Top Five Eateries at SXSW

Melbourne’s Pretty City are soon bound for the wild vibes of Texas and SXSW but before the band departs, Johnny Rock is giving us his top five eateries at SXSW.
You’re in the States and in Texas, so you got double the awesome to try at SXSW. Austin is a great city with amazing food culture and with a gazillion people there, everyone selling food is going out of their way to impress you. It won’t be hard, they do good food. Here are my tips based on our last visit and new places I’ve researched that I’ll be hitting up this year!
Southbites Trailer Park
Food trucks are awesome. A whole park worth of them even more so. Last time we were at SXSW they had a truck called Happy Lobster Truck that sold lobster rolls which I’ve been dreaming of ever since. You will find everything your heart desires at a food truck park. Go forth and explore!

BBQ
OK so you’re in Texas of course you are going to try some BBQ. I even managed to convince three vegetarians to accompany me to several BBQ joints. Couldn’t make em eat any but you’d be surprised how many BBQ places cater for vegetarians. There’s a place called Franklins which boasts 4-5 hour long lines. Don’t wait in line for hours for BBQ in Texas. BBQ is great everywhere in the state. My fav place was Ironworks in the city centre. Quick lines and good brisket. Great homely authentic vibe there and they have pictures on the walls of all the American presidents that have eaten there too. Awesome! I’m definitely gonna take home some of that BBQ sauce too. It was outstanding!
Ruby’s BBQ was a little further out in the college district but had great vegetarian sides and options. Salt Lick is kind of like a chain restaurant, but damn it’s also very good. And you can get it at the airport! Two thumbs up. The difference between good BBQ and great BBQ for me was the sauce and the sides. Try the Texas toast too. It’s just fried bread. But sometimes you just need it in your life.
Tex Mex
So Texas used to be Mexico. Go history! So they have this amazing Texas USA/Mexico hybrid food there. It’s delicious. If you’ve had far too much BBQ (likely) you’ll need something a little more fresh to get you through the rest of the day. I didn’t keep track of all the Tex Mex places I went to but I just found a place that I really want to go called Juan In A Million for breakfast and lunch. Rating are good for this place, but even if they weren’t I was sold on the name alone.
Donuts
The states takes donuts seriously and there are a few places you can go to get a good fix of deep fried happiness. There’s Voodoo Donuts on 6th street. They make donuts that look like they should be displayed more than eaten. They certainly aren’t made to be eaten easily, but they do taste amazing and you’ll be so mesmerised by the glistening jewels on them that you’ll find it hard to order less than a box worth.
One thing better than extremely complex donuts is extremely simple donuts. And sometimes at 2AM you don’t need to be bombarded with options, you just want the hot sugary goodness to be inside you. Little Lucy’s is your saviour here. Open till 2:30AM and they come in small or big bag. But in reality, the only option you want is large.

P – Terry’s
American diners are cool. They just are. And this place is new but taking all its ques from the 60s diners of old and breathing new life into it. You’ve heard of In and Out burger and Shake Shack, now get some P-Terry’s. They have skin on shoe string fries, simple menu and everything is dirt cheap. The architecture is almost worth the price of admission alone. Pure mid-century modern gold!
Release: Single ‘Simone’ is out now, with their album ‘Cancel The Future’ to be released March 23.
Southbites Trailer Park image by Alexa Gonzales