Paraiso Filipino Native Foods - Joint Base Lewis-McChord

Dining room: The restaurant’s footprint is much the same. About 10 oversize wooden tables with bench seats fit four to six diners. Tables are close together, so be prepared to meet a neighbor. The dining room was filled with uniformed visitors from nearby Joint Base Lewis-McChord.

Packaged items: Find a small grocery section at the rear of the restaurant. Metal racks held packaged chips and snacks, boxed mixes, and jars of sauces.

Turo-turo: Think of this as cafeteria-style, but with spectacular Filipino offerings including rice and noodle dishes, slow-cooked stews, and whole fried fish. The style of steamtable service is called turo-turo, which roughly translates from Tagalog to point-point.

Grab a tray, silverware, then peruse the steam table offerings. Service is intentionally fast to make lunch a quick, casual affair. The point at what you’d like on the steam table and a dish will be instantly and generously filled. Pay at the register. Sodas are in a fridge by the register. Find your own seat.

On the steam table: Find close to 20 dishes, although the number will vary based on demand and the chef’s whim. On an April visit, there was pork or chicken adobo, kare-kare, chicken curry, a bitter melon stew, eggplant omelet, beef caldereta, sliced Filipino sausage, whole fried fish, lumpia, pancit and more. A counter attendant told us dinuguan stew and pancit bihon were available by request.

Prices: One item with rice was listed at $6.75. Two items with rice $8.50. To-go entrees are available in small ($7.99-$8.99) or large ($13.99-$15.99) containers. Lumpia was $1.25 for pork or $1.50 for veggie. A handful of specialty dishes were priced $9.50-$9.99.

Desserts: A wide range, including cellophane-wrapped packages holding four squares of sticky rice desserts ($3.49), plus halo-halo ($5.75) and sago gulaman ($3.50).

On a first visit: Get the pancit, a dish of thick-cut chewy noodles tangled up with thinner, wispy rice noodles and savory marinated meat and vegetables. The kare-kare was a beef stew with bok choy, eggplant, and slow-simmered meat in a savory peanut sauce. Lumpia were long, skinny rolls filled with ground pork, noodles and chopped carrots, deep-fried until crispy.