A Fan's Notes IV

Edit 02/01/2021: A Fan's Notes is now closed, but its owner runs Ballard's.

January 22, 2018

A Fan's Notes is still doing its fancy Friday night degustations, but for the rest of the week it's firmly a vegan-friendly dive bar. There are parmas, burgers, cheap tacos and so forth, plus reasonably priced booze, pub trivia and the occasional gig. It's a perfect little local. We noticed their Monday night specials - $5 vegan burgers - and couldn't resist heading along to check it out.

Of course, so did almost everyone else in the greater Melbourne area. When we got there about 7, the staff were visibly shell-shocked from the early rush and couldn't even tell us whether there'd be food available if we stuck around. The kitchen was closed temporarily and they suggested we check back in half an hour to see where things stood. We kicked back with drinks as things died down and were lucky that there turned out to be a few burgers left once the first wave of orders had been dealt with. Cindy requested the fish burger (a nori, tofu and lemon patty), while I went for the chilli burger (quinoa and beetroot patty with chipotle coleslaw, tomato and avocado).

At $5 a pop I had pretty low expectations, but these were both fantastic, way ahead of the more common mushroom or potato-based veggie patties and loaded with great condiments. The $5 price also brings out masses of people - too many for the kitchen to realistically handle. We've just seen that in future the Monday special is going to be a $15 drink/chips/burger combo, which still seems like an outrageously good deal - can't wait to check it out.

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Nobody's blogged this place since we visited in December. You can also see our previous posts here and here.

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A Fan's Notes
787 Nicholson St, Carlton North
9943 8373
burger menu
facebook page

Accessibility: There's a flat entry way to a slightly crowded interior. We ordered and paid at the high bar. There's a single, unisex toilet cubicle, which is up a step off an uneven path.