GEORGE TOWN, July 5 ― If you drive along busy Chulia Street, you are bound to notice a white and blue vehicle that looks like a booth or a caravan of sorts parked in front of Mugshot Café.

Well-known George Town street names like Armenian Street, China Street, Campbell Street and Beach Street are boldly emblazoned all over the otherwise white vehicle but what particularly stands out, is the bold blue George Town Festival (GTF) 2014 logo on its front and back.

This is The Duchess.

A food truck, The Duchess sells delicious chicken and beef burgers with a tie-in with GTF 2014 to promote the annual culture, arts and heritage festival coming up this August.

The vehicle, dubbed the GTF 2014 food truck, is the brainchild of Mugshot Café’s co-founder Jesse Tan and The Duchess burgers’ founder Ong Shen Yung.

The delicious no-frills chicken and beef burgers served at The Duchess food truck.

“This kind of food truck is quite common overseas, in the UK and US, so we thought we’d introduce it here, to stand out and be different from other burger stalls,” Jesse said.

Since it would be cost-prohibitive and almost impossible to import such a truck from overseas, Jesse decided to source out a local boatmaker to have it custom-made.

“We didn’t have any models to show the boatmaker so we showed him a picture I got from the Internet and he made it just based on the photo,” he said.

It took nine months and RM70,000... just in time too for them to obtain the necessary licenses and permits.

Though The Duchess food truck was commissioned by Mugshot Café and is a part of the café, it is operated by Ong who prepares and cooks the burgers from his own recipes.

This is not the first burger stall that Ong has started as he is well-known as the founder of the highly popular Marshalls’ Burger with its succulent, thick beef patties.

The 26-year-old former engineer has since left Marshalls to start anew with The Duchess.

“I’ve been wanting to do something of my own since I got out of Marshalls, so when Jesse came up with this idea of me running a burger stall here at Mugshot in the food truck, I thought it was a good idea,” Ong said.

Ong Shen Yung serving up a burger to a customer from The Duchess in front of Mugshot Cafe.

Since early January, Ong set up a small burger counter within the café while waiting for the boatmaker to complete the truck.

He is only selling two very basic no-frills burgers; chicken or beef.

“This time, my recipes are slightly different and instead of buying ground beef from a supplier like last time, I now source my own beef and grind it myself to control the quality of the beef patties I make,” he said.

As for the chicken burger, instead of using conventional pre-packaged, frozen chicken patties, Ong uses a whole piece of deboned chicken thigh meat.

Ong Shen Yung wanted to start anew with The Duchess burgers.

He has also partnered with Rainforest Bakery, which Jesse is also a co-founder of, to get a supply of fresh baked English muffins for the burger buns.

Ong moved his burger stall into the completed food truck in mid-June and has since christened it The Duchess.

“Since it is made by a boatmaker and boats all have female names, we decided to pick a name that is female and both colonial as a reflection of George Town’s colonial heritage and that’s how we decided on The Duchess,” he said.

As for the tie-in with GTF 2014, Jesse said he met with festival director Joe Sidek and showed him the idea of the food truck.

“Joe loved the idea and agreed to the collaboration so it will serve to promote the festival while at the same time, introduce The Duchess to the public,” he said.

The uniqueness of the food truck, which is non-motorised and needs to be transported using a tow-truck, has drawn quite a lot of attention. In fact, Jesse is already getting bookings for other events.

“At the end of August, The Duchess will be towed to the Esplanade for the GTF 2014 finale event and after that, it will be part of Octoberfest 2014 and a few other festivals and events have also made enquiries,” he said.

The food truck, emblazoned with names of George Town's streets and the prominent George Town Festival 2014 logo is the first of its kind in Penang.

After GTF 2014, The Duchess will no longer be parked in front of the café but be relocated to a new spot.

It will be one of a few other new stalls at the back of the café where plans are underway for alfresco dining.

The Duchess is now serving up burgers in front of Mugshot between noon and midnight daily.

George Town Festival is an annual month-long celebration of George Town’s UNESCO World Heritage inscription featuring heritage, arts and cultural performances and exhibitions.

GTF 2014 kicks off in August 1 this year and will culminate in a double celebration of heritage and Merdeka on August 31.