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Food & Wine
The Lot
3030 Boulevard
7 of the best food truck parks and outdoor dining venues in Melbourne
Love outdoor dining? With summer just around the corner, get your street food feast on at these epic Melbourne food truck parks and gourmet open-air playgrounds.
Crispy calamari followed by fresh oysters, lobster rolls, and a waffle-cone gelato for dessert, washed down with an Aperol spritz? Move over fine dining; 2022 is the summer of street food. And where better to experience a moveable feast than at one of Melbourne’s food truck parks or gourmet outdoor dining arenas.
Boasting everything from African barbecue and Korean potato twist stalls to portable pizzerias, dumpling dealers, handmade pasta peddlers and even souffle pancake stands, Melburnians are spoiled for choice when it comes to mouth-watering food truck fare.
If you’re looking for the ideal outdoor dining destination, here’s our guide to seven of the best food truck parks and gourmet outdoor playgrounds in Melbourne. Plus, you can plan your trip and find the closest parking with RACV's free journey planner app, arevo.
Melbourne's best food truck parks and outdoor dining
Grazeland
20 Booker St, Spotswood
When this culinary mecca opened in March of 2021, it signalled the dawn of a new street food era for Melbourne. Spanning more than 10,000 square metres and hosting 50 of the city’s favourite food vendors – including 48h Pizza Bar, Cannoleria by That’s Amore and Claw & Tail – the bustling gourmet precinct is a melting pot of international cuisines, live music and entertainment with Melbourne’s glittering city skyline setting the backdrop. Dining is at communal-share style tables, with canopies for cover in case of inclement weather.
Open from Friday to Sunday. Entry costs $4 for adults. Children under 12 are free.
Welcome to Thornbury
520 High St, Northcote
They say nothing beats an original, and when it comes to Welcome to Thornbury, the city’s first permanent food truck park is still one of the best. With a rotating line up of food trucks, a giant beer garden, sprawling deck (with heaters and a retractable awning roof for the cooler months), as well as a playroom with more than 40 retro arcade games – it’s delicious food and wholesome fun for the whole family. Pull up a seat at one of the timber booths and relax under a big umbrella with a fully stacked Mr Burger bun and a pint of local beer or wine.
Open Wednesday to Sunday.
It's all about the vibe at Mordialloc's Urban Ground. Image: Facebook
Urban Ground
1 Lamana Rd, Mordialloc
For a moody date night or family dinner housed in a converted industrial park and co-located with the thriving Saint Felix distillery, Mordialloc’s festoon-lit Urban Ground is bringing serious ambience – and street cred – to the burbs. The community focussed food precinct is revving a stellar line-up of Food Truck favourites – including DOC Pizza, St Gerrys Donuts, The Bao Project and Bigger Than Texas, while on-site café Bowl’d is dishing up plant-based, health-conscious fare as well as St.Ali espresso, seven days a week. The sustainably-minded venture has also greened up its act, incorporating 4,000 litres worth of rain tanks, solar panelling and a composting system to fuel its gardens, where they’ve planted more than 1,000 indigenous fruit trees and botanicals for use in Saint Felix’s contemporary distillations. The beer garden’s tables and chairs once made up the Mornington Pier, while the bar tops are made from sustainably sourced Mountain Ash.
Food trucks are on site Thursday and Friday nights, and from 12-9pm weekends.
The Lot
448-462 Mt Alexander Rd, Ascot Vale
With the biggest beer garden north of the river, it’s no surprise this sprawling Ascot Vale food truck park has become a popular watering hole for locals. Head on down and you’ll find the lively all-seasons outdoor diner buzzing with live music and hungry thirsty northsiders keen to get their fill of the city’s best bao buns, falafel, doughnuts or whichever tasty food truck options have taken up residence for the day. With an ever-changing events line up, as well as pop-up weekend markets and food festivals, there’s always something going on at The Lot.
Park yourself at one of the exposed brick booths, and kick back with a coffee and a bagel from Bagel Boys Melbourne or grab a local brewski and gear up for an evening of drag trivia. For a more bougie food truck experience, you can even book a private booth with table service and a drinks tab.
Open every Friday and Saturday.
Wheelers Food Trucks and Bar
23 Synnot St, Werribee
Food trucks and trivia are a match made in dinner heaven, and you can do both at Wheelers Food Trucks and Bar in Werribee. Offering both indoor and outdoor dining, live music and plenty of tasty treats to feast on, this pet-friendly food precinct has something for everyone.
For a taste of Aotearoa, make a beeline for Riley’s Kai, where you’ll find some of the freshest and crispiest fish and chips, or get your fill of handcrafted Nepalese dumplings at Momorush.
Open Wednesday to Sunday.
Street eats, sea views and container park dining at 3030 Boulevard. Image: Facebook
3030 Boulevard
50 Quay Boulevard, Wyndham Harbour
A sunny seaside outcrop overlooking Port Phillip Bay is the last place you’d expect to find a shipping container food park, but Werribee South’s latest waterfront dining precinct, 3030 Boulevard, is exactly that. From its shipping container HQ, the sun-drenched outdoor eatery, which boasts both harbour and city views, is slinging trendy cocktails, sumptuous pizzas and gourmet hot dogs with a side serve of coastal vibes.
Open Thursday to Sunday.
Chuck Wagon Food Village
7 Station St, Pakenham
If you like the sound of a butter chicken burger, buttermilk southern fried chicken wings, bento box or a falafel kebab, you’ll be spoiled for choice at Pakenham’s Chuck Wagon Food Village. With a variety of sweet and savoury options, traversing Japanese, Indian, Mauritian, Mexican and American cuisines, to name a few, the diner-inspired food village is paying homage to the original mobile kitchens. The outdoor dining area features retro timber picnic tables overhung with twinkling festoon lights. Undercover tables are also available.
Open Thursday to Sunday.
