Hammer and Tong Have Opened Their Own Brunswick Backyard

Fitzroy’s legendary Hammer and Tong has gone alfresco with the opening of new eatery BCKYRD. Except that it’s not exactly an eatery. As the name suggests, it’s an urban backyard — a glorious patch of greenery in East Brunswick, hemmed in by shipping containers and sprinkled with imported trees — which the Hammer and Tong food truck is now calling home.

"There are apartments going up all around us," Simon Ward, Hammer and Tong owner-chef, told Good Food. "A lot of people don't have backyards anymore; BCKYRD is Brunswick's community backyard."

The food truck has developed a specific BCKYRD menu. Dishes include flathead and chips, ramen and duck meatballs, charcuterie boards, croquet champignon (a toasted sandwich crowded with mushrooms, cheese and thyme) and crab and corn chowder in sourdough cobs. Yep, that last one sounds like our kind of perfect autumn dish. For drinks, you can choose between locally-brewed beers and ciders.

Opened in a bit of a hurry, in time for the Easter long weekend, the site is set for further improvements and backyard-ification. There are plans for a mural and a bar. And eventually, there’ll also be an urban farm, where micro-greens will be grown, for both supplies and retail. It's a work-in-progress, like the best of backyards.

You’ll find BCKYRD at 20 Nicholson Street, Brunswick. It’s open every Friday to Sunday, 11am-9.30pm.

Via Good Food.