Karinderia by The Filipino Street Food

Genesis and Pam Reyes were already cooking Filipino food for their community when they wandered into a newly opened Eat Street Northshore one summer night in 2013. The music and the atmosphere felt like home, and Genesis knew Filipino food belonged there too. They started trading that November from what traders called Tent City, packing an entire kitchen into a van and trailer every single weekend.

Their container is styled after the Jeepney, the Philippines’ national ride, and they’re still the only Filipino kitchen at Eat Street. Everything is made from scratch, right down to the atchara pickle, because no one supplies Filipino ingredients ready-made. These days it’s properly a family operation: Genesis and her brother Jay run the counter and grills, while their kids Niko, Gian and Brie have grown up working the kitchen alongside them.