The round-up: the Gold Coast’s best food trucks
The Gold Coast has a serious case of food truck fever with exciting new mobile eateries popping up on street corners, in carparks and cul-de-sacs almost weekly. The rapid growth of this new food trend is matched only by the diversity of cuisine on offer, proving the old adage that variety is indeed the spice of life. To celebrate these incredible roving restaurants, we’ve round-up a few of our favourites for your next food truck feast.
barraca: Follow the irresistible aroma of smoky, char-grilled chicken marinated in fiery chilli sauce and you’ll likely stumble upon barraca food truck. Specialising in Portuguese fare cooked with fire and passion, barraca is all about the peri peri. Just one word of advice, leave room for one of the Portuguese custard tarts.
Boom Boom Burgers: Boldly proclaiming to be the best hamburgers you’ll ever try, Boom Boom Burgers talks big but luckily, it’s got the goods to back it up. The mobile eatery is the latest venture from Michelin-starred chef Meyjitte Boughenout (former owner of Absynthe French Restaurant) and Arnaud Ollivier and is basically a scaled-down version of its popular Chevron Island restaurant of the same name.
Boss Bites: Turning all of your dessert dreams into reality, Boss Bites will take you to a happy place with homemade ice-cream smooshed between two freshly baked cookies and topped with cookies, coconut, maple bacon or even toasted marshmallows and Nutella.
Chubby’s Diner: If sticky Texan-style barbecue beef ribs and meltingly tender pulled-pork sliders get your motor running, keep your peepers peeled for Chubby’s Diner retro food truck cruising around The Village Markets and various food truck events. From the mastermind behind Kirra’s Burger Lounge, Jason Steele, Chubby’s Diner adds some serious American flavour to the street food scene.
Fiery Deli: If you’ve happily stumbled across Fiery Deli’s mobile eatery, you’ll already be acquainted with the amazingly flavoursome fare on offer. For those who haven’t, prepare your tastebuds for fresh arepas (Venezuela’s answer to the taco) bursting with free range chicken, chunky avocado and coriander and hefty bowls of nachos. The best part? It’s all gluten, dairy, yeast and sugar free!
Food Kartel: Offset any impending burger guilt with the knowledge that Food Kartel specialises in environmentally responsible street food, think burgers loaded with 100 percent organic grass-fed, hormone-free beef and produce that is sourced from local farms and grown without the use of chemicals or pesticides. Even the trailer is solar powered and the packaging is recycled, recyclable or biodegradable.
JR’s Smokehouse Barbecue: When JR’s shut up shop in Coolangatta carnivores let out a collective gasp at the thought of no more Southern-style barbecue goodness. Lucky for us, the caravan is still operating and churning out all of your favourites including Texas-style brisket, barbecue chicken and smoked mac ‘n’ cheese. Follow your nose to find JR’s at various festivals and food truck events throughout the Gold Coast.
Little Havana: Inspired by the movie ‘Chef’, Little Havana whips up hefty New York-style sandwiches that are loaded with deli delights. Sink your teeth into the mighty New York Ruben and if there’s room, treat yo’ self to some gooey jack cheese sticks because #yolo. You can generally find Little Havana roving in between Burleigh Brewing Co., Balter Brewing Company, Miami Surf Club, Iron & Resin Garage, Isle of Capri markets and various Gold Coast Design Collective events.
Little Wahaca: One peek at the menu and it’s pretty clear that Little Wahaca is not your average food truck grub. With delightfully crispy, flakey empanadas filled with chorizo, corn and potato, plantain chips and gorditas, which are kind of like a cross between a taco and an arepa, stuffed with slow-braised beef, Little Wahaca is setting the standard high with its mixed latin American nosh.
Minus32: Not unlike Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory, Minus32 is one of the few places where you’ll find all of your weaknesses under the one roof (in a good way). We’re talking rolled ice-cream, dough cones, doughnuts and cronuts in the most mind-blowing flavour combinations, ever. Whether your vice is Oreos, cookies, wafers, caramel, coffee, chocolate, marshmallows or fudge, the Minus32 team have you (and the doughnuts) covered. Find them at Miami Marketta on Friday and Saturday evenings.
Papa Rolly’s: The exceptionally talented bunch behind Gemelli Italian (Broadbeach) and Gemellini (Nobby Beach) have hit the road with an exciting new venture – the Papa Rolly’s food truck – and by truck, we mean bus. That’s right, the amazing Italian woodfired pizza and hand-made pasta is coming to markets, events and festivals near you. Or, if you’ve got lots of hungry friends, they also do private catering and weddings.
Siguenos: If you’re a lover of fresh and vibrant Mexican nosh, you should definitely stalk the Siguenos food truck. Famous for tasty tacos, the popular food truck has racked-up quite the following turning carparks and street corners into curb-side fiestas. Enjoy a batch of crunchy house-fried corn chips to scoop up the fresh guacamole, then dig in to a grilled fish taco with red cabbage slaw topped with house-made salsa fresca and citrus sour cream (a local favourite).
The Wiener Haus: With selections including Linda Lovelace, Magnum P.I. and Budgie Smuggler, it’s clear the lads behind The Wiener Haus have a good sense of humour. Not when it comes to their wieners though, the gents take their bratwurst very seriously and only dish up authentic German smoked snags. If you’re keen to keep the carbs to a minimum, opt for it deconstructed in a bowl.
This Little Piggie: If you can’t resist a hefty dose of pork, this is definitely the truck for you. The work of husband and wife duo Tyler (the chef) and Jess, This Little Piggie churns out insanely tender pulled-pork that has been slow-cooked for 48-hours in crispy nacho bowls and burgers. If you don’t dig pig, they also dish up a delightful chicken pita.
Zicatela: Named after one of the most perfect surfing waves on the planet, Zicatela is still relatively new on the scene but has built up a small army of fans who can’t get enough of the mobile kitchen’s amazing woodfired nachos, tacos and chicken wings. The van is manned by two talented South American chaps – Eduardo and Mauricio, who also happen to be chefs so if you see them around the traps, say holla and maybe even grab yourself a taco or two.
Honourable mentions: With so many amazing food trucks cruising the streets, it was almost impossible to narrow it down into one little list. Here are some others that we think are pretty neat – Thunderburger1, Spud the Food Truck, Bruce The Food Truck, Little Bonnie Dot, Rawly Good, Surf Burger and Samba Catering Co., to name a few.
The Stumble Guide is our comprehensive Gold Coast dining guide with more than 870 places to eat, drink, shop and play.