Sajan Shahi and Anushka Gurung are co-owners of the new El-fii food truck. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Situated in a semi-permanent site at Fyshwick’s Dairy Road precinct, El-fii joins Canberra’s fast-growing food truck landscape.
El-fii’s varied menu heavily leans on burgers and owners Sajan Shahi, Niranjan Ghimire and their respective partners Anushka Gurung and Ubina Maharjan are hoping to set themselves apart despite burgers becoming a ubiquitous part of the Fyshwick food scene.
With a background in five-star hotels in Dubai, followed by high-volume banquet dining in Sydney and a stint at Bungendore’s The George Bar and Dining, Sajan was inspired to go out on his own for the opportunity to deliver his own flavours to a menu.
Looking for a business partner for his project, Sajan had a few candidates in mind, but his first choice didn’t hesitate in joining him.
“I met Niranjan working at The George and he’s so good; I thought I would ask him first and in a heartbeat he said yes,” Sajan says.
El-fii food truck is based at Dairy Road in Fyshwick. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Establishing the food truck was a bigger challenge than Sajan had first thought and the process presented a range of challenges that the duo wasn’t prepared for, having to learn the skills as they went.
‘It’s been a big learning curve for us. From putting up the signboards, getting the truck here, finding the suppliers and getting council permits. At first we thought, ‘this seems easy’, and we got going and thought, ‘this isn’t easy,” laughs Sajan.
Despite the challenges, El-fii launched in May with an extensive menu that defies the tiny nature of their kitchen on wheels. Sajan credits their ability to maintain the large menu to their mise en plus and their organisation and shares that their key focus is to deliver the freshest ingredients each day.
“We want everything to be fresh, so we keep minimal stock and we go to the Fyshwick markets to get our fresh produce,” Sajan says.
“We will change our bread depending on what is the best available on the day; sometimes we have ciabatta, sometimes focaccia; it just has to be fresh.”
El-fii’s fried chicken burger is one of their best sellers. Photo: Supplied.
Sajan takes the commitment to freshness all the way and says they will cut menu items if the ingredients don’t meet their standards.
“It means that the full menu isn’t always available, but it has to be fresh and good. If we see really fresh yellowfin tuna, we’ll grab it and keep it on the menu. If it isn’t fresh enough, we won’t buy it.”
The truck has already found a lunch-time following, with people clearly having chosen their favourites.
As I waited for my eggplant and labneh sandwich, a customer ordered the Baa Baa Black Sheep burger with house tzatziki, whipped feta, rocket, tomato and pickles and when informed that it wasn’t available that day he let out a loud and long “nooooooooo”.
The menu has nine burgers in total, many of which have an exciting fusion of ingredients, such as the fried mushroom burger which features a crispy battered portobello mushroom with the Korean red chilli paste gochujang and topped with pickled cucumber, radish slaw, spring onion and kimchi mayo ($18).
The crispy chicken burger is one of their best-sellers and features a 12-hour brined chicken thigh that’s topped with celeriac and cucumber slaw, pineapple and soy spread, tomato, onion and cheese sauce ($18).
El-fii’s not all about the burgers, though and the menu has a selection of fresh-made sandwiches with premium ingredients, including the green miso-marinated chicken with pickled cucumber, daikon, spring onion and garden leaves on warm bread ($15).
For the health conscious, there’s a poke bowl, with a choice of proteins which will change with the seasons, that features Japanese rice, avocado, pickled ginger, radish, cucumber, carrots, edamame, furikake, ponzu and a roasted miso and sesame dressing ($18).
Sajan also dishes up three choices of loaded fries including the Paaji’s Aaloo with crispy chicken, spicy mayo and minted chutney ($14), which leans into Sajan’s Nepalese heritage.
El-fii’s green miso-marinated chicken sandwich is made fresh to order. Photo: Supplied.
The chicken wings are served by the piece and come in a range of spicy and sweet flavours like Szechuan & hot honey, Frank’s Buffalo sauce, honey soy or gochujang & toasted sesame.
You can also grab quick bites on the go, like the crispy chicken tenders topped with Japanese mayo, parmesan and spicy sauce ($14).
Or you can jump onto the corn rib trend where sides of corn have been stripped off the rest of the cob to give you a rib-like structure you can nibble the kernels from. Sajan does his with a delightful combination of sriracha butter, kombu seasoning and lime ($14).
Come summer, Sajan and Niranjan plan to take El-fii out on the road for pop-ups and festivals, so you can expect to see a lot more of these guys around Canberra.
You can keep up with El-fii’s seasonal menu and hours via Instagram.
