of Filipino cuisine amongst locals.
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Isang cook nagtayo ng Filipino food business sa Katherine, NT
SBS Filipino
06:13
"Filipinos make up the largest non-Australian group in Katherine, but there's no Filipino restaurant in town. I know there are some in Darwin, but I need to drive about three hours to get there and only Filipinos will be eating there."
Bawang Katherine owner Agnes Adan is cutting that commute for the residents of her town, with the hopes that her small endeavour makes Filipino cuisine as popular as other options in Katherine.
Agnes hopes to make Filipino food accessible and popular in Katherine. Source: Agnes Adan
From Manila to Halls Creek to Katherine
Agnes' fondness for cooking started with a need, sharing that she began cooking at the age of 7 after her father left the family.
"In the Philippines, Mum worked and my brother and I had to do things for ourselves, like cooking. It started with cooking chicken nuggets so we had food to bring to school.
"Mum remarried and she and my stepdad lived in Australia. My brother was bringing up his own family when I was 17, so mum brought me to live with her in Halls Creek in Western Australia, where my stepdad was CEO of the shire."
Agnes admits to experiencing culture shock upon her arrival to Halls Creek, sharing that she locked herself in her room for three months as protest.
Agnes and her mum in Halls Creek Source: Agnes Adan
"I was like 'What?!' I was 17 and from a big city; then all of a sudden, I was living in an area that had only one grocery shop," she laughs, adding, "Eventually, I moved to Perth and then to Katherine, NT where I live today."
Where the outback meets the tropics
About three hours drive from Darwin, Katherine is a stopover for people travelling between Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
"Katherine is the crossroads of NT." Source: Agnes Adan
A small regional town that has a few shops, two pubs and one fine dining restaurant, Katherine is a go-to spot for tourists especially during the dry season.
"We have a lot of tourists who does caravanning. People come here for the hot springs, the falls, and of course, the gorge."
"People come here for the hot springs, the falls, and of course, the gorge." Source: Agnes Adan
From the mouths of mentors
Agnes hopes to make an impression on Katherine's residents and tourists with her take on Filipino food.
"I was working in the Fig Tree Bistro, the fine dining restaurant in town, and my head chef became my mouth in my culinary journey.
"Let's say I would cook kaldereta at home, I would bring some to the restaurant and my head chef would comment on it. We would talk about my methods of cooking and he would give me suggestions. Then, the next day, I would bring him kare-kare and I would ask for his comments again.
"I was working in the fine dining restaurant in town and my head chef became my mouth in my culinary journey." Source: Kampus Production from Pexels
"I didn't know how the people of Katherine would react to Filipino food; but if my head chef loved my food, I knew people in town would probably love it too."
While her head chef was her mouth, her mum was her mentor.
"I would ring my mum every so often to ask how to cook Filipino dishes. Like I could only eat my mum's kaldereta, so I had to learn how she cooked it.
"She would come stay with me and my family in Katherine for a few months and we would just cook together. If she liked what I cooked, I felt like a winner."
Agnes' family: With her wife Tina on their wedding day [L]; With Tina and Tina's son whom she is raising as her own [R] Source: Agnes Adan
Taking the heat
Agnes now owns and runs Bawang Katherine, a food trailer that prides itself in its carefully curated menu of Filipino favourites.
"I handed in my resignation last year to start this business. We began operating just last February.
"We serve dishes like tapsilog [marinated beef served with garlic rice and egg], grilled liempo [marinated pork belly], chicken inasal [chicken marinated in a mixture of vinegar, annatto and calamansi], pancit [noodles], lumpiang shanghai [spring rolls with a meat filling], chicken adobo [chicken with a soy sauce-vinegar sauce], buko pandan [jelly dessert with pandan and coconut strings] and lechon belly [roasted pork belly]. The lechon belly is the moneymaker."
"I handed in my resignation last year to start this business. We began operating just last February." Source: Agnes Adan
Although mobility and lower capital are some things Agnes enjoys about running a food trailer, she shares that there are very real challenges to it.
"A normal day in Katherine would be around 39-41 degrees. Being in a trailer and running a deep fryer and oven, it literally feels like hell. The heat has actually gotten so bad, that it's been a bit difficult to keep staff.
Bawang Katherine serves chicken adobo. Source: Agnes Adan
"The limited space also means we have limited storage. That means we can only serve so much food. I'm hoping we can find a better, more permanent space for our business."
While the business is currently going through birthing pains, Agnes is upbeat about where her endeavour can go.
"I'm hoping that in five, ten years from now, people don't need to ask what tapsilog is." Source: Agnes Adan
"I'm hoping that in five, ten years from now, people don't need to ask what tapsilog is or they refer to roast pork as lechon.
"The main goal here is to let people from our town know that Filipino cuisine exists. It's not something similar to something else. It exists on its own."
