Truckin’ good eats
Got the drive to enjoy some delicious food-truck flavours? Check out our convoy of options.
Best cheap & cheerful
Kenny Johns Foodtruck
Our pick: Pork sliders
After selling his waterfront café Deckchair, local chef Ken Greenhill found a 1969 fire truck on Trade Me, lovingly restored it and turned it into a food truck from which he now serves fresh, affordable cuisine and award-winning Hawthorne coffee in Tauranga and at the Mount. He also caters for festivals, corporate functions, weddings and other private events – all with his own special brand of charisma and soul.
On the menu: Innovative street food – ribs, wraps, tacos, poke bowls, gourmet burgers and sliders, pies, fries and more from around $4–15.
Best Japanese
Ichiban
Our pick: Donburi
Head to 2 Newton Street, Mt Maunganui and you’ll find Ichiban purveying street food with a Japanese twist. Owner/chef Karen Onishi is a food engineer by trade and passionate about great food. Ichiban arose from her love of tasty and authentic Japanese street food, and she brings to her customers the best of Japanese home cooking, using family recipes, authentic flavours and the freshest ingredients to deliver the best food experience from a cool vintage caravan.
On the menu: Poke bowls, donburi, sides and drinks.
Best kaimoana
OY Premium Oysters
Our pick: Fresh oysters
Brigitte and Lew Davies have taken their decades of combined experience in the fishing and seafood industry and turned it into a business that’s really going places – usually to the Mount, Papamoa, Matua or beside the Wairoa River, depending on the day. They absolutely love meeting fellow oyster-lovers and introducing newbies to the oyster world.
On the menu: Oysters fresh off the ice – on their own, with lemon, with balsamic vinegar, with cheese… From time to time, they introduce rare and seasonal specialties as well, such as whitebait fritters and king prawns.
Best superfood
Soul Boul
Our pick: Smoothie bowls
Soul Boul co-founders Alexandra Bell and Stacey Horton have been friends since university, bonding over being active, healthy, happy humans with a shared love of good food and coffee. With backgrounds in hospitality, after graduating, they decided to open New Zealand’s first smoothie bowl food truck together. Firm believers that we are what we eat, they’ve been serving nutritious, organic and yummy wholefoods every summer for four years now and have just landed their very first permanent spot at 58 Ashley Place, Papamoa.
On the menu: Plant-based smoothie bowls and organic coffee.
Best sushi
Sushi Pandas
Our pick: Cali rolls
Sushi chef Fernando Pinilla just wants to make people happy – and if you’ve ever visited her at her cart, Sushi Panda, you’ll know she’s quite the entertainer! A sushi chef for 18 years and originally from Chile, she arrived in Aotearoa 10 years ago. Today, her three-year-old food truck is well-loved in Tauranga, at the Mount and in Rotorua; catch her at 13 Bain Street, Mt Maunganui, the main Mount Beach, the Bay’s biggest summer festivals and our local markets too.
On the menu: Chilean fusion sushi.
Best Kiwi classics
The Wave
Our pick: Real fruit ice cream
Situated on Marine Parade in front of Leisure Island, The Wave and its owner-operators Elliot and Grace Sims provide the popular treats Kiwis can’t get enough of. Serving food that makes people smile in the most beautiful location, they’ve created a friendly and welcoming family environment that also celebrates great music and good manners. Elliot’s even been known to give away ice-creams to well-behaved children!
On the menu: Real fruit and Tip Top scoop ice-cream, Longest Drink in Town milkshakes, Vogel’s toasties, fresh fruit smoothies, juices and locally roasted Little Drum coffee.