While grabbing some grub at VV Puram’s Thindi Street or the local pani puri guy can thrill street foodies, what if you have specific cravings and are on a budget? Say hello to specialised food trucks that serve everything from authentic Thai to gourmet sundaes and dishes that are made just out of bread!
It all started with a palate for good food and passion, of course. “Coming from a joint family in the jewellery biz, it’s always been my dream to run something of my own. My love for food led to this,” says 27-year-old Ujjwal Upadhyay, who runs Om Nom Thai, a specialised Thai food truck that serves everything from Pad Thai noodles and red and green Thai curry with rice to chilli fried momos and slurpy Thai iced teas. “I was told to include other cuisines too. But for me, it just doesn’t make any sense – Imagine McDonald’s starts selling Chinese from tomorrow,” quips the engineer, whose two-week old truck stationed around HSR Layout caters to at least 100 people in a day.
Another food truck in Jayanagar called Bready Steady Go is doing the rounds. “We wanted to give bread, a staple food that people associate with food that patients eat, a makeover,” says Rohith Bhanuprakash, an actor and associate director who turned to the truck life along with his pals Dhedeepya and Prithvi Murthy. Their rolls, pocket-sized pizzas, dosas, chats and French wheels are all vegetarian, made of bread and don’t cost over Rs 200 for two to have a meal. No wonder, Sandalwood’s Century Star Shivarajkumar too stopped by to inaugurate it!
They seem to be finding a way around those hefty rentals and traffic too! “My wife and I wanted to start a cafe. This seemed perfect to avoid those towering costs,” says Gururaj Sindagi who runs Go Waffles with his spouse and fellow waffle-hand, R Indra. “The best part is that you don’t have to restrict yourself to a specific area and can go around,” he says, stationing the truck that enthrals tastebuds with everything from classic Belgian waffles to gulab jamun waffles (!) at tech parks, residential complexes and at colleges even.
“There’s no place to park food trucks. You end up paying a fine for parking too. That’s when I decided on going compact,” says 22-year-old Arun Varma whose tiny nano, The Ice Cream Guy, moonlights as an ice cream truck that whips up sundaes made of homemade icecreams. That and the fact that you don’t need more than one person to man it is the reason he says, he introduced a car into the game.
