Eat Street!

By Raul Dias

A spinoff of the pop-up restaurant concept—the food truck is fast gaining momentum and is well and truly ploughing its way through India, offering up a smorgasbord of cuisines…all on the go! In fact, lending a certain gravitas to the whole ‘meals-on-wheels’ movement (pardon the pun), the recently held Horn OK Please—Delhi’s first food truck festival organised by SoDelhi—saw 20 food trucks from around the NCR converge at Ansal Plaza on South Delhi’s Khel Gaon Marg, dishing out everything from the ubiquitous waffles (at Wafflesome) and hot dogs (at Doggy Style) to beer (at Bira) and even sheesha (at Hookah Craft).
And while there have been food trucks in India in the past. The most iconic being the India Coffee Board ex-employees’ union food truck that used to hover around Central Delhi. The new breed of food trucks, food cars and even a food rickshaw seems to revel in its diversity—both in terms of what they offer and how and where they ply, lending a whole other meaning to the term ‘street food’.

Street Foods by Punjab Grill
Cruising the streets of Gurugram, this food truck bedecked in psychedelic-hued pop art and truck art graffiti, has, for the past one year, been dishing out everything from pan-Indian street food classics like dahi bhalla, aloo tikki and pav bhaji to Punjabi cuisine flag bearers like rajmah chawal, Amritsari choley and butter chicken.

The Goan Fidalgos
More ‘food car’ than food truck, this tiny Goan food serving outfit operates out of a dinky hatchback, that can be seen parked in Mumbai’s Mahim neighbourhood in the evenings. With queues of prospective patrons hungry for a bite of dishes like the more de rigueur Goan prawn curry-rice to the more outré buff tongue roast. 

S.W.A.T
‘Serving With A Twist’ is not just the acronym for this Bengaluru food truck that’s been dishing out yummies at Indira Nagar. But also, its success mantra. Here, American comfort food like mac n’ cheese and sloppy joes and other carnival classics like corndogs, nachos and deep fried Oreos are given a decidedly wicked desi twist with the spice levels amped up a notch or two.

Hungry Parrots
Serving up late night, post-binge drinking Middle Eastern fare like shawarmas and falafel, this orange and green painted food van is stationed at Hyderabad’s Hi-tech city road. And here’s a tip: don’t forget to order the whopping roasted chicken wrapped in a large Samoli bun with an overdose of garlic mayo and thank us later!

South 2 Mouth
This rather gaudily kitted out auto rickshaw with a ‘Foods Carrier’ banner painted on its hood is the newest all-veg, fast food outlet-on-(three)wheels in Ahmedabad. With an equally wacky menu serving up South Indian-inspired fusion dishes like cup idlis, dabeli tacos and the bizarrely tasty nacho dosas, South 2 Mouth can be found parked opposite the IIM Residence Gate in Vastrapur.

The Cheese Truck
This lactose-intolerant’s nightmare of a food truck in Pune’s Viman Nagar area serves up several scrumptious iterations of the school lunch box classic—the grilled cheese sandwich. This, along with thin crust pizzas, Nutella on toast and the aptly named stoner triple decker sandwiches. The most in-demand being the butter-strawberry-cheese one, we’re told. Go, figure!

Agdum Bagdum

Billing itself as ‘Kolkata’s 1^st Gourmet Food Truck’ a claim that’s proudly emblazoned on its blue and yellow exterior, this food truck—that stops for the evening at the Ekdalia Evergreen Club in Gariahat—is famous for its mutton kabiraji burgers and fried momos along with its burrito wraps and Hyderabadi biryani.

The Others…

Delhi NCR

·         The Lalit Food Truck Company—Latin American and Lebanese

·         EGGJactly—Egg preparations of all kinds

·         Kobri—South Indian snacks

Mumbai

·         Eat n’ Run—Burgers, rolls, kebabs and house-made beverages

·         Frugurpop—Ice-creams and popsicles

·         FoGo--Indian and Continental fusion street food

Bengaluru

·         Fuel Up—Comfort food from around the world

·         Meals-On-Wheels—Chinese, Western and Indian fusion

·         The Spitfire BBQ Truck—American BBQ

Hyderabad

·         Chettinadu Vilas—Chettinad specials

Ahmedabad

·         M-Theories—Nepalese, Indian and Middle Eastern

Pune

·         Henny’s Gourmet Food Truck—Belgian-style waffles

·         Boston Food Truck—Thin-crust pizzas

(A shorter, edited version of this piece was first published in the 3rd April, 2017 issue of India Today magazine)