Sometimes there are venues that just don’t have enough chutzpah to leave you yearning to return, but the sincerity and enthusiasm of those involved make you hope they get it together and lure you back. Rey’s Place is a passion play if there ever was.

Owner Jonathan Bayad – who together with chef Shaun Oligo is hoping to give Sydney modern Filipino food – was concerned that traditional Filipino might be too beige for the local palate. Bayad has great energy on the floor, albeit his restaurateuring nous is a bit raw. The venue itself is a lovely 35-seater with marble table tops, dark wood panelling and a small bar on each floor. It feels more like French bistro wine bar and anything but Filipino.

As with the cuisine itself, there’s a heavy Spanish (and American) influence on the food from its 7000-plus islands. A shortish menu tries to strike a balance of street-food-turned- restaurant-fare, while some dishes maintain their old-school flare.

Whitebait are clumped together, battered and fried. Zucchini flowers are filled with okra, eggplant and pumpkin. Starters are more like bar snacks too, there’s an obligatory slider – pork belly with adobo aioli chilli on bun, fried chicken wings stuffed with chicken adobo mousse and a more composed dish of King Salmon ceviche. Served with coconut quinoa and avocado salsa, the ceviche combinations are right, but the fish is cured far too long and eats like cubes of candy.

A turn to the more traditional, kare-kare (Filipino stew), is beautifully braised oxtail wading in a subtle peanut sauce and partnered with shrimp paste- glazed Japanese eggplants and blanched bok choy. There’s lechon (suckling pig), and squid stuffed with chorizo paella. I’d like to see more traditional dishes, and fewer attempts to appease the masses. Of all the cuisines in Sydney, we could do with more Filipino.