Truck Stop, Bondi

Last year there has been a massive influx of food trucks on the Sydney dining scene. One of our favourites is the Eat Art Truck which offers a range of delicious snacks (like their amazing Shichimi Chicken Wings) within the Sydney CBD. They’re also one of the first trucks to open a permanent joint so you don’t have to go hunting for them anymore.

Eat Art Truck’s newly opened restaurant is appropriately called Truck Stop and sits on the upper floor of the large Beach Road Hotel in Bondi Beach. There is plenty of indoor and outdoor seating and it is decorated with funky art and colourful hanging pot plants which gives it a laid back breezy vibe. The menu also boasts a variety of Japanese-fusion dishes that are guaranteed to please the crowds.

Japanese style spinach, tofu and sesame – $10

The first dish to start our meal is a tofu entrée  This consists of three cubes of silken tofu which have no flavour, but thankfully there is some sesame sauce on the base of the dish. The spinach has the same sauce woven throughout and has absorbed a lot more flavour. I find this dish is quite light and refreshing, however not that flavoursome.

Gaijin sushi on crispy and soft rice – $18

Next is our ‘Gaijin’ sushi, or ‘foreigner’ sushi in Japanese. The menu states that there are only six pieces but we receive eight which is quite lucky for us. There are three types of sashimi here – kingfish, salmon and snapper. They are tossed in a variety of marinades which are sweet and spicy – our favourite was the chipotle mayo with salmon. The ‘soft rice’ sushi is just a plain cylinder of white rice which lacks any interesting flavours. However, the ‘crispy rice’ is like a mini crackle because the rice grains have been dehydrated and puffed up. It is well flavoured and seasoned like a cracker. I much prefer the crispy rice as it adds extra textures to the sushi and I would have preferred if all of them had been crispy rice ones instead.

Japanese fried chicken, chips & corona – $10

Next we get one of the specials which is a Corona beer, Japanese fried chicken done three ways and fries with chilli salt and smokey cheese sauce all for a bargain price of $10! The chicken features plain fried drummettes and wings, along with spicy fried breast covered with salted egg yolk. It is hot, delicious and the spices pack a huge punch. The fries are well salted with chilli and this complements the cheese sauce very well. The cheese sauce in fact also goes very well with the chicken and I wish we had more sauce.

Hot smoked pork belly, molasses and sansho glaze – $20

Our last savoury dish for the night is pork belly. This is soft, thick and very fatty with a flavoursome glaze. There are peppers on the side which add extra flavour and spice if you like your food very spicy. Unfortunately this isn’t the type of pork belly which has crispy skin, instead the skin is quite chewy which makes it difficult to cut and bite through, your jaw really gets a work out with this dish!

Beer and skittles: beer sorbet, frozen skittles and sherbet – $10

When we spotted the Beer and Skittles dessert on the menu, it sounded too intriguing to pass up even though we were quite full by this stage. Yvn and our friend shared this dessert which consisted of an icy beer sorbet, crushed frozen skittles and some suspiciously arranged white powder…which was just some fizzy sherbet that added a pop to the dessert. The beer sorbet tasted exactly as expected; like diluted beer which has been frozen and crushed, while the skittles were quite hard, though they added some much needed sweetness to this simple dessert.

Overall, it’s interesting to see how a food truck has translated into a free-standing restaurant. They certainly have a fun mix of dishes which are quite different to their food truck’s menu. It’s worth checking out once but best to come in a group as the dishes are suited for sharing.

Truck Stop (inside Beach Road Hotel)
71 Beach Road, Bondi Beach, NSW
Ph: 0439 841 008


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