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Food Truck Review: Momogoose

Momogoose is absurdly fast, cheap, and filling. Don't let the huge line scare you: within seconds of ordering, you'll be walking away, food in hands. Momogoose, a pan-Asian food truck, is parked closest to the main street in the mega-row of food trucks near the Kendall Square T station in Cambridge, so it tends to draw the biggest crowd of all the trucks, but they certainly know how to handle the hordes. Food trucks like Momogoose are a fun adventure; items are constantly running out, so you have to be a bit flexible - and keep an eye on the daily specials, as those are often the most exciting choices. If a menu item is covered with tape, it's out. Quick - pick something else.

Momogoose's service is amazingly friendly, particularly for a team cramped in a blindingly fast- paced, tiny kitchen with no end to the customer line in sight. You will always be greeted by a smile. (And how can you not smile in return? You're paying less than $6 for a gigantic container of hot food - really enough for a second meal.)

As you might expect from food served up frighteningly quickly, the quality is hugely variable, with an unfortunate amount of dishes leaning towards bland. (I just add hot sauce, which cures all problems!) Your best bet is to go with one of the daily specials; those often have the most flavor. The panang curry, in particular, is a solid choice, and the crispy rolls (which usually run out early) are always tasty. Careful, though: a fast, cheap, convenient food truck is a highly addictive thing, and I find myself returning frequently, even if I hit a few not-so-exciting dishes in a row.

The Momogoose team cares about more than just feeding the Kendall lunch crowd. They also founded an initiative called Meal for Meal, encouraging restaurants and trucks to run campaigns where for every meal sold, one meal is donated to a charity like the World Food Programme. Momogoose has already raised over 30,000 meals since started the initiative last year and will continue to run Meal for Meal drives in the future.

As with most good food trucks, Momogoose is heavily involved in social media. Keep an eye on their Facebook and Twitter streams for special discounts and other announcements.

If you can't make it over to the Kendall trucks, Momogoose has a second location at City Hall Plaza, by the Government Center T stop. Both trucks are open weekdays only, 10:00am until 3:00pm.

Rachel Leah Blumenthal is a Somerville-based writer, photographer, and musician. She writes about food on her blog, Fork it over, Boston!, and runs Boston Food Bloggers, a networking community. For more information, visit RachelBlumenthal.net.

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