Last weekend, we checked out the Food Truck Festival that is ongoing from Thursdays to Sundays (4pm until about midnight) for the whole month of October 2015 (no word yet if this will be extended). I initially wrote about it here.
It is located in McKinley West, and if you are coming from Upper McKinley Hill, it is just across the street from where the public commuting stop is. If you are driving, there is FREE PARKING available nearby. If you are not familiar with the area, just follow Waze’s directions to McKinley West. I wouldn’t have known where to go to park if I didn’t have Waze, either. The parking area is on a parallel street from Lawton Ave.
There were around 10-12 food trucks, tents, outdoor seating, and a stage where bands played. It was nice and festive and really felt like a “festival”. Sooooo many people showed up even I was surprised at how many people came!
We got to try several of the food from the food trucks.
To start the night, this is the Bacon Cheese Burger (P150) from the very popular Malcolm’s Burger. Malcolm’s uses 100% Kitayama Wagyu beef. They have a farm in Bukidnon where they raise their own Wagyu. For a 100% Wagyu beef burger, Malcolm’s prices are quite affordable – prices for a burger start at P130. It’s not that much more expensive than a commercial fastfood chain burger. The beef patty is very juicy 
Malcolm’s Burger seems to be the most popular food truck last night, still serving a long line of people when all the other food trucks were already closed for the night.
Here’s Jet 7 Bistro’s Sisig Espanol Tacos (P80). It is a soft taco filled with fresh, sliced veggies and lots of crispy pork. It is salty and spicy. It’s a nice snack that goes well with drinks if you are not in the mood for a heavy meal.
Next, we tried newcomer Tux Burger. This is their Mr. Biggie (P250) – this is a triple patty burger, with mushroom, bacon, barbecue sauce, cheese, lettuce, onion and tomatoes. They handed me a pair of disposable gloves with the burger, and I wondered why. The burger was heavy and wrapped in foil.
When I unwrapped my burger, I smiled at the sight of it! The buttery smell of the barbecue sauce greeted me when I opened the foil. The burger was dripping delicious smelling sauce, stacked high with 3 patties and melted cheese in between. This thing needs to be featured on some Food Network show! I literally felt like I was on some food show presenting one of the jaw-dropping burgers in Manila!
Now I get why the gloves are provided 
There’s no way you can eat this and still maintain clean hands. Or face.
The beef patties are well-seasoned and dense. This is a really heavy burger. The triple patties are already a steal at P250. The barbecue sauce are totally worth soaking up. I really wanted to eat this with a knife and fork so that I could smoosh bite-sized pieces of the burger to absorb the sauce!
Next, we tried Bagwings! It was another popular truck with customers lining up to order all night. Apparently, the name Bagwings is named for their popular Bagnet and Buffalo Wings combo. Here’s the famous Bagwings (P200):
My favorite from Bagwings has to be their Si-Ga or Sisig sa Gata (P200). I never really imagined sisig with gata, but it works really well here. There is a note of caramelized coconut milk that ties the different flavors of this sisig together. I didn’t feel like it was too oily or anything like that, which I usually feel when eating other sisigs, especially the kinds with mayo. You should definitely give this Sisig sa Gata a try!
The owner of Bagwings was kind enough to let us try their other dishes, too. Here’s the Tok-Net (Tokwa and Bagnet, P130), and the Rib Fingers (P150). My other companions liked the Rib Fingers.
We also tried the Beef Shawarma Rice (P159) from Shawarma Bros. I liked the smell of the spices that they used. It is more complex than the usual shawarmas we used to find on every street corner years ago. The beef was also much better compared to other shawarma places where the beef usually has a lot of litid.
For dessert, we had Fruits in Ice Cream (promo price of P50 per scoop) – we had the Almond Muscovado, Berry Overload and Blueberry. The Almond Muscovado is sweet, but has a sort of caramel-type sweetness because it uses muscovado sugar instead of the cloyingly sweet regular sugar. It also has big chunks of almonds! Both the Berry Overload and the Blueberry flavors had several real berries in the ice cream, truly Fruits in Ice Cream! I would probably go back for the Blueberry just because it is a hard to find flavor, but the Berry Overload is actually the better one.
To cap off the night, we had a Red Velvet Cupcake (P65), Blondellas (P45) and Oreo Brookies (P45) from Sugartrails. A brookie is a fudge brownie + Oreo or Reese + chocolate chip cookie. The Blondella is a blondie + Nutella. For the size of the brookie and considering everything that’s in it, I find the P45 price tag very reasonable! They are dense and heavy, but moist. Not too sweet, too. They are very nice sweet endings to a wonderful food trip night.
2 responses to “Delicious Food Trip Finds at the Food Truck Festival!”
The food truck scene is really growing in Manila. I hope it can get to other major cities in Visayas and Mindanao. The problems for having food trucks here in the country traffic, pollution and lack of open spaces. I think we can adapt it eventually.
Me, too, Ana 🙂 I hope food trucks become more mainstream and more easily accessible every day, and not just for special events.