Irving Matutina has the goods and he brings them to the Port of Miami every weekend. Photo by Danny Brody

This morning, I’m riding in a small truck from Miami Shores to the Port of Miami with the aromas of freshly prepared Filipino delicacies like Pork Chocolate and stir-fried squid permeating the small cabin. I’m in a rolling restaurant, or munch-wagon, as I like to call them, heading for the busy port to serve the hundreds of cruise ship workers, many of whom are Filipinos. Of course, one needn’t work at the port to sample the food from Irving Matutina’s truck, but few “civilians” ever do.

At 9 a.m. Saturday, Royal Caribbean’s Liberty of the Seas, a 3,600-plus passenger behemoth, sends its crew ashore for a few hours. Crew members quickly line up in the baking parking lot of Terminal F to get some Pancit Noodles and Pork Adobo, national dishes of the Philippines and the top sellers.

Matutina piles plates high with Pork Chocolate (Dinuguan), which, as you can imagine, contains no chocolate. It is named for its chocolate-y color, which comes from stewing pork meat chunks and bits of stomach in pig’s blood. (Back home it would include intestines as well, an ingredient that, according to Matutina, is difficult to find in Miami.) The result is a tangy and richly fulfilling treat, a perfect counterpoint to another popular dish, that of perfectly cooked sweet head-on shrimp. The stir-fried squid (three-inch-long whole tubes, not cut-up rings), purple and spongy in their rich seasoning broth of tomatoes, vinegar, onions and garlic — is also a big seller on this day.

The Philippines is, of course, an island nation, and Irving’s offerings from the sea include Bangus (fried milk fish) and Galung-Gung (fried round scad, a local fish from there), both simply prepared and served alongside Ginisa Mongo, sautéed mung beans slowly cooked with spinach and zucchini blossoms that Matutina and family grow themselves in a little garden behind the store. And of course there is the Filipino version of the spring roll, Lumpia, another national dish. The diners sit on milk crates under an umbrella and wash their meals down with coconut-water tallboys.

Additionally, Irving does some business selling packaged products from the Philippines, like those cute little puddings and bright yellow cups of instant chocolate or coconut/corn-flavored porridges. But the focus is on the freshly prepared delicacies like the Torta Talong, which is like a Spanish tortilla but made with Chinese eggplant instead of potatoes. Longaniza, a fire-red sausage both spicy and sweet, is served alongside the Torta with a pickled onion and tomato relish that perfectly complements those tastes.

After the last customer is served, at about 3 p.m., Matutina folds down the stainless steel doors of his truck. On the ride back uptown, we talk about the Filipino delicacy Si-Si, which is always homemade and often reserved for catered events and parties: basically boiled pig ears, which are then dried, seasoned well with vinegar, soy, sugar, garlic, shallots, carrots and tarragon, then broiled and cut into little strips — a great snack with a cold beer or a drink. Just the thing after a hot day at the docks.

Location: Parking lot of Terminal F at Port of Miami, 1015 N. America Way, Miami. Off-season hours: 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Friday to Sunday. Menu: All dishes $3, Rice $1.