Food Trip Lunchwagon

As with my previous review for Thelma’s, I’m very torn reviewing Filipino food.
Since it was a Tuesday, I decided to go for the lechon kawali special. Reading reviews here and on other food blogs I decided to stop by around 1130 to make sure I got a good chance at getting it before it ran out. Nana informed me that there was 2 left after mines so I lucked out! She advised me to come around that time or earlier and that she gets there at about 1030. I’ve included a picture, but basically this is lechon (roasted pig) with onions and tomato. I kinda like this version better than Thelma’s since I think little or no sauce at all was added, so I didn’t feel as guilty eating it. The tomatoes aren’t chopped as fine, which I liked. For $ 7.50 w/​2 scoops rice it was definitely a good deal. This alone I’d give 5 stars.
Other items I’ve tried here were the garlic fried chicken w/​pancit and roast pork w/​gravy/​pork adobo combo.
Being really critical of adobo, I didn’t really like their version. The meat was a lean cut, but I like my adobo with a bit of fat on it. It wasn’t as tender as I’d like, maybe because I bought it at around 1230 – 1 after it was sitting in the warmer for a while.
Pancit was just ok. I’d only get it to offset a meat dish, but wouldn’t order just that alone.
The roast pork was more Filipino style, not the tender «falling apart» style you’d find at local style places like Tsukenjo’s.
I did like their garlic friend chicken. I was expecting boned fried chicken, but their version was boneless. The chicken was seasoned right and not oily or salty. The sauce is homemade with shoyu and chopped garlic in it among other things.
The mini is $ 5.50 which is 1 choice and 2 scoops of rice. $ 7 for two choices. Nana is friendly and will always greet you with a smile. Would recommend if you are in the area and are looking for your Filipino food fix.

I’ve been coming here for almost 3 years, ever since I started working in the neighborhood. Again, I have no frame of reference as to what «real» Philipino food is. All the Philipino food I have eaten are in Hawaii. So this truck vs Karen’s vs wherever else, I really don’t know who is authentic so I’ll keep that out of the equation.
The food here is very homely. Most of the choices comes in some sort of stew: Adobo, guisante, pinakbet, dinuguan, etc. To applease less ethnic taste buds, there are also occasional meatballs, baked chicken, etc. in various less exotic sauces.
The down side of this place is that most dishes are somewhat oily. Meat fat is usually not trimmed and the usage of oil is liberal (i.e. you can see a pool of oil at the end of the meal sometimes). So if you are conscious about fat/​oil intake, pick the more soupy dishes (squash, soup, etc.) instead of the stew type. The up side is that the food tasted great… just like mom used to make it … sorta… maybe…
Once in a while, they will also have dessert, usually in the form something fried and then either tossed in sugar, soaked in honey, or some other treatment with something sweet. I recommend passing those.

My entire life people have asked and assumed that I am Filipino. And if you are wondering if I am Filipino, no I am not. My mother is Samoan/​French and my father is Japanese. I guess that combination makes kids that look Filipino? That’s cool because Filipinos are hot and my boyfriend is indeed part Filipino. Boo yah! One day we’ll have super hot kids that will surely be Filipino and won’t run into the same identity issues as me. What does this have to do with my review? Absolutely nothing, but it does add a bit of color to my review doesn’t it? And it was a round about way of telling you that I am not Filipino so what the heck do I know about Filipino food!
If you drive down Kawaiahao Street there are a slew of lunch wagons to fuel your lunch time cravings. We walked to each lunch wagon to see what the offerings were for the day. The first lunch wagon had the regular plate lunch fare and we just weren’t into that. The second wagon was the Food Trip Lunch Wagon but my BF wasn’t feeling it because he doesn’t really care for Filipino food. Ironic huh? The third wagon had teppanyaki made fresh and my BF was almost sold until the owner told me that I shouldn’t eat the Spicy Ahi special because it wasn’t good for the baby. WTF?! I was wearing a patterned yellow sundress and I hope to God that I haven’t gotten so fat from Unilocal that I now look like I’m pregnant. Because I’m NOT pregnant! My BF was miffed by the comment, even more so than I, so we left and went back to Nana at the Food Trip Lunch Wagon. A word to the wise guys. If you’re not 110% sure that a woman is pregnant and she had better look like she’s ready to give birth at any moment. Don’t insinuate the possibility of pregnancy. This advice may save your life one day.
Headed back to Nana and ordered the chicken adobo and pork guisantes with two scoops rice for $ 7. We had wanted pancit but she was already sold out. She was also sold out of dinaguan (pig blood with pork aka chocolate meat) and that just completely grossed me out. Sorry if you love dinaguan but for lunch? Really? It made my non-​existant Filipino baby very upset as well. The food was pretty good, and considering the price and that it comes from a lunch wagon, who could complain! Nana is very sweet and definitely a hard working little plate lunch hustler! And if it makes a difference, she is most assuredly Filipino from the Phillipines! If you ever have the hankering for some Filipino food then be sure to drive down lunch wagon row and pay her a visit!

This food is home cooking at it’s best! «Nana» who runs the lunchwagon is a real sweetie too.
There are usually 6 – 7 selections that change daily, but she always has pancit and pinakbet. I really like her pinakbet with pork, and like any good cook the mix of veggies varies depending on what she can get fresh. I haven’t had a better pork guisantes, she adds small pieces of potato that gives it better texture and body, the flavor is much more than the one note you often get with this dish. Other dishes I also really like are pork or chicken apritada, pork adobo, bittermelon with pork and egg, pork lauya, garlic fried chicken, and shoyu chicken. Her special on Tuesdays is lechon kawali (think Chinese roast pork) with tomato and onion, this is awesome and often sells out. The combination of the rich lechon, the crunchy-​crispy skin, the cool and sweet tomatoes and onion is amazing.
Everything has two scoops of rice; there is no salad. A mini is one choice for $ 5.50; two choices is $ 7.00; and if she has a special it’s usually $ 7.50. You can opt for pancit instead of rice for an additional $ 0.50. Don’t get me wrong, I really love her food, but I find her pancit to be just okay.
There can be a few lunchwagons on Kawaiahao St., Food Trip is the silver truck that is usually right on the corner of Curtis and Kawaiaho. Enjoy!