Are these trucks for you?

The Food Truck Tour rolls through Ottawa.

Meryenda

Meryenda. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout

  • Name + address: Meryenda, 1448 Prince of Wales Dr. 

  • Diet: Meat, vegetarian

  • Prices: $9-$17

  • Wheelchair accessibility: Yes

  • Website: www.infomeryenda.wixsite.com

Visiting a food truck can be its own adventure. In the back of our minds, and we have to be honest here, we generally don’t expect much. Yet that’s likely a chief reason we try them out: we want to be surprised by something great. Then we can tell others of our discovery.

We also know that certain foods don’t travel well and are best consumed on site. I’ll have more on that next week but today’s visits offered good food that worked well once reheated at home.

Meryenda Filipino cuisine is located at a mall (Prince of Wales and Meadowlands) and offers a healthy alternative to the fast food joint just steps away.

Meryenda vegetarian noodles and lumpia. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout

A delicious example was the all vegetarian noodles with lumpia, the Indonesian/Filipino version of a spring roll.

The noodles were littered with fresh veg and the combination of both wheat noodles and mung bean vermicelli made for a nice textural contrast.

The lumpia itself was well stuffed and delicately seasoned and the experience was amplified by the addition of an inspired sweet/sour dipping sauce created by co-owner Mark Coronel. 

The entire dish was filling and satisfying and gives vegetarians a nice and well-crafted alternative in a landscape heavy with food truck proteins.

Meryenda chicken inasal. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout

I have a natural aversion to chicken breast because it’s so often poorly prepared and dry as dust. At the hands of Coronel these slices came out moist with grilled flavour and the coriander aioli on top giving each mouthful a vibrant lift.

The garlic rice was nicely cooked but just a little too mild for my taste. The side of shredded, pickled green papaya (atchara) was tangy and appetite stimulating and I could have used much more of it than the tablespoon portion that was allotted. A nice accompaniment. 

Meryenda’s strength lies in the pride it takes in cooking traditional Filipino dishes with fresh and quality ingredients. This shows in every bite.

Would I go back? Yes.

Jerk on Wheels

Jerk on Wheels. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout

Today world cuisine offers us many tastes from cultures around the globe. Tastes that weren’t available to us decades ago. 

We’re familiar with those cuisines that are first in our imaginations such as French, Italian or Japanese. Yet there are flavours from countries who, despite offering a narrower range, are no less desirable or delicious. 

Jerk seasoning from Jamaica comes to mind. In fact, because as a German kid, I grew up eating oxtail, I find myself making jerk oxtail a few times a year. It ranks as one of my favourite stewed dishes.

Jerk on Wheels assorted chicken. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout

On this visit to the Merivale Jerk on Wheels, the jerk chicken was sold out but I was given the option of a brown sauce stewed chicken or the chicken curry. Both were served over classic rice and peas (a type of bean actually) and came with house-made coleslaw.

Doreen, retired mom of owner K.K Simpson, actually offered me a taste of both for take-away and she certainly knows how to cook. 

K.K operates the other Jerk on Wheels truck and it comes with the complete menu. Here on Merivale, Doreen does the cooking but the menu is limited to three variations on chicken.

Both the brown sauce and curry chicken options were deliciously deep in flavour and I was impressed by both. The brown sauce tasted almost more French in the construction of the gravy while the curry was light and fruity in the direction of a Malaysian curry. 

Sadly the rice and peas were relatively standard and uninspired, if not properly cooked. This staple just needed much more of both sauces to make it sing. The chicken was plump, moist and seasoned to the bone. 

While the menu was limited, Doreen was a delight. This is her early retirement project and it’s worth stopping by for her food and to have a chat. She’s an absolute delight, filled with humour and charm and a few stories to tell.

Would I go back? I’ll reserve comment until I’ve experienced more of their full menu at their other location.