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There’s not a lot of information to be found online about Burger Monster (5b/ 353 Little Collins St, Melbourne), and the no-frills official site doesn’t provide a lot of information. I can tell you though that they serve a very good burger. Unlike other burger joints like Grill’d and Burger Edge, the selection is pretty small, and the the ingredients (cheese, beetroot, egg, bacon, etc), but the taste and quality are certainly the equal. The cheeseburger represents pretty good value, but as with the aforementioned, prices can be a little high.

For a time, Pizza Meine Leibe (231 High St, Northcote) was my favourite pizza place and home to my favourite pizza, the Pizza 4 Cate. Then the standards slipped, I had a couple of disappointing experiences, and didn’t return for a year or so. I’ve been back a couple of times recently, and I’m happy to say that its returned to its best. Both times I’ve had the Pizza 4 Cate, which is topped with the delicious tomato sauce, mozzarella, prawns, sundried tomatoes and chilli. The one I had on my first return visit was incredible, the second only slightly less so, thanks to tails left on the prawns.

Pizza Meine Leibe is just as popular as ever, so much so that they’re now serving pizza in the bar next door, Joe’s Shoe Store.

There are plenty of cuisines that generally represent good value in Australia - Thai, Indian, Cantonese. Mexican isn’t one of them. Coyote Cafe (414 Nicholson St, North Fitzroy) is a happy exception to the rule, at least as far as take away is concerned. Like most Mexican restaurants here, the food is actually more Tex-Mex, but it’s good.
The burritos and enchilada dinners are both excellent, and cost only $9.60 and $7.50 respectively. In the case of burritos, the beef & japapeno is the best bet, with nicely shredded meat and delicious flavours. The honey chipotle chicken burrito is less successful. A couple of vegetable-based burrito options are also available.
As alluded to above, it’s really take away that represents the best value. Prices when you eat in are considerably higher.

I’m not sure how Thaila Thai (82 Lygon St, Brunswick East) does it - serve up generous portions of delicious and fresh Thai dishes for such low prices. Yes, there are other Thai restaurants that are just as cheap, however the quality isn’t the same.

There’s the standard range of curries, stir fries and salads to choose from, all at around $10 for vegetable or chicken/beef, with seafood a few dollars more.

Curries here are drier and less soupy than those at most Thai restaurants, but they’re still rich with coconut flavour. The meat is good quality - in the case of the chicken, it actually seems to be breast meat. Another difference is that the vegetables are a lot crisper, as the curries are cooked quickly in very hot woks, which also impart a nice ‘bbq-ey’ flavour to the meat.

It’s a similar story with the stir fries, which are available with a number of ‘flavourings’ such as as chilli & basil and satay. The serving sizes of the stir fries are particularly generous, and come with a lot of vegetables.

The satays are recommended, although they’re deep fried, and the salads are a great palate cleanser. As with a lot of Asian cuisine, it’s best suited to sharing multiple dishes.

Unless you’ve got a very large appetite you shouldn’t require more than 1 dish per person, meaning, with rice, you shouldn’t need to spend more than $13 - $14 each. The fact that it’s BYO makes it even more affordable. Take away is also available, although the serving are smaller.

The mention of Craigieburn probably causes many thoughts to spring to mind - housing estates, the Hume Highway - but chances are none of them involve orange juice. However, this suburb on the outskirts of Melbourne is home to Sunzest Organic Orange Juice, the best bottled orange juice I’ve tasted, and I’m not the only fan. While the flavour of other bottled orange juices is highly variable, Sunzest is remarkably consistent. What’s more, at around $5.50 it’s a lot cheaper than most other premium, non-concentrate based orange juices. It’s available from Piedemontes in Fitzroy and other inner city locations.

Plenty of restaurants have come and gone in relatively quick succession on the site of 15 Johnston Street, Fitzroy. Here’s hoping Spicy Junction can last longer than the previous two tenants - a Columbian restaurant and an Italian restaurant. Not only is this Indian restaurant cheap, the food is good quality. In fact, I’d say it rivals the popular Fitz Curry Cafe, located just across the road. Spicy Junction probably wins on quality of meat, Fitz Curry Cafe has better, more distinctive sauces.

Occupying the former premises of Wildflower, bakers of some of the best bread in Melbourne, Min Lokal (422 George St, Fitzroy) has a tough act to follow. Based on a couple of visits, it certainly delivers. The baked eggs in napoli are not only the best baked eggs dishes I’ve had, and one of the better breakfast dishes I’ve had - let down only by slightly undertoasted toast.

Some people object to paying more than $5 for a loaf of bread, reasoning that water, flour and yeast are very inexpensive ingredients.  Me, I don’t see it that way. There’s a lot of skill that goes into making good bread. However, when I’m paying this much, I expect a certain level of quality - something I didn’t get from my $5.80 sourdough loaf from Browns. It didn’t have interesting texture, and the flavour was lacking, making it little better than supermarket bread.

This small cafe bar (334 Brunswick St, Fitzroy) is dependable for a few reasons - the meals are consistently good and it’s rarely closed, even on Christmas Day or Good Friday. Breakfasts are good value and good quality, with suitably runny poached eggs, and nicely crisp bacon. The $10 lunch specials, such as steak sandwiches, simple pastas, and risottos, are another reason to visit.