One rainy morning (yes, rainy. And yes, morning!!) I woke up and went to Place de Madeleine to get a good spot on the queue to Le Camion qui fume (“The smokey truck”). I was supposed to meet Danny there at 11:30 and it was early enough, the queue wasn’t long at all. But it was awfully early for a burger and Danny, who came with the Velib (bike rental in Paris), could not find a free spot to return the bike and circled the square for around 25 minutes. At that time Jia showed up, In fact I invited everyone in my Facebook fan page to join and I’m glad he took my invite and showed up! So we kept our spot in the queue but waited for Danny and so the queue got longer and longer. At the same time we were building up appetite and getting wet from the sudden hard rain. It certainly made this experience more dramatic: the tension of waiting for our number to be called, the queue getting longer and longer, the french fries being deep fried again and again in front of us, the puddles and water dripping all over, standing under an umbrella, the smells of oil and rain..

Just a few words about the truck: it’s Paris’ first real food truck, started functioning about a year ago, became very successful and serves mostly burgers. The chef is a girl who finished Ferrandi few years ago. Recently I mentioned the newer food truck Itried, Cantine California, trying to replicate the Camion’s success.

 

This is how it looks like, the front of the truck.

The side of the truck

And the other side of it, busy busy busy

The menu with 5 choices of burgers, 10 euro for burger + fries

Danny, jia (and me) were waiting in the rain!

The dripping truck

This was the queue around noon

The fries… well… we were looking at them being fried over and over and still looked miserable and soggy. Maybe it was the rain’s fault.

With the skins on

After waiting for a short while (because we kept our place in the queue from earlier) we got to the first step which was having our order taken and paying. Once we did that we had a number, and waited for it to be called. We ordered 3 different burgers, two french fries and one coleslaw salad. Waiting for the food took longer, and all that while we were staring at the “open kitchen”.

Flipping burgers

Covering the meat + cheese with a paper box so that the cheese will melt.

The hard working chef

The queue getting longer and longer.

Our number was finally called and we strategically caught the sole table under the thatch (and the only table altogether muhahahah!)

Jia also taking pictures

Porc braisé, sauce barbecue, coleslaw.
This was the braised pork sandwich.

It was already 12:30, we were hungry but I took more pictures, just in case. The fries, as they looked, were not that successful. I had so much better here in Paris. Cut too thin and fried too many times..

Rather big portion. I don’t know why they would call it a burger if it’s not a burger patty. Why not make it a patty from pork meat? Anyway, it came out a little dry and not enough salt and/or sauce.

Bacon, Beignet d’oignon, sauce BBQ, cheddar, oignons caramelizés.
Bacon, onion fritters, BBQ sauce, cheddar, caramelized onions.

This one, like Danny said, was classic american burger. Maybe not creative enough. The onion ring inside was a nice touch, maybe a tiny bit overcooked meat. They didn’t ask us about the cooking degree, but still.

Fourme D’Ambert, sauce porto, oignon caramelizé.
It’s a type of blue cheese, caramelized onions and was supposed to be served with port sauce but we came too late (one of the firsts in line!!) and they already ran out of the sauce and suggested bacon instead.

I took the coleslaw with it, it was a good version with red onions and not too much mayo.

It was the smallest (don’t know why) burger but our favorite. It was cooked just as it should, very succulent, the blue was excellent. Too bad we got bacon instead of port because it lacked something sweet to balance the package. The bun was amazingly soft, fresh, lightly toasted and delicious.

Eating lazily while the queuing crowd drooling, waiting for us to leave the sole table already.

Conclusions: I truly enjoyed this lunch due to the company and the burgers were not bad at all. Was it amazing? I’m not sure. Strong suits: the open kitchen which is fun to watch while waiting; the buns are great; the “bleu” (maybe could even be better with the missing sauce), the onion ring inside the burger and the coleslaw. Weak suites: the fries; the pork a bit dry and under seasoned and I was missing fresh vegetables inside the other two burgers;  a bit pricey (10 euro) and the unbelievable queue (it’s a strong suite actually).

 


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3 Responses to Le Camion Qui Fume

  1. Nachman says:

    great post – makes you want to stand in line….

    BTW – an article on the food truck industry that you may enjoy is –
    https://www.theatlanticcities.com/arts-and-lifestyle/2011/10/food-truck-industrial-complex/331/

  2. Ema Irit says:

    נראה שהמחיר הוא נכון לאור התור הארוך והגשם מוסיף לאוירה החוייתית

  3. Danny says:

    Very nice article. The food was well worth the wait !!

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