With the help of original Orlando outfits like De Guzman Oriental Food Mart (8433 E. Colonial Drive in Orlando) and Nipa Hut in Kissimmee, all the way up to OverRice (food truck and brick-and-mortar) and Michelin-recommended Kaya in Mills 50, Filipino food has been getting more of a spotlight, Even so, these more visible businesses aren’t the only games in town.
There’s a lot of food to celebrate in this nation of 7,000+ islands, a culinary heritage that’s coalesced over the centuries, absorbing the traditions of other cultures — Spanish, Chinese and American, to name a few — into their indigenous foundation to create something phenomenally special.
The folks at Kaya know it, too, which is why they’ve been instrumental in bringing the community together, hosting Filipino-centric events that help showcase up-and-comers like Kim Sosa and her relatively new business, The Native Plate, which enjoyed its first pop-up back in December.
“I’m a baby!” jokes Sosa, who moved here from Tagaytay City, a tourist town famous for its Taal Volcano, in 2009, taking advantage of a college exchange program that landed her a job at SeaWorld. She’s been here ever since. More recently, food offerings at local markets caught her interest.
“I was going to a lot of pop-ups and always thought it looked like a lot of fun,” Sosa says of the idea that had been cooking in her head for some time. “And half my family is still back in the Philippines, and so often I get homesick for certain foods. I thought it could be nice to share with people my favorites, like chicken adobo and lumpia.”
The two have since become her top sellers, but the menu is still developing. Other items include pancit and “Lola’s Leche Flan,” her grandmother’s own recipe. The stuff flies off the table, so come early if you want to try it.
It took some time for Sosa, a full-time caregiver for her daughter, Alyssa, who suffers from epilepsy, to find her calling, trying a few different careers before taking the plunge into hospitality. Alyssa helps out, too, handling cashier duty for her mother
“My friends and family always enjoyed my cooking and urged me to sell it, but I wasn’t sure. Then I went to other markets and thought if these businesses can do it, so can I.”
Her first pop-up at Orlando’s Elks Lodge, she says, was electric.
Filipino spaghetti is a sweet and savory comfort-food staple
“I loved the crowd and how they accepted us and it was nice that we almost sold out.”
Since then, she’s done the Clermont Farmers Market, the Market on Fifth in Apopka and Kaya’s Barangay Festival back in January.
These days, she’s popping up all over but every Sunday, you’ll find her at the Orlando Farmer’s Market on Lake Eola.
Follow The Native Plate on Instagram instagram.com/the.native.plate and on Facebook at facebook.com/profile.php?id=61565804317213 and read on for where you’ll find Sosa snacking when The Native Plate sells out.
The Wooden Fork & Spoon
Baking has always been a stress reliever for Joedel Zaballero, who picked it up from her parents. As a veteran transportation engineer, the preciseness of this art is also comforting
“Baking is a science,” she laughs. “I’m an engineer. I can do this.”
And so, in 2015, she did, as something small. Something she and her husband, Bill, enjoyed doing together, its name a nod to their shared Filipino heritage, for the large wooden fork-and-spoon sets commonly displayed in Filipino households. It’s also a nice conversation starter with customers who aren’t necessarily in the know.
“People sometimes come up to the table thinking we sell utensils,” Zaballero says, laughing. “So, I explain to people what it represents: family, friends, food that brings us together.”
For its first few years in business, The Wooden Fork & Spoon‘s sole product was granola, which they still sell, but post-COVID-19, the menu began to grow with a variety of cookies added to the mix. It was in 2022, when East End Market hosted a Filipino Fest, that Zaballero’s roots (she was born in Aklan in the Philippines, moving stateside with her parents when she was just a baby) began to show in more than just the business’ name.
“We made pandesal, the staple sweet bread of the Philippines,” she says. Based on her mother’s recipe, which was one of those rare but amazing barely-written-down classics, the response was really positive.
“Seeing all the Filipinos come out for this event was really amazing and made us feel like we had to have more goods like these as part of our bakery.”
Now, along with the pandesal, you’ll find Zaballero’s ube pandesal, filled with an ube jam, a recipe that incorporates homegrown ube, straight out of her mother and aunt’s gardens. No extract or colorings, ever.
“I take it, I boil it, I grate it and freeze it so I can hopefully have it throughout the year but it will only last as long as I have it. It’s why you’ll see a variance in the color of the bread depending on the color of the ube, which can go from white or lavender all the way to an almost-black deep purple.”
They also do a mango-peach gallette that’s an homage to Jollibee’s famous fried hand pie, as well as ensaimada, a Filipino-style cinnamon roll of sorts. Theirs, she’s quick to point out, is a little different than most you’d find in the Philippines.
“Normally it has a load of butter and cheese on it, but in Ibajay, where my dad grew up, it was just butter and sugar, so that’s the way I do it, too.”
The Wooden Fork & Spoon’s goods vary for each pop-up and can be ordered ahead of time for pickup at thewoodenforkandspoon.square.site. You’ll also find them in the Packing District, the second Saturday of every month, at the 4Roots Farmers Market & Community Fair (4rootsfarm.org/event/packing-district-farmers-market) as well as other events around town
Follow them on Instagram at instagram.com/thewoodenforkandspoon to find out where.
Hapa Halo Grill
Kegan Baker is the owner of Hapa Halo Grill, which spun up two years ago and rebooted in September with the cutest, tiniest food truck you’ll find at events and markets all over town.
“We say, ‘Mini-truck, big flavor,’” he jokes, and returning customers say the same, visiting again and again for their brand of Filipino-Hawaiian specialties.
Baker is made up of both himself but has found a lot of inspiration from his grandmother, a Filipina who spent much of her life in Hawaii.
“People often do come up to the truck and say, ‘Well, what is Filipino food?’ but there’s also been something of an explosion in Orlando of Asian food and people getting to know the cultural foods that we grew up with. But there are a lot of people who walk up, and I wouldn’t have expected them to know what Filipino food is, but they’ve been connected by an experience with a friend or a trip or had something similar, and it’s really cool.”
Looking for a suggestion? Hapa Halo’s tocinosubi melds the Filipino tocino with Hawaiian musubi, replacing the small slab of Spam with chicken tocino. The sweet, caramelized protein is lashed to its rice with umami-forward nori, but instead of sushi rice, Filipino garlic rice is used.
“It’s one of our most popular dishes.”
Catch them out back at The Guesthouse/Sunroom (1321 N. Mills Ave. in Orlando; sunroomcocktails.com/theguesthouse) in Mills 50 every Wednesday night, several times a month at Tuesday’s Tasty Takeover event (2424 E. Robinson St. in Orlando; tastytakeover.com) in the Milk District, every Friday night at the Apopka’s Market on Fifth (Fifth Street in Apopka; propagatesocialhouse.com/market-on-fifth) and follow them for information on where else they’re popping up, all around the metro.
Stay up to date on Hapa Halo’s haps on their Facebook (facebook.com/keahishapahalogrill) and Instagram (instagram.com/hapahalostreetfood).
Maya’s Merienda
Maya’s Merienda, says Jamilyn Salonga Bailey, is the Filipino pop-up that might hit closest to home for those who’ve emigrated from the nation of 7,000 islands. “It’s like hitting up a night market in the Philippines,” says Bailey.
Thing one: Maya’s has a pretty expansive setup.
“It’s a big variety in the types of skewers she’s offering so you have a lot of options. Everything from the classic barbecue-on-a-stick or pork or chicken to things like longanisa (sausage) or chicken feet (adidas) or isaw, which is chicken intestines.”
Native Plates Sosa cites Maya’s Merienda as one of her must-hits when they’re at the same festival.
“Her skewers are the essence of Filipino street food for me,” she says. “This is what I grew up eating. Their whole setup just makes me feel like I’m back home.”
For more information, follow Maya’s Merienda and Asian Street Foods on Instagram at instagram.com/mayassnacksnasianstreetfoods or on Facebook at facebook.com/profile.php?id=100092714671904.
Beng Bread
The wondrous colors of Divina Orbase’s homespun bakery speak loudly to those who venture past Beng Bread’s market table, but the textures and flavors surpass even what halts them in their tracks: the purples and greens of ube and pandan in milk breads and a variety of cookies, Rice Krispie treats and sumptuous grass-fed butters. And although you’ll find her wares at pop-ups around town — for example: Homegrown in Horizons West on May 4 and East End Market on May 24 — you can also order her goodies, from garlic peanuts to ube s’mores cookies, right on her website for delivery.
Visit bengbread.com for more information on Orbase’s products, or hit her happy face up at area events. Meeting these culinary creatives is often the best part of enjoying their products.
Find me on Facebook, TikTok, Twitter or Instagram @amydroo or on the OSFoodie Instagram account @orlando.foodie. Email: amthompson@orlandosentinel.com, For more foodie fun, join the Let’s Eat, Orlando Facebook group.
