I'll Take You to the Gumbo Truck

Recently on a lot of blogs I have been reading about a lot of different food trucks. I think it is such an interesting concept but given they are usually in the Brunswick/Northcote area (which I am not a regular of) I have never had the opportunity to try any.

I have heard that the food trucks have applied to get council permits in areas such as Maribyrnong & Docklands but due to complaints from local businesses these permits are usually cancelled or never accepted. Whilst I do understand that food trucks may have a impact on local business, I think they should still be granted permits. They are not at the same place everyday and they might bring traffic to the area which would not normally go there. I think it is crazy that the permit for Docklands would be cancelled given the number of restaurants that are closing there at the moment. I have dined at a couple of the Docklands restaurants and trust me they are causing their own closure. Ordinary or below average food for very expensive prices. Anyway, another topic, another time.

I found out that Gumbo Truck was going to be at Melbourne Central though a post by a 'friend' on Facebook (most people on Facebook aren't actually my friends - really thinking I need to deactivate my account soon). I decided to make the trip up to Melbourne Central for lunch and my work mate, Annie, came along for the walk.

Gumbo Truck specialise in New Orleans cuisine. Given I have never set foot in USA, I wasn't sure what to expect but Urbanspoon gave me the clues of spice & deep, rich flavours. From my own limited knowledge Gumbo is a soup/stew with meat and a small amount of rice. There is a lot of liquid in the Gumbo and that is how it is supposed to be. A Po Boy is a fresh roll stuffed with a meat/seafood of your choice and topped with a chilli sauce if desired.

The truck was easy enough to find, but the line was so long! As we waited we looked over the menu to decide what to order:

Love the old fashion clip in letters

I was a bit upset that the Deep Fried Soft Shell Crab Po Boy was not available. Since having the soft shell crab I had from The Atlantic at the Taste of Melbourne festival, the cravings have not stopped. I ended up wanting the next best alternative - the Fried Shrimp Po Boy. I know the place is called Gumbo Truck but for me the Po Boys is what stood out for me based on the photos on Urbanspoon and from what I have seen on Man vs. Food.

Annie decided she could not eat a whole meal, so we decided to share the Po Boy given they were quite big. In hindsight a good decision given how big the roll was and the food we were going to eat that night (next blog post). The guy at the food truck realised we were sharing and said he would stuff the roll with shrimp. Really friendly service.

Fried Shrimp Po Boy - $12

 

The Po Boy had so much fried shrimp, tomatoes and a whole pickle (which I pulled out, I hate pickles). My first bite was amazing! The shrimp was cooked perfectly. It popped in your mouth and the crumb had a nice hint of spice to it. And there were heaps of shrimp - the guy did truely stuff the roll with shrimp. Each bite had so much flavour - I did end up wishing I had a whole one to myself! I think I would have been able to handle a bit more spice, so I think when I return I will ask them to put more chilli sauce in it which they did for another customer.

 

I do think that this Food Truck revolution is here to stay in Melbourne. I am planning on trying to eat at some of the other trucks soon but given they are not really local to me, some planning is required. The only thing that I see as a negative is that at the Melbourne Central location, we had to line up nears bins which were a bit smelly and there are no nearby tables you can eat at. It was fine to take the Po Boy back to work (about a 15 minute trip) but we didn't have the chilli sauces to customise the

Po Boy. My understanding is that the Brunswick/Northcote locations do have some seating or area where you can set up a picnic so I guess this is a problem only relevant to the Melbourne Central location.

 

All in all, I loved Gumbo Kitchen. It is almost the best American food I have tried and I am still wishing for the Soft Shell Crab Po Boy so I will need to follow the truck one day soon to get my hands on one of those!

Gumbo Kitchen,
Various Locations,
Like on Facebook (Gumbo Kitchen) or Twitter (@GumboKitchen) for updates,
www.gumbokitchen.com