A FILIPINO karaoke restaurant. Can anyone resist? Well, not our intrepid trio. So, on a Sunday night, we tumble into the street beside Lidcombe's vast railway station, which is lit up like the Queen Elizabeth 2 docking at Woolloomooloo wharf.

We stroll past the Italian Monuments company and stop dead in our tracks at the sight of polished granite tombstones, lined up like mattresses in a bedding store.

That's when we hear Bahay Kubo, even before we see it or smell it and, compelled by the karaoke, we make a beeline for the plain, glass-fronted restaurant. A man, whom we assume is the owner, throws open the door and his arms wide, urging us to come in.

He shows us to a table, then joins a large party of people on a long table topped with platters of prawns, rice and marrow bones. Confused? You betcha.

Meanwhile, a middle-aged woman belts out broken notes at high volume of the karaoke cliche, I Will Survive, as children scuttle around the table and dive among the legs of two women doing a ballroom jitterbug. We feel as if we've just been welcomed into someone's lounge room and, in the spirit of good guests, applaud the dancers and the chanteuse who only takes breath long enough to launch into Boogie Wonderland.

We're having a ball. But we can't tell who are the diners and who are the staff until one of the young men in a white T-shirt breaks away from the group near the microphone and comes towards us with a notebook.

The menu is an education. Lumpiang, a distant relative of the spring roll, is a crepe that comes three ways: lumpiang shangai (with deep-fried mince), lumpiang sariwa (fresh in a special sauce) and fried lumpia (with deep-fried vegetables).

The other dishes that warm the cockles of a Filipino's heart are menudo (diced pork with tomato and soy sauce), kaldereta beef (a Spanish-influenced stew) and mechado beef (with potato, carrots and tomato sauce).

Bahay Kubo, which translates as little grass hat, conjures up images of Filipino country cooking and reflects the cultural influences on the cuisine.

There's a bit of Malay, a bit of Chinese, a bit of Spanish, a bit of American and a bit of indigenous.

You can see it from Bahay Kubo's sinigang (tamarind soup), chop suey and crispy fried chicken. Chilli isn't a feature but various tangy vinegars, onions, garlic, soy sauce and coconut milk are.

Our meal starts with sisig, described as crispy ground pork in spicy sauce served in a sizzling plate. Diced bits of pork and pork fat come with a raw egg that cooks as we stir it through the spiced and fried pieces. Those who love pork fat will be in heaven.

Longganisa, a pork sausage that is spicy and chunky in a fine caul, is sticky with sweet and salty soy flavours. Lumpiang sariwa, which tastes like springy wonton wrappers rather than crepes, is filled with shredded vegetables and also has a sweet and sour, though starchy, sauce.

Finally, the two best dishes. Adobo chicken is peppery, beautifully marinated chicken drumettes, cooked so the meat falls off the bone and the sauce is reduced to a luscious essence. Served with white rice, it is a revelation.

The fried tilapia is a whole fish with a crackling, smoky skin that you shred and dip into a pungent, vinegary dressing that transforms the slightly meaty, oily flesh into a complex play of balanced flavours.

Desserts are a rushed affair on our part. We enjoy the halo-halo, a drink of shaved ice, ice-cream, jelly and sweet beans, and the leche flan, a toffeed, condensed milk treat. But there's just no let up to the karaoke.

The microphone is passed from hand to hand as various women and even the waiters croon and bellow tunes from ABBA's Chiquitita to the Cure's Boys Don't Cry.

A television screen is virtually the only adornment on the pale green walls other than two faux paintings of rustic scenes. Apart from laminated tables with a splatter pattern, black chairs and a bit of bamboo decoration, that's it for the decor.

Yet atmosphere oozes through Bahay Kubo, thanks to the warmth of the people and the honesty of the food. We are asked to have a sing-a-long but we can't compete with the sheer joy of these Australian-Filipinos for whom Bahay Kubo is a home away from home.