Eskenita Foods: A Smoky Corner of Filipino Favorites in Canada

Remember one afternoon in the Philippines, when the sun’s about to set and you suddenly crave for some merienda but you realize it’s too early to have dinner yet?

Remember just having to step out of your house, your school, or your office and you’ll already have a variety of food selections along your street to choose from?

Remember that cart that manong pushes, full of tusok-tusok to choose from? Or the stall on one corner of the street almost covered with smoke from the ihaw-ihaw they’re selling? Maybe the stall on the other side with different kinds of cold desserts?

For Filipinos, who love eating and usually allot four meals a day, street foods are the best choice not only for merienda – most common to Filipinos as the meal before dinner, but also just whenever we feel like snacking.

This, for sure, is one of the many things Filipinos miss whenever they live abroad.

Having a plate of your favorite Filipino dish – such as adobo, sinigang, kaldereta, etc. is easier whenever you miss those while living in another country. All you’ll need is a recipe and a list of ingredients that are usually easy to find at the supermarket. But what if you suddenly crave for something else, something Filipino, but something you won’t be able to get or prepare that easy? Something you love eating along the street corners around your house back in your home country?

Here in the Philippines, University Belt’s (U-Belt) hepa lane is one of the famous street food places in the Metro. Along the streets of R. Papa and Morayta is a lane of different kinds of skewers such as kwek-kwek, fish balls, squid balls, kikiam, fried isaw (pork intestines), fried kalamares (calamari), banana cue, etc., or students’ favorite heavy merienda like hamburger or hotdog sandwiches, matched with a cold refreshing drink like samalamig or buko juice. These, you can have at a very cheap price but will definitely fill your hungry tummies and gratify your cravings.

But how about in Canada?

Now, worry no more, fellow Pinoys, because a Filipino couple, who are now living in Canada, has brought your favorite street foods to Greater Toronto Area (GTA) to satisfy the cravings of our kababayans and to bring them home without even having to leave the foreign country.

After staying for quite a while in Canada, couple John Paul Abejo and Ana Clariz Inarda first noticed in a Filipino festival back in 2015 that there were no vendors selling authentic street foods from the Philippines. Considering the large Filipino community in Toronto, John and Ana thought it would be a good idea to put up a restaurant in GTA that caters mostly Filipino street foods.

What started from just selling on Filipino festivals, now, they already have put up an actual restaurant in Toronto. Currently grilling in Steeles Avenue West in Thornhill, Ontario, the Eskenita Foods.

Finally bringing another part of the Filipino culture in the place, fellow kababayans were excited when the restaurant opened in September 2017. Eskenita Foods reminded the Pinoys in Canada how it feels like living in the Philippines again just by visiting the store – with the raw skewers welcoming them when they enter the place just like how it is set up in the ihaw-ihaw stalls in the Philippines.

While parents who had their children born and raised in Canada were also delighted to introduce these, perhaps, unknown Filipino trend to them, who have never experienced the authenticity of eating street foods in their home country.

“Our main goal is to cater to our Filipino community and make them ‘feel at home’ and make them feel nostalgic when they eat our food,” John said during our interview then adding, “It is also our goal to showcase our street food to non-Filipinos here in Toronto and give them a little taste/experience of what it’s like to be in the streets of the Philippines.”

Also with these goals, John and Ana made sure to keep their whole store as simple as possible – not just on the menu and the foods they’re serving, but as well as the look of their place.

Fancy is definitely not on their vocabulary when they thought about the concept of their store, as much as it isn’t on the typical street foods stall in the Philippines. Outside, you can see a large sign with their name and logo at top of the façade. While another poster with their logo is posted on their glass windows with the list of their menu and some photos of the mouth-watering foods they offer.

While inside, a wall purely painted with a creamy white color that accents the basic dark brown sets of table and chairs will welcome you.  A huge banner with photos of their past Filipino festival participations as a store is hung on the wall. And to touch the millennials and gen-Zs, Eskenita Foods started a gimmick wherein they take a picture of their customers, or what they prefer to call #TeamEskenita friends, enjoying their food, and post it on their social media pages and store wall, as well.

Their place is so simple that some non-Filipino customers are wondering and even complaining of how different their store is to other Filipino restaurants in town that they know. But for John and Ana, they take this as an opportunity to introduce and share to them what it’s like being in the Philippines.

Onto the foods!

Unfortunately, Filipino’s favorite isaw, or pork/chicken intestines are not that appealing to the foreign customers as it is to our kababayans as they are not that adventurous enough to try the famous exotic skewer. They rather have the chicken barbecue because of its unique and owner’s proud home-made basting.

But aside from isaw and chicken barbecue, there are a lot more grilled skewers to choose from, such as pork barbecue, adidas (chicken feet), walkman (pork ears), balunbalunan (chicken gizzard), grilled pork skin, and betamax (hardened pork blood).

They also offer what’s famously called in the Philippines as tusok-tusok like kwek-kwek (battered quail egg), fish ball, and kikiam.

While the main concept of the restaurant lies on bringing authentic street foods to Canada, Eskenita Foods also offers other variety of Filipino foods such as the beloved all-day breakfast si-logs [si – sinangag (fried rice); log – itlog (fried egg)].

Also, they offer group meals that are served in a boodle fight set-up, to which they call #PiyestaEskenita. The set is served on banana leaves, with a lane of rice topped with different grilled pork skewers, liempo (grilled pork belly), sea foods, salted egg, with a variety of sauces scattered around, and citrus fruits. Just the sight of it already makes you starving.

Thirsty? Of course, Eskenita Foods also brought Filipino’s classic refreshment – samalamig. Samalamig is a sweetened drink with bits of sago and gulaman. But they also have flavored juices to choose from – orange, apple-grape, and apple.

And who would forget the popular Filipino cold dessert – halo-halo — the icy sweet course loaded with different ingredients, filled with crushed ice and milk, topped with ube (purple yam) and leche flan. The dessert that even though it’s rainy season, you’d still want to savour, is also in here.

Eskenita Foods is really the place to be to every Filipino in Canada. Like what they say, There’s no place like home.

No need to wait for the clock to reach 3:30, because when you are in Eskenita Foods, it is always merienda time.