Tucked behind Waves Carwash, Moowing Steak delivers some of the best of Canberra’s street dining. Photo: Tenele Conway.
If you told me at the start of the year that one of the best steaks I’d eat in 2026 would come from a food truck, I wouldn’t have believed you.
Yet here I am, perched on a crate at Braddon’s Moowing Steak, having just paid $45 for a grain-fed ribeye, and it was worth every cent.
Cooked perfectly rare, just as I ordered, dotted with chunks of salt, and served with a side of well-dressed salad, I’m kicking myself for not coming sooner.
Moowing Steak is the surprise of the year with the stunning steaks served from a food truck. Photo: Tenele Conway.
Moowing Steak moved into the Waves Carwash precinct in June 2024. A mix of apathy towards street steak, Canberra winters and sheer ignorance kept me away till now.
Thankfully, our gloriously early spring and Moowing Steaks’ persistent 4.9 rating on Google shook the torpor from my bones enough for me to realise that it was time for a visit.
In the big scheme of things, $45 for 200 grams of 3.5 MB Black Angus ribeye is pretty reasonable, and a similar feed surrounded by four walls, a sturdy chair, and the service of a waiter could cost you double. It’s far from what many are used to paying for street food, but in this case, the quality backs up the higher price.
It also isn’t the most expensive thing on the menu, and you can upgrade to 300 grams of grain-fed ribeye for $60, and once I’d polished off my 200 grams, of which I had to share half, I was wishing I had taken the upgrade.
For those with slightly less lofty ambitions, there is also a grain-fed sirloin starting at $28 for 200 grams or a grass-fed ribeye for $32, each of which can also be upgraded to 300 grams if appetite demands.
For those over five years old who have grown accustomed to cutting their own meat, a word of warning: the steaks do come pre-sliced. This affectation is due to the nature of street food, and it’s a fair call until someone invents a takeaway version of a sharp steak knife.
I did, however, miss that carnal action of carving off a hunk of meat.
If you’re just not that into steak, despite the name, don’t write off Moowing Steak; the menu bounces around plenty of other options.
There’s a selection of six burgers, from Wagyu to Portuguese chicken to cheesy veg. Each comes with your choice of chips or salad, and the steak does too.
The free wings offer is not to be missed, despite the need for some admin. Photo: Martin Conway.
The grill menu is not to be overlooked either, and from the selection of grilled Portuguese chicken, ginger soy beef, and cumin lamb, we went with the lamb, and it was cracking. Heavily spiced with a nice hum of chilli, the tender, smoky lamb is as good as the steak.
Don’t miss the free wings offer; it does require a slight administrative process to set up, which is a little tiresome, but the chicken wings with their tart and sweet homemade sauce are a delight.
As we chow down on our grilled meats, getting smothered in lurid red wing sauce under the envious gaze of the passing gym-bros, I immerse myself in the full spectrum of street-dining.
The advertisement on the pole next to us offers an anti-status, genderless haircut from the One-Star Barber at the bargain price of $1. The purple, thumb-shaped graffiti man above him offers further support with the slogan ‘Be You’, prompting me to wonder what I would look like with a buzz cut; now that really is the best of what Canberra street-dining has to offer.
Moowing Steak is located to the rear of Waves Carwash at 26 Elouera Street, Braddon. They’re open 7 days a week from 12 pm until 10:30 pm.
