BrodDogs at Westfield Belconnen is top dog

It's so strange, and it's freaking me out, that this mass of concrete that seems to lack any design feature has been so central to my existence since it was built almost 40 years ago.

I'm talking about the Belconnen mall. If I had known, way back then as we skated around the half-built car parks of the shopping mall, that I would still be here all these years later, well, I might have run away more completely than I did. I turn to my boys, with a little more desperation than I mean to convey, and make them promise to enjoy this time in their life. This carefree feeling they are experiencing doesn't last. Life gets complicated so just promise me you'll make the most of this time, promise!

"Sure dad, no worries, can we like just order the hotdogs?"

That feeling we had, me and my 14-year-old friends – Steve, Dave, Russell, Neale – of carving down these ramps, streets or floodwater drains on a wobbly skateboard, no protective clothing, no helmet, no worries, is just so hard to recreate as a middle aged man without gaining attention. Skaters now have a purpose-built skate park, one of the largest in the southern hemisphere, where I have teetered on the edge on a friend's son's skateboard, thinking, "I'm sure I can still do this, what could possibly go wrong?"

The other strange thing about this mall and probably every mall, is that there are just so many shops that you have no interest in or which are selling the same thing. How many different shoe shops, hairdressers, optometrists do you need? Two huge supermarkets selling essentially the same things at the same price - how do you choose? Why do you choose? Why am I here anyway? I've really got to stop coming here and complaining.

Among all this reminiscing of teenage summers past I remember why I'm here, on a mission if ever there was one. The strangest thing has happened. In all the bureaucratic bunk that we have to put up with in our fair and well-planned city, a shining light to bucking the system was a little red van named Brodburger down by the lake in Kingston. Brodburger was - and is in its more formal incarnation as a cafe at the Canberra Glassworks - a rebellious middle finger to the authorities and planners who clearly never went out on a bender and needed late night sustenance in the form of a huge burger.

What happened to the red van after BrodBurger became a permanent cafe, tamed and fenced in like some wild beast? I thought it was so worn out from cooking 10,000 burgers that it burned to the ground in a spectacular conflagration. But no, like a pork-perfumed phoenix, the red van has risen again and now resides in the top level car park at Westfield Belconnen.

How cool is that? It's like the polar opposite of every other business in the mall. And these dogs are so good: the New Yorker, the chilli dog, the sure-to-be iconic pickle laden BrodDog. Just choose your sausage which are all made at the Griffith butchery so you know they are good. There's heaps of sides and condiments which all speak my language: coleslaw, wurstsalat, fondue-cheese sauce, mayo, chips, chilli chips, cheesy chips, cheesy-chilli chips. I could go on.

With it being October, and this being the month of celebrating all things German, the sauerkraut and bacon topped, corn relish augmented, mustardy New Yorker ($9) is awesomely perfect. There is no better way of eating vegetables than fermented, cooked in pork fat and lashed with mustard. They've only been here a few months, and who knows how long they'll be here, but I think we should all head to this strange location and convince them to stay.

Here's a simple sauerkraut recipe so you can glimpse what is possible.

Sauerkraut

1 head of cabbage, very finely shredded
2 tbspn salt flakes
In a large bowl salt the cabbage and mix thoroughly, this will start the liquid flowing, pack into a large sterilised jar and pretty soon you'll have enough liquid to cover the cabbage. Press down so that the cabbage is submerged always, keep at 13C for a few days until you see the fermentation bubbles appear. Now you just need to taste and use it with as much character as you can handle. It will be safe and the lactic acid forming from the fermented sugars is like a preservative. You'll just need to get an idea of how fermented you want it - for me is around a week, the cabbage is still crunchy and people won't avoid you.

To cook

1 red onion, sliced
2-10 slices of good smoked bacon, chopped
Hear up a grill and saute bacon until it releases its motherload of bacon grease. Cook until just starting to crisp up, scoop out and fry onions in fat until soft and starting to caramelise. Add 2 cups of fermented cabbage and the bacon and cook for 5 minutes. Shouldn't need any more salt but as always taste first.
To use poach and grill a good quality German sausage like Bratwurst or Bockwurst over a moderate heat until cooked through. Have a buttered bread roll ready, smother the sausage with sauerkraut and serve with your choice of mustard: French, American, English or indeed German.