It's not exactly the type of cuisine you expect to come from a food truck, but if you stand on the corner of Lonsdale and Elouera streets, there is no denying the smell.
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Steak is being served out of this particular food truck - and at a fraction of the cost of some of the city's steakhouses.
Moowing Steak opened just behind Waves Carwash about a month ago and is already doing a roaring trade on Friday and Saturday evenings. There are also regulars who stop in almost every night for their dinner on the way home from work.
Moowing Steak's owners had always wanted to own a restaurant, without the costs of physical premises.
"Being a chef, all we needed was a kitchen. And because it's Canberra and most of the time it's cold and people are normally in their homes cosy, relaxing and staying warm, we thought how do we give them the best restaurant-quality food at their home? For their lunch, for dinner, or late-night snacks - how do we do it?" co-owner Subash Karki says.
![Moowing Steak co-owner Subash Karki outside the Braddon food van. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong Moowing Steak co-owner Subash Karki outside the Braddon food van. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/hU74HdTxzzWB78D7znDAb9/d3732f17-511c-4d4d-a0e0-180cf86b6f84.jpg/r0_0_4495_3153_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"If we did this in a restaurant ... we're going to have a lot of overheads and that's when the price is going to go higher and then our customers [are] going to feel like it's too expensive for a meal to be having at home, rather than going out, and still having this same quality of food.
"So what we thought was if we just find a kitchen and then do takeaway and delivery, and our focus would be mainly that.
"At first it was hard to grasp the idea of doing steaks in a food truck. But then slowly we thought OK, let's go out there and find out - why not? Why not do steaks in a food truck?"
Karki, along with co-owners Susan Kunwar and Manoj Giri, have worked in fine dining restaurants across the country for companies such as Merivale and Seagrass Boutique Hospitality Group.
![Moowing Steak's cumin-marinated boneless lamb shoulder, grass-fed rib eye, grilled rib eye steak burger, and garden salad. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong Moowing Steak's cumin-marinated boneless lamb shoulder, grass-fed rib eye, grilled rib eye steak burger, and garden salad. Picture by Sitthixay Ditthavong](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/hU74HdTxzzWB78D7znDAb9/c3ace1f8-e9d9-4b5e-9a7f-93601d3dbce9.jpg/r0_0_5500_3434_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
They wanted to treat every meal that comes out of the truck the same way as it would if it was coming out of the restaurants they previously worked for.
"Steak is a meal that you sit down and enjoy and relax. It's not fast food, like wraps, burgers, fried chickens, this and that," Karki says.
"And I think that's why people are not doing it in a food truck because it's not a fast food. And we're also not doing it for fast food.
"You order it and then we prepare everything fresh - and almost everything is made in-house."
The menu features three different steaks - sirloin, rib eye and MB2+ tenderloin - all of which are grass-fed and MSA-graded from Canberra meat supplier 56 Degree.
For convenience - and also cost purposes - each is offered in 100, 200 and 300-gram sizes and served with sides and sauce.
For those wanting something a little different, there is also a range of chargrilled skewers - of which the cumin-marinated lamb shoulder has proved to be popular so far - and burgers (or wraps, if you prefer) including a steak option.
![Moowing Steak owners Susan Kunwar, Manoj Giri and Subash Karki. Picture supplied Moowing Steak owners Susan Kunwar, Manoj Giri and Subash Karki. Picture supplied](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/hU74HdTxzzWB78D7znDAb9/3faa24cd-65cf-43e5-89e1-757b8cf685e1.jpeg/r0_762_4032_3029_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The menu item that the team are somewhat surprised has gone so well, however, is the momos, also known as Nepalese dumplings.
"Being from Nepal, no matter where we go and what we do, we can never grow apart from momo," Moowing Steak's menu reads.
"In fact, we want you to be part of it. Though steak is experience, love and passion, for us momo is life."
To begin with, Moowing Steak's menu has chicken, vegetable and sweet and spicy options for their momos.
"There's not a large Nepalese community in Braddon," Karki says.
"So when we opened in Braddon, we actually did not know like everybody from Australia or elsewhere, when people see 'momo' on the menu they're very happy; they recognise it.
"But part of the reason we wanted to be in Braddon is because it's convenient. Everywhere in Canberra is a 20-minute drive away, so being in the centre, means no matter if you're south or north, it isn't too far to drive or get delivery."