Rusty's Li'l Roadhouse: the little food van that could

"Bang in the middle of nowhere and right between Canberra and Batemans Bay," is how Braidwood High teacher John Longhurst describes the position of a food van that proved to be a hit over the Queen's Birthday long weekend.

John, who travels from Batemans Bay to his job in Braidwood, alerted us to the story of Joe Martin, former concreter and Jervis Bay local, who followed his dream and set up the food van on the Kings Highway east of Braidwood three months ago.

Joe, 49, serves hot food and coffee, his specially barbecued meats, from the van, called Rusty's Li'l Roadhouse.

His locally-sourced and slow-cooked pork shoulders and beef is proving a hit, from truckies to tourists.

Joe started the van at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic. It was tough to begin with but the Queen's Birthday long weekend, the first time Canberrans could travel to the coast since travel restrictions were eased, made it all worthwhile. He was flat out, going through more than 40kg of meat.

But, he's living the dream.

"I've just always wanted to have a go at a food van and it's my mate's block of land, so it's worked out," Joe said.

Joe's big gun is a 200gm meat patty with a secret recipe BBQ sauce. Include beetroot?

"It'd be un-Australian not to," Joe said.

The van is open Tuesday to Saturday (6am-5pm weekdays, 6am-4pm Saturdays).