Embracing dude food on The Merrywell Truck

When it comes to dude food, the Merrywell at Crown Casino Burswood pretty much has the formula down to a fine art. I have to admit sometimes when I want to indulge on fried goodness, sliders and assorted greasy fare, a trip to the casino is in order. 

So when I heard that the Merrywell now had a food truck that would be featured at the Eat Drink Perth's Food Truck Rumble in April, I had a little (okay large) pang of regret that I'm going to be overseas and won't be able to attend.

But that disappointment was soon replaced by excitement when I discovered that the Merrywell's truck would be at the Perth Cultural Centre last Thursday. Rather frantically I shared this news with my colleagues and we all rather greedily booked time away in our diaries to go for a walk on our lunch break. Lucky us it's only a few minutes away!

Arriving just after 12.30pm we were pleased to see I had been correctly informed - and even better, there were only a few menu items to choose from. I never do well when there's too many delicious menu items to contemplate... I usually end up ordering too much and suffering from full belly regret afterwards.

While the mini burgers (or sliders) definitely appealed to me, on this hot day I had only eyes for Merrywell's famed mac and cheese bites with house HP sauce ($11.50). To my surprise my two colleagues order the same, though one of them adds on a serving of fries ($5.00). That's one hell of a fried lunch!

The staff working the truck are extremely friendly - taking the time to make jokes with us as we wait around patiently for our food. They even have one staff member offering samples which we're all too happy to eat.

It's the BBQ pork quesadilla ($11.00 for an order) and after one bite I have a feeling of order regret. I know I'll enjoy the mac and cheese since I've had them at the actual Merrywell, but the quesadilla is wonderful. Sweet rich barbecue sauce covers shredded pork - all of which is encased by a crisp, thin tortilla. I'll get this one next time for sure!

Our orders only take a few minutes and once they're up we take them with us, going to sit on the nearby patches of grass. Our mac and cheese servings are a decent size, all steaming hot with crisp crust on the outside and molten cheesy goodness inside.

They are truly delicious! I know not everyone would love these but I think they're a great guilty pleasure - though probably a bit too ambitious for a mid-week lunchtime meal. I definitely gobbled them up with great gusto, but had some oily guilt for sure afterwards.

To ease the feeling naturally I sampled my colleague's fries which he had readily smothered in ketchup. They taste good, salty, crunchy and actual potato (evidenced by the skin still present on some chips).

All up, it was a great first taste of the Merrywell's Dude Food Truck and a sign of what people can expect at the Food Truck Rumble this weekend. Delicious!