A BOOTH WITH A VIEW @ BELLE'S DINER

Belle's Diner's Fried Green Tomato Burger ($17)

Yalei and I hit up Belle's Diner a few weeks ago. I'd actually been here a few nights after it opened, but my camera died (trust) just as the food arrived. Belles Diner is the newest place on Gertrude Street, and is a contemporary take on the traditional American diner, without all the '50s crap that is usually associated with such places. Instead, the interior feels like a set from Mad Men, with a stainless steel counter and sleek wooden booths that sit with large windows overing a street level view of Gertrude Street.

On our first visit, we put our names on the door an hour before they let us know we could be seated and the place was heaving with the young crowd you would expect around the area. The next week, we arrived for lunch, and still had to wait for a few minutes for a table, because we weren't keen on eating on the counter.

For lunch, I ordered the fried green tomato burger, as above. It was good, but a vegeburger would have been much more satisfying. Instead of a pattie, a large slice of deep-fried green tomato sat in the burger with crisp lettuce, cheese and pickles. However, the tomato just didn't keep it's shape as I progressed through the burger, and by the end,  developed into tomato mush. The bun though was sweet and the fries were well seasoned and tasty, so it wasn't all bad. While there for dinner, my meat eating friends ordered the Waguy burger and judged it to be 'Good, not as good as Huxtaburger but better then the burgers at the workers' which is a good indicator of a satisfactory burger.

Yalei ordered the clam chowder, which I had also tried when I went last time. She summed it up pretty well, when she said it was 'kind of like pumpkin soup, but with clams'. It was good though because her size was much bigger then the one I had received the week before for dinner. My verdict was that the soup was good (who doesn't like pumpkin soup?) but a little bland and the clams were a nice inclusion, but did more for the texture component of the dish then the flavour part of it. I was a little disapointed as I remembered clam chowder to be creamy and more sea-foody then the chowder at Belles. More like a calorific-cream based soup, then the more healthy vegetable based one served here.

The Clam Chowder ($15)

Cost-wise, the meal kind of just sat at $20, which was fine, but not brilliant. Belles Diner seems a little style-over-substance. On arrival, the cafe is neat and very well presented, but the food wasn't anything that got me too excited. If they are going to run with the American theme, I think it deserves that extra push, because there wasn't really anything that you couldn't get at the majority of restaurants in Melbourne and there is much more interesting dude-food to be found for the same price.

 The Wagyu Beef Burger with Fries

I would return to Belle's diner, but maybe when they have worked on their menu a bit. Since my visit/s, they've added a 'Salted Caramel Milkshake' to the menu, and I'm also keen to try the Sundaes and Key Lime Pie from their desserts, as well as the Chilli Beans and Lobster Roll. For lunch though, not eating meat meant choosing dishes was way too easy when I had maybe three things to choose from, which always kind of sucks a little - although, I do remember having more options over dinner.

Staff at Belle's are friendly, although a little disinterested, but I liked the music and generally the vibe of the Diner is lo-key and relaxed during the day, and lively but laid back in the PM times.

BELLE'S DINER

150 Gertrude Street, Fitzroy

Tuesday - Sunday 10am - late.

Good for: Casual style dining for small or large groups.
Vegetarians: Have options, but they aren't too expansive, especially for lunch.

Seats: Lots of booths, and tables available.
Wait time: About 5 minutes for the two of us for mid-week lunch. The previous week, a larger group of about 8 of us were wait-listed for an hour until they called us to let us know we had a table - but the restaurant was packed, so this was fine. 
Food waiting time: Around 20 minutes for lunch, around half an hour for dinner.
Cost: Including drinks, both our meals sat just under $20.00.  

COOL JAPAN @ Nama Nama

I had walked past Nama Nama on my way to work for so long before Yalei and I decided to hit it up last week. The younger brother of Izakaya Den reaks of Japan chic, and I'd wondered about this neat little eatery, tucked away in the corner of the city, for quite some time. Nama Nama fits in with Melbourne's CBD as much as it stands out, but is made particularly noticeable by the wooden tables and seats outside the restaurant, stamped in loud red, Asahi logos. Cute.

Inside, the cafe is quite beautiful, fitted out in kind of 'scanjapan' style - that is a mix, of woody and simple Japanese design, with more westernised furnishings and affects that I associate with Scandinavia. Staff are also really great, super friendly and very attentive. When Yalei ordered her second Japanese lemonade (they have those strange click, ball openings) they asked her if she wanted to 'crack it' herself, and when she did it, three of them cheered and clapped - Adorbs. Big props to the staff.

I don't know if it was all the natural light, or the relatively quiet nature of this restaurant compared to most of the city, but Nama Nama has really good, calming vibes. It's cool, but not nauseatingly so and there isn't a particular 'crowd'. Although I'm sure it gets busy during the lunchtime rush hour, there was also enough space to feel like you had a little privacy.  

I kind of feel bad for Japanese food, because it has so many cheap imitations here in Melbourne, but there is none of this 'smoked salmon sushi' here and not a single soy sauce fish could be found.  

Enticed by the delights that are displayed on the front counter, I choose a bento box. The deal is you choose your box, and then you select its components from the little selections offered. So, you pick   a salad, a raw choice, rice piece, a house specialty and a main, with the majority of the five componants displayed at the front - hence the name, 'Nama Nama' which translates to 'fresh fresh'.

I had wanted to choose the salmon, but they were out, so choose the eggplant instead. Eggplant isn't my favourite dish texture-wise, I find it kind of sludgy, so I wasn't quite taken with this one, although the sauce was appropriately zany with the rice, and they did pop the last little piece of salmon in too, which was tasty. I also had the Kingfish sushimi, which was leaf-wrapped and tasted fresh and easy. One salad, with fried noodles was light and fitting with the rest of the bento. My favourite part however, was a little mix of cold vegetables, a mix of raw snow peas, capsicum and corn in a kind of fried pastry, wonton style cup.

However, Yalei did enjoy her Udon. Apparently Nama Nama is one of the only places in Melbourne that makes their Udon by hand - or rather, by foot. This sounds kind of nasty, but kind of neat at the same time, because they wear a sock-type covering and roll the Udon into noodles with the bottom of their soles. I'd like to see this. Yalei reported that you can feel the imperfections in the 'grain' of the noodles, but couldn't taste much of a difference, but the tempura prawns were well cooked and the soup flavoursome.

Nama Nama's udon is it's own shining star. From my research, 6 months on from opening, Nama Nama remains the only place in Melbourne 'handcrafting' their own udon, which is pretty amazing. Also, Nama Nama is open for breakfast which also provides a pretty serious point of difference to the usual brunch spots in the CBD. It also has a bar upstairs that broadsheet has called 'moody' which is cool, i guess.

Although, I did like Nama Nama and considered it a positive dining experience, I do think it is over priced. $18 for a bento box is kind of crazy; although the options were certainly more interesting in comparison to your 'sushi sushi' shopping centre kind of bentos, and felt considerably more authentic. $15 for the udon is not too painful, but isn't exactly cheap at the same time. Generally though, for me, the portions just aren't big enough to justify the price, especially with the bentos, when the majority of the fillings had been prepared earlier and were cold, and it's really due to the rice that one feels 'full' after.

 

NAMA NAMA

31 Spring Street

Mon - Fri 7am - 5pm
Sat - Sun 8am - 5pm

Good for: Interesting and quirky Japanese food, and an uplifting lunch. I really enjoyed all-round simplicity of the venue, and the presentation of food. They also serve market lane coffee which is a bonus, and Japanese style breakfast.
Vegetarians: Are well catered for.

Seats: Customers should have plenty of seating options. Inside, outside, on the bench, on tables and even on more traditional Japanese seating arrangements. We sat at the bar, near the front window and that was fine.
Wait time: There was not seating wait.
Food waiting time: Around 10 minutes.
Cost: I spent $21.00 all up, including my Japanese lemonade and bento. Yalei's came to about $18 for her udon and drink. I didn't think the bento was amazing value, although I was glad I tried it. However, I would return to try the udon.