The Greatest of the Mall is a celebration of Melbourne mall culture and food-court favourites, given a 2024 twist by Raph Rashid, founder of Beatbox Burger, Taco Truck and All Day Donuts, a passionate faster-food professional and noted chronicler of urban and suburban culture, and his band of merry mallrats.
Over two weeks in July, Raph and his food-loving friends will be rolling up at Northland, Box Hill Central, Broadmeadows Central and The Glen, bringing the good times and a whole lot of tasty free things to the snacking heartland of Victoria.
In search of the Greatest of the Mall foods, Raph and his crew have been combing the centres for inspiration, and they’ve come back with the goods, with Raph creating a custom snack for each mall based on what he saw and ate. We’re talking bao loaded with lemon chicken we’re talking the lovechild of a taco and a halal snack pack, we’re talking popcorn doughnuts and we’re absolutely, positively talking duck dim sims.
Now, we need your help eating them. For free.
Raph and his mall buddies will be popping up at each mall, starting on 4 July, giving away a total of 4,000 custom snacks to hungry mallgoers, as well as hot and fresh exclusive merch at every stop.
Meet your snack-loving hosts and get the lowdown on their inspiration and their food-court obsessions below:
Episode one: Senator Briggs, Northland and the popcorn doughnut
Rapper Senator Briggs is a food court black belt, and wastes no time showing Raph how to combo a short stack with bacon with a blue heaven milkshake at Northland.
Catch Raph at Northland giving away 500 cream caramel popcorn doughnuts a day from 11am to 2pm on Thursday 4 and Friday 5 July, and catch Briggs both days from 12 noon to 1pm.
Episode two: Rosheen Kaul, Box Hill Central and the lemon chicken bao
Chef and author Rosheen Kaul leads Raph through the culinary wonders of Box Hill Central, stopping for fried chicken, pickled greens and “fluffy central” Malaysian sponge cake.
Catch Raph at Box Hill Central giving away 500 lemon chicken bao per day from 11am to 2pm on Saturday 6 and Sunday 7 July, and catch Rosheen both days from 12 noon to 1pm.
Episode three: FlexMami, Broadmeadows Central and the halal snack taco
Raph whiles away an afternoon at Broadmeadows Central with author, artist, podcaster and food court frequenter FlexMami, who teaches the anatomy of “a perfect bite” at El Jannah before deconstructing an HSP.
Catch Raph at Broadmeadows Central giving away 500 halal snack tacos a day from 11am to 2pm on Thursday 11 and Friday 12 July, and catch Flex both days from noon to 1pm.
Episode four: Mitch Orr, The Glen and the duck dim sim
Raph runs into chef extraordinaire and raconteur Mitch Orr, fresh from a Haidilao manicure, for roast duck and fried dimmies at The Glen.
Catch Raph at The Glen giving away 500 duck dim sims a day from 11am to 2pm on Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 July, and catch Mitch both days from noon to 1pm.
VIC only. Ends July 14th, 2pm AEST, while stocks last. Limit 1 game play/person. Max. 1 food item/person. T&Cs apply
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