Watch: Viral Sofrito Food Truck Chef Says He Hopes To Open A Franchise
We’ve only gone and done it. After weeks of conversations and TikTok call-outs, Lovin Malta joined chef Don Brace on his iconic Sofrito Food Truck to help him make and sell some of his delicious toasties.
While we initially went for the classic millionaires toast, a shortage in ingredients led to a menu change centred around everyone’s favourite protein: chicken.
The €9.90 toast of the day was the Pui-Pui which had chicken and tikka masala sauce served with a side of coleslaw and hashbrowns.
Meanwhile, the Rock Star had the same ingredients with the addition of snowdonia rockstar cheese for an extra fiver.
From Malta to England
Before things got hectic, we had a little time to chat with the chef who told us a bit about his background and aspirations. Don’s worked both in Malta and the UK where he handled around four pubs at the same time. Being half-English, he moved to England because he got fed up with the local catering scene. But he decided to move back to Malta when the pub he lived on top of unfortunately burned down.
In Malta, he worked at a range of different restaurants before deciding to venture out and do his own thing.
Don’s had the food truck for around nine months during which he’s tried an array of different menus, from fancy to vegetarian but it seemed like nothing was sticking. That’s until he came up with the idea to make a millionaire’s toast and market it all over TikTok using tricks he’d noticed from other creators, the main one being volume and consistency.
Sofrito’s toast quickly went viral as did the man under the chef hat. His partner Stela even told us that she encouraged him to use TikTok to share his funny remarks because, as a Romanian, she wasn’t getting his inside jokes and references. However, the Maltese side of TikTok sure does.
Don posts daily videos where his character shines through. From making jokes to sharing intimate insight to his sobriety journey, Don shares it all.
While speaking, we got to learn that Don intends to eventually turn Sofrito into a franchise, meaning we’ll be seeing more than one truck roaming around the streets. He also spoke a bit about playing around with different menus and flavours, admitting that travelling to Thailand unlocked a love for the cuisine.
The long-awaited shift
We went to Sofrito during stormy weather so for a while, the atmosphere was pretty tame. But once the weather began to calm down, people were quick to queue. At some points, in the thick of the storm, people were coming, ordering and waiting in their cars.
One mum even showed up saying she had to stop and order because her kids were begging her to.
Around two hours into our shift, a massive Diamond Lounge bus showed up and a flurry of people rushed to queue. That’s when I took it upon myself to step out and let the professionals do their work.
It was only natural for us to go and venture into the crowd and ask what the customers thought about the food. All responses were positive and when asked whether the toast was worth €9.90, everyone agreed. One person even said it would be worth €20.
After speaking with some customers and even venturing onto the Diamond Lounge bus, we decided to call it a day and let Mr. and Mrs. Sofrito handle the rest of the shift in peace. However, not without getting one last comment from Don.
“What do you say to people who think €10 is too much for a toast?” we asked, to which he responded: “They should try it and find out.”
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