The Bangladeshi street-food offering on Crown Street is on the up again. The team from Bang, which opened January last year, have opened a second restaurant today, Trunk Road, at the Darlinghurst end of the street.
Co-owner and chef Tapos Singha was keen to open a smaller, more casual eatery for quick breakfasts as well as lunch and dinner, seven days a week.
Bang’s most popular dish, the hanger steak boti kebab, was the main inspiration for the new caper. “We wanted to offer numerous types of roti kebabs,” says Singha. “We call them ‘roadies’.”
The roadies, which are much like India’s traditional kati rolls, are packed with the likes of tandoori-spiced lamb, baby cos, chilli achar and coriander yoghurt, and accompanied by quick sides such as tandoori chicken wings, homemade chutneys, and fries topped with curry, chilli and cheese. There’re breakfast roadies, too, including a version with pressed rice, yoghurt, banana and honey, and a hangover-curing fried egg and bacon number. Named after the grand highway that runs from Bangladesh across India and Pakistan to Afghanistan, Trunk Road takes influences from all over the subcontinent. “All the protein is cooked in the tandoor oven, and there’s lots of influence from back home,” says Singha.
By day that translates to traditional Indian loose-leaf and condensed-milk teas, and, in the evening, lots of Indian tonics paired with local gins, as well as a small selection of cocktails and beer. “We’ve been in talks with one of the boutique breweries on the Central Coast to brew our own, too,” says Singha.
Bang co-owner Nicholas Gurney is responsible for the “1960s India” design; the space seats 34 people across two levels served by a team of waiters wearing bow-ties.
“If you’ve been to Bangladesh, India or Pakistan, you’ll see the guys with a little beer belly wearing a bow-tie and white shirt,” says Singha. “Smart and always with a bit of theatre.”
Trunk Road, 163 Crown St, Darlinghurst, NSW; trunkroad.com.au
You can read our Sydney Review on Bang here.