The Lumpia Truck is set
to launch in Springfield, and the owners say a brick-and-mortar location
serving Filipino street food may not be far behind.
Rolando Cabral and his wife, Myrna Balabag, moved to Springfield
to work in the medical industry, but their first love is cooking and sharing
their favorite native dishes with others.
“We are transplants from New York,” Cabral said. “I’m the chief
information officer for Springfield Clinic; I run the IT department. My wife
has been a nurse for 30 years, but she doesn’t want to do that anymore.”
Cabral said his wife will handle the day-to-day operations for the
food truck, and later, a restaurant. “We came from the Philippines and we had a
restaurant there. It’s not an easy business, but we liked it.”
Cabral said the couple has been scouting out potential spots for a
restaurant but decided to open a food truck in the meantime.
“We’ve been planning to open a food place, but haven’t found the
right location yet, so we decided to open a truck first,” he said. “We’ll see what
the interest is for Filipino food in the area.”
The Lumpia Truck will offer
dishes such as pork sisiq, made from tender, chopped pork seasoned with tangy
calamansi, onions and chili peppers; lechon kawali, pork belly deep-fried to a
golden crisp and served with traditional lechon sauce and sweet chili sauce; and
turon, a sweet treat made from ripe banana
slices and jackfruit, wrapped in a crispy spring
roll wrapper and fried with a
caramelized sugar coating.
The Lumpia Truck will
make its first public appearance from 10:30 a.m.-2 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 23, at
Landmark Ford in Prairie Crossing. Cabral said. A number of events and private
meetings are already on the schedule as well.
“This type of cuisine is
not being offered here yet,” Cabral said. “I’m confident people will really
like it.”
