Filipino food truck ‘brings a little piece of Philippines to Indy’
BEECH GROVE, Ind. (WISH) — Gracia Bryan was craving Filipino food.
After learning Indianapolis did not have a brick-and-mortar restaurant serving Filipino food, a husband-and-wife team from Beech Grove decided to bring the cuisine to Hoosiers on a food truck.
Gracia took matters into her own hands two years ago. She started cooking her favorite childhood dishes and recruited her husband, Kevin.
She said of the food, “It reminds me of my childhood. It reminds me of my Mom cooking dishes after school.”
The menu for their food truck The Taste of the Manila includes several dishes: pancit cantona, a noodle dish with cabbage and carrots; sizzling pork adobo, or pork stew with soy sauce fried lumpia, or Filipino-style egg rolls. Prices range from $5 for appetizers to op to $14 for a rice or noodle bowl.
“Filipino food is not something where you’d say, ‘That looks amazing,’ but it’s something where you’d say, ‘That smells good, I want to try it,'” Gracia said.
Kevin, who is originally from Jamaica, described the food as “very flavorful.
“You’ve got to try it to get the experience.”
Gracia and Kevin’s love story began with food and that first bite. Kevin recalled, “Not only is she beautiful, but she can cook? Man, I got to marry her.”
They like to joke their food truck is their firstborn, evening giving it a name. “Because it’s TOM, Taste of Manila; he’s my first son.”
Their customer base is diverse, from people willing to give Filipino food a try to people who’ve had it before.
Despite being 8,000 miles away from her homeland, Gracia is proud to be Filipino-American. “Even though (some) Hoosiers haven’t been to the Philippines, I brought a little piece of Philippines to Indy to share it with them.”