Fil-Am food truck’s ‘pandesalwiches’ redefine meryenda
Photos from eatmeryenda/Instagram
Craving for pandesal? The light and fluffy Filipino rolls, the ultimate comfort food, take the center stage at “Meryenda,” a Filipino American-owned food truck in Belmont, California.
“Meryenda,” a food truck owned by Fil-Am Anton Yulo, has given American comfort food a Filipino twist — the ‘pandesalwiches.’
The sunny yellow food truck stands out at 519 Marine View Ave. amid the white office structures in the area.
Proudly bearing the tagline, “Home of the Filipino pandesalwich,” this mobile eatery is a passion project that Yulo brought to life after he decided it was time for a change and left his 20-year career in the tech industry.
Grappling with corporate burnout, the Bay Area resident took a year off from work. “I thought, ‘I need a year off.’ So I took that, and I said, ‘If I’m gonna come back, I have a choice: pursue a passion project of mine or dive back into corporate.’ And I chose this,” he shared with Palo Alto online.
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Meryenda – or merienda, “snack” in Spanish – embodies the essence of satisfaction and comfort.
Yulo and his head chef, Richard Moya, have concocted a menu featuring a Pinoy breakfast cult-fave and ultimate comfort food – the iconic pandesal.
The ‘Meryenda’ experience
The food truck’s offerings include savory pan-delights like bistek burger pan, spamsilog pan (grilled spam with egg), Impossible longganisa (Filipino beef sausage) pan, and chicken adobo pan.
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Vegetarians can have their kamote chips on the side, waiting to be devoured guilt-free. For the foodie’s sweet tooth, their buko pandan bread pudding, topped with coconut caramel and toasted coconut, is every dessert lover’s dream.
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The pandesalwiches are bigger than sliders but not as large as burgers. “I try to take American comfort food and apply a Filipino template on top of it,” Yulo explained.
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Comfort and kinship
More than just serving Filipino food, Yulo envisions “Meryenda” embodying a sense of comfort, satisfaction and kinship.
“Our goal is to give you the same sense of happiness we get from a good meryenda,” the team states on their website.
Opening a food truck is no easy feat, particularly in the Peninsula area, according to Yulo, noting the lack of country-approved food truck commissaries.
“Every food truck you see out there comes from probably one of three places: South San Francisco, Hayward and San Jose,” he said.
The Fil-Am food truck owner is looking ahead with plans to open a brick-and-mortar location.
Their Instagram also teases new offerings like fresh ube chips and unique twists on traditional Filipino Christmas favorite, queso de bola.
In the post, they hinted at “playing around” with queso de bola, captioning, “This (type of) cheese called queso de bola (ball of cheese) is actually a Christmas time tradition and we are excited to play around with it and see what we create!”
Check out “Meryenda” and their commissary kitchen in Belmont on Wednesdays, Thursdays and Fridays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., or at the South San Francisco Farmers Market on Saturdays from 12 p.m. to 4 p.m., or follow them on Instagram.
