Overview
There's no shortage of delicious Asian cuisine in Melbourne; however there's always room for more. Especially if it's street food, and even more if it dons the word 'hawker-style'. Enter Junk, a Queensland favourite that is making its first venture down south.
Heading to Punch Lane from February 22, Junk is bringing its melange of flavours and styles to Victorian stomaches — and the menu looks a treat. Hungry diners will find a food lineup filled with Korean fried chicken wings, crispy Peking duck spring rolls, and four varieties of steamed bao (soft-shell crab, pork, pork gyoza and chicken katsu). Yes, one of those options really does include dumplings on bao. Dumplings. On. Bao.
Crispy fried gunpowder chicken ribs and Vietnamese noodle salads will also be ready to treat tastebuds, as will Gangnam fries (covered in house-made kimchi, nacho cheese sauce, nori and spring onion, and certain to get a K-pop song stuck in your head). Basically, expect to be spoiled for choice. "Every single dish on the menu is prepared by world class cooks using only the best local ingredients available. Our sauces and curry pastes are all made from scratch in-house, and our broths are cooked for two days," says Scott Hoskins, one of the folks behind the venture.
The Melbourne joint will be Junk's fourth, joining three in Queensland. Back up north, Hoskins and his business partner Tony Kelly have not only been slinging Asian street food, but doughnuts and burgers as well. They're the duo behind Donut Boyz and Hello Harry, two other brands that have made the leap to the Sunshine Coast to Brisbane and beyond.
Junk opens on February 22 at 22 Punch Lane, Melbourne. For more information, check out their website.