Clyde Park Pizzas

Food Stall at the Golden Plains Festival
Meredith
Vic 3333

The better half had previously enjoyed a visit to the Clyde Park Winery so I took the chance to sample one of their pizzas while we were at the Golden Plains Festival, near Meredith. We'd passed the winery itself on our drive on the A300 Geelong to Ballarat road.

The pizza's generally eschewed tradition, but I decided to stick with the original margarita. I only had a short wait despite the stand seeming reasonably busy. The  woodfired oven turned the simple combination of tomato, mozzarella, baby bo-cconcini and herbs into a tasty treat.

The only downside to the meal was the food envy resulted in not all of it remaining mine! Oh well it's good to share... If we see the tent or pass the winery again we'll be likely to try it again.

The Kaiser's Sausages

Food truck visited at:
Moreland Street
Footscray
VIC 3011

We tried the Kaiser Sausages (facebook twitter) at St Jeromes Laneway festival in Footscray.

They were attracting a reasonable queue, and importantly were nearby when hunger struck...

...and had a variety of sausages on offer.

I ended up going the veggie route, which was fine with out being inspiring, the better half had a spicy 'duke' which packed quite a punch.

The chips were good, and had nearly disappeared before I snapped them, there had plenty more a few minutes earlier.

Apparently the truck is often at the MCG for footy and cricket. Our food came quickly and was reasonably priced at around $10 per dog, and it certainly provided sustenance during a busy day.

Hammer & Tong - Food Truck

Food Truck, visited at:
Yarraville Gardens
Somerville Road
Yarraville
Vic 3013

On a sunny summer afternoon we wanted to grab a local lunch, but fancied a change from our regular Footscray haunts, so we headed down the the Food Truck jam at Yarraville Gardens. Despite the talk of a crack down by the council there still seemed to be around 10 trucks offering a reasonable variety of options. I ended up ordering from the Greek street food truck, the better half went for a wheeled outlet we hadn't spied before, the Hammer and Tong truck. It's a new offshoot of Brunswick Street Fitzroy’s Hammer and Tong 412, which we haven't visited either.

She made the choice based the soft shell crab burger which sits at the top of their fairly short menu. It comes with a sriracha mayo, black sesame slaw and coriander and was delicious, so good I wasn't offered a bite. To be fair the burger was ready way before my meal, one of the downsides of ordering from different trucks.

The burger was $14 and although tasty wasn't particularly large, so didn't seem like great value. It is certainly worth a try if you find the truck, but we probably won't be hunting the truck down...

Greek Street Food - Food Truck

Food Truck, visited at:
Yarraville Gardens
Somerville Road
Yarraville
Vic 3013

While I grabbed a burger from the Little Mushroom Co on our trip to the food trucks in Yarraville Gardens, the better half headed to the Greek Street Food truck by Kara's Kalamaki.

Her wait was slightly longer than mine, but the crowds were out in force! The oregano chips were winners, perfectly cooked good sized fries with a bit of extra Mediterranean flavour.

The bahh souva had the expected pita bread wrapped around some fantastic lamb fillet, tomato and onion with tzatziki. The only less popular filling were the chips, some salad leaves would have been preferred. 

The meal came in around $14 which was fair and I'd certainly think about trying their other items if I spot the truck again...

The Little Mushroom Co Food Truck

Food Truck, visited at:
Yarraville Gardens
Somerville Road
Yarraville
Vic 3013

The sun was shining for the first evening of daylight savings and we decided to head down to Yarraville Gardens to see what the food trucks had to offer... there was plenty of choice on offer with around 15 lined up!

I decided on trying out the The Little Mushroom Co which lives up (down?) to its name, being housed in a pretty tiny converted caravan.

The menu is on the small side too, with just four bun based options and a couple of extras.

I went for the vegan burger option which in this case featured one and a half portobello mushrooms in a Cajun spice rub and a good handful of rocket in a ciabatta roll. On first opening the box I was disappointed by the size of the burger, however it was certainly well executed, flavoursome and healthy.

At $10 for a fairly light bight, I think I'd try one of the many other trucks we're lucky to have regularly in walking distance on my next visit, but it must be one of the most healthy options available on the Somerville Road strip.

Thai Container, Christchurch

151 Bealey Avenue
St Albans
Christchurch 8013
021 139 4881

On the corner of busy Bealey Avenue and Caledonian Road the Thai Container is one of a number of fairly permanent food truck style eateries around Christchurch that seem to be filling some gaps in the food scene post earthquake.

The container itself is brightly decorated and forms one side of the establishment, containing the kitchen. An old school caravan houses the counter for orders and several tables provide an area for people to wait for their order and/or eat.

The menu covers most of what you'd expect and a little more.

We made our selections and sat down to wait, and eventually after checking once and a false start, our number was called and we picked up our dishes. It was just a bit to cold and the traffic a bit to heavy to be an ideal spot to loiter and enjoy our food, so we headed back to our motel to eat.

The prawn pad thai was nicely flavoured and well cooked.

I had a great chicken massaman, which balanced the sweat, spicy and nutty combination perfectly.

While it wouldn't be an ideal location for a date, the Thai Container certainly offers some tasty food for reasonable prices.




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The Westies - Happy Camper Pizza & Mr Burger

Yarraville Gardens,
Yarraville
VIC 3013

After missing last years westside food bloggers picnic, we made sure we got to the inaugural "The Westies: Dishes of Distinction", the western suburbs’ first dedicated food awards in Yarraville gardens.

We arrived around midday and quickly located the crowd of attendees and the nearby food trucks. The Wild Horse Cafe caravan looked to be doing a good trade in coffees.

We headed straight across to get ourselves an early lunch, and were waiting for our respective dishes when the awarding actually took place.

The Happy Camper pizza truck drew my attention with their beautiful Airstream trailer, a new addition to the food truck scene. I went with the simple $12 "Setting up Camp" option, topped with tomato, fresh mozzarella and basil. My order seemed to be well timed and only 5 or 6 minutes later the basil leaves were being torn up in front of me.

The uncomplicated offering hit the spot, the only tiny quibble is that I'd have preferred it cooked medium instead of rare!  I'll certainly be looking out for them about town, you can follow their movements on twitter and facebook.

Mr Burger tempted the better half...

She went for the Mr Burger option, with the beef pattie, cheese lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, mustard, mayo and tomato sauce.

Things were pretty hectic in the 'kitchen', and there was a bit of a wait, and the pizza took a bit of a hit while we sat on the wall.

Eventually the burger arrived, and it was apparently very much worth the wait. (It actually wasn't that long, probably just over 10 minutes... but you it seems longer when your fellow diner already has their food!) Everything certainly looked good, and I'm not sure I'd have been able to get a bite if I'd asked!

I did get to try a few chips, which were pretty much perfect.

After eating I got to speak to Lauren of Footscray Food Blog fame, Kenny of Consider the Sauce was busy chatting to other guests. Thanks for the great work by both of them in setting the Westies up, you can read the full write up by Lauren in The Age for the details of the winners. We haven't visited any of them, so that adds a few more options when we want to try some new places out in the vicinity.

White Guy Cooks Thai - Take Two

Food Truck
Fridays - Often found at:
Harris Reserve
Gammon Street
Seddon
Vic 3011

The White Guy Cooks Thai truck was back in Seddon, so I made sure I go there earlier than the previous visit on this occasion, arriving at Harris Reserve around 6:30. The park was much busier than it normally is, and there were perhaps a dozen people around the truck. Most people were waiting for their food, rather than to order, and as I'd already checked out the menu for the day from the picture on twitter, I was able to order swiftly, the food then took 10 to 15 minutes to be ready, not too long to wait on a pleasant evening.As with a previous visit the menu wasn't totally Thai, and also featured dishes from other Asian countries.

We shared quite a few items from the menu. I only had a bite of the pork belly 'banh mi' slider, which was tasty but a little dry.

The Som Tum or Green papaya salad lived up to expectations.

The chicken and water chestnut gyoza with soy and lime dipping sauce were supper crispy as with the previous visit.

Massaman is one of favourite thai dishes and the beef curry rated pretty highly, with great authentic flavours fall apart stewed meat. It was served with rice and Asian coleslaw.

The Veg Green Curry of eggplant, sweet potato and green beans was also served with with rice and Asian coleslaw. Again the flavour was great although I found the veggies a little on the overcooked side for a thai style dish.

The five dishes came to $43 and we'd happily eat from the truck again, it certainly pays to get in fairly early to get a choice from the full range of dishes...

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