By Jodee Fong
The impatient, hungry crowd gathering in front of Eat Art Truck
With the food truck mania hitting Sydney, foodies are gathering in the city despite the cold and rainy weather to explore the latest food movement revolutionising Sydney’s dining landscape.
On this chilly and slightly rainy evening, I find myself in the middle of a buzzing crowd full of hungry Sydneysiders. On the crisp air from the Sydney Harbour, there is a strong scent of barbecue with a hint of sweet-and-sourness. Peeking into the kitchen, I was welcomed by the sizzling sound and hot smoke arising from the stove where the former Tetsuya sous chef Stuart McGill is cooking.
Located right in front of Customs House, Eat Art Truck is lucky to have its customers entertained with a sequence of striking colours with state-of-art 3D animation displayed on the sandstone building. With the Disney-like, dreamy music playing in the background of Vivid Sydney, I almost forgot I came here for the food. Finally, it is my turn to order.
Just as many pedestrians, Wong was attracted by the elaborate graffiti art printed on one side of the truck. I started a chat with him as he curiously walks to the menu stand displaying food ranged from $5 to $12. The first thing he asked me was ‘how long have you been waiting?’ I said 10 minutes so far. ‘That’s long...it shouldn’t take that long,’ he said. With my total waiting time of 17 minutes including queuing, ordering and waiting for the food, I am lucky compared to those who have stood for almost two hours at its grand opening. As soon as I received a hot pulled-pork bun with thick spicy sauces in my hands, people in the queue started staring at my food with envy.
Yes. It’s official: everyone has gone bananas for the food truck phenomenon in Sydney. The mania has hit Sydney with the opening of the second food truck - Eat Art Truck. Originating in the US, the trend has proven successful in major cities such as London and Melbourne. 10 Sydney-based operators were chosen among 30 competitors by food critics. As part of the city’s 12-month trial of Night Time Policy, opening hours of these trucks are planned around the closing times of existing cafes and restaurants; four hours maximum for each period. Each truck has its own artistic design, as promised to be a part of its sensational package. They offer affordable gourmet street food ranging from Chinese Yum Cha, Mexican tacos and burritos, organic dessert, vegetarian and Italian. The 13 approved sites include the CBD, Sydney Central, Alexandria, Annandale, Glebe, and Haymarket.
Out of the ten licensed food trucks, there are two rolling in the city at the moment. As one of the very first fleet, Cantina Mobil serves authentic Mexican food including Mexican-imported nachos and non-alcoholic Sangria. The prices vary from $4.5 per taco to $10.9 per burrito. It took them three minutes to serve each customer, in vast contrast to the cooking time of Eat Art Truck. ‘What makes [us] unique is the way we cook. The slow roasted meat [is prepared] up to six hours, as well as the sauce,’ said one of the owners, Rode Vella. Having run a Mexican and Spanish restaurant in Manly for nine years, his philosophy for food doesn’t vary much from his former restaurant. ‘Our goal is to make sure we feed people with really good food. The key to this industry is the gourmet taste and [word of mouth].’
Owner of Cantina Mobil and his team serving it up on a chilly Thursday night
Although many have agreed that the food served is great, there are some sceptics. With the price of $12 for a pork bun from Eat Art Truck, some find it too small for their appetite and the quality not worthy of the price. David, a Czech who has stayed in Sydney for seven years, chose a Big Mac over Eat Art Truck. ‘I don’t know what “this” is (pointing at the food truck), but I know what McDonalds is, [which is just a few steps away].’
Using social media as a major tool to communicate with the foodies, the truck owners release real-time updates on the time and venue two to three hours before serving. Most of them don’t have an official website. It was only an hour before vending when a cancellation was made through Eat Art Truck’s twitter account due to pouring rain on a Saturday. Some might support this short-noticed system. Carsten, a traveller from Melbourne, went all the way from his hotel to the Eat Art Truck after reading the news update on Facebook.
There are also people who find this last-minute update system ‘completely insane’, ‘[We] went all the way from Pennant Hills to the city to try their food and only like what, 40 minutes before [the event] they tell us “Whoops! Sorry! We’re rained out!”on Twitter? [I feel like telling them] “Whoops! Sorry but we’re on our way!”‘said Joanne, a mother of two.
The City of Sydney, a council which licenses these trucks, will release a smartphone application for foodies to track the trucks down as soon as all the trucks are on the road.
While people know about the food trucks mostly from television, newspaper, word of mouth and social networks; the rest remains uninformed. Many of the owners of small cafes and restaurants around the area, including the manager of Appetito, an Italian restaurant in The Rocks, have never heard of the trucks. ‘We offer different [kind of] service. Here we have nice atmosphere and luxurious food. If people want a quick bite they’ll just go there. It’s not like they’ll cancel their reservation just because they see the truck in front of [our restaurant].’
It was once reported in Sydney Morning Herald that there are concerns about the competition from these trucks. However, all small cafes are closed by the time these food trucks are operating. Out of all the eight nearby restaurants and food kiosks, none of them have heard about their competition, let alone feel threatened by it.
With hype building to monstrous proportions, you might question how long these trucks will continue to blossom? Are they really prepared to handle the frenzy of Sydneysiders who really love their food and booze?
You can spare yourself the trouble of chasing these trucks by embracing the next big food movement: underground dinning, as known as ‘guestuarant’.
Again, originating in the US, underground dining is the concept of spontaneous supper club and closed door dining in private space such as homes, galleries and offices. Strongly influenced by the food truck culture, underground dining is exclusively for its members or people who are listed by strict recommendations. Serving a surprise menu of authentic food made by the host with home decorations and alternative music, a sense of novelty, intimacy and secrecy is built within the groups of strangers.
Some secret dining groups are also closely aligned with political and social movements for like-minded foodies. Members will be sent a private message on the same day, or even hours before the one-off event, requested with a strict code of conduct.
As a further diversification to Sydney being a cultural hub, the food movement echoes the art happenings in the 70s and music raves in the 80s. The landscape of dining is rumoured to be transformed by these spontaneous dinners of secret locations, homemade decor, live music and a surprise menu with authentic ingredients.
In this bad economy, foodies are now looking for an affordable yet intimate quality eating experience. So caterers, make sure you’re prepared for the mayhem to come!
