Fitz Curry Cafe III

May 8, 2026 

 

   

 

The next stop in our 20 year anniversary tour of the 2006 Cheap Eats guide is the 25-year-old Fitz Curry Cafe. It's well over a decade (perhaps nearing two!) since we last visited, but Fitz Curry was an early front-runner in Michael's search for a favourite Melbourne Indian restaurant. The Cheap Eats review highlighted their organic ingredients; these seem to be less of a selling point in 2026, although the cafe's website mentions organic flour roti.

 

   

 

Eating in at Fitz Curry includes that touch of Indian restaurant hospitality we love: a basket of papadams with a light yoghurt-based mint chutney. Having had one cocktail and little food in the preceding hours, I fell upon these enthusiastically.

 

   

 

We ordered as we did so many years ago: navaratan korma ($8-10 in 2006, $23.99 in 2026), malai kofta ($8-10 in 2007, $24.99 in 2026), garlic naan ($4.99), and steamed basmati rice ($4.99). The curries were quite mild and sweet (we requested medium heat), the kind we've known and enjoyed many times from family Indian restaurants. We're more excited about the likes of Horn Please, Bhang and Masti these days, but Fitz Curry Cafe hit the mark for a nostalgia tour such as this.

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You can read about one, two of our previous Fitz Curry experiences. 

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Fitz Curry Cafe

44 Johnston St, Fitzroy

9495 6119 

banquets, mains page 1, mains page 2, sides & desserts 

https://fitzcurrycafe.com.au/

 

Accessibility: There are two shallow steps up on entry and a clear, flat corridor through the middle of the restaurant. Furniture is densely packed, consisting of regular height tables and backed chairs. We ordered at our table and paid at a high counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Harissa butter beans

May 6, 2026

   

 

I've got a bit of a type when it comes to dinner recipes: come up with some kind of one-pot, bean-based situation with lots of flavour and a solid dose of veggies and I'm going to put it on my list. So when I saw a colleague eating this for lunch at work I was immediately nagging her to send me the recipe. 

It's very simple and very adaptable and has already had a second go around for a weeknight dinner here - you've got a bit of bite from the harissa smoothed out by the coconut milk and some nice depth of flavour from the nooch and the sun-dried tomatoes. Butter beans are great here, but it would work equally well with white beans. We've had it with little roti breads on the side (as pictured) and with some fresh sourdough, both of wich were excellent. It will slot smoothly into the rotation, alongside other beany favourites. 

Harissa butter beans

(via this recipe from Nutri View)

2 cans butter beans, drained and rinsed

1 tablespoon olive oil

2 shallots, peeled and sliced finely

4 garlic cloves, minced

1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes in oil, chopped (the recipe drains the oil off, but I reckon it's worth tipping it in!)

3 tablespoons harissa paste

400ml coconut milk

2 tablespoons nutritional yeast

1 teaspoon garlic powder

1 bunch kale, stemmed and roughly chopped

Heat the olive oil over med-high heat in a large pot and cook the shallots for a few minutes until they've softened. Add in the garlic and cook, stirring, for another minute or two. Tip in the sun-dried tomatoes and their oil and stir to combine. 

Add the butter beans and the harissa, stirring to coat the beans in the spice paste. After a couple of minutes, tip in the coconut milk and lower the heat. Bring the mix to a low simmer and stir in the nutritional yeast, garlic powder and salt and pepper to taste. 

Simmer for about 15 minutes until it's thickened a bit and then add the chopped kale, cooking just long enough for it to properly wilt - about 5 minutes. 

Serve, with whatever bread product you fancy. 

Trippy Taco V

May 2, 2026 

 

   

 

Trippy Taco does not actually appear in the 2006 Cheap Eats guide, but it's entrenched in where's the beef? lore, opening on Smith St in that first year we lived in Melbourne and instantly becoming Michael's favourite place for a workday lunch, as well as a semi-regular nighttime hang-out with friends. It's now been on Gertrude St much longer than it was ever on Smith, and most recently we walked across from the VAS Gallery with some friends for a weekend lunch. 

 

While the menu's not strictly the same, changes to the spread of casual Mexican-inspired foods are subtle: there are no longer sultanas in the salads, and they now offer something called 'heart attack fries'. Everything's vegetarian; vegan and gluten-free options are plentiful; and there's more dietary information than most places on the printed menu. 

 

   

 

A large basket of trippy fries ($9) for the table was essential. (The smaller serving was $4 in 2008 and is now $7 in 2026.) Their seasoning has always been heavy on the smoked paprika and that's how everyone likes it.

 

   

 

Michael returned to an old fave, the tofu asada burrito ($9 in 2008 and now $17 in 2026). It's precisely as it's always been, from his memory: chunky and full of flavour, with bright salad and guacamole, and even better when doused in something from TT's hot sauce collection. 

 

   

 

I've always had a soft spot for the Trippy Taco tamale ($8.50 for a more elaborate version in 2008, now $13 in 2026 + $3 for guacamole + $2.50 for salsa) - so sweet and tender and carby! I still haven't had the dessert version, once a special and now a menu fixture. Twenty years later, Trippy Taco still has a little more to offer us. 

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You can read about one, two, three, four of our past visits to Trippy Taco. Since then, it's appeared on veg*n blogs melbourne with the rocket, Green Gourmet Giraffe, I Spy Plum Pie, Veggo Melburnian, and I Travel For Vegan Food. It's also appeared on omni blogs They Call Me Maggie, FOOD CHEE, Sweet & Sour Fork, Ms I-Hua, The Epicurean of Southbank, and Melbourne Vita.  

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Trippy Taco

234 Gertrude St, Fitzroy

9415 7711 

menu: one, two 

https://www.trippytaco.com.au/

 

Accessibility: There's one step on entry, and there's a clear flat pathway through the centre. Furniture is densely arranged, regular height tables and backed chairs. We ordered and paid at a high counter. We didn't visit the toilets. 

Arepa Days

April 19, 2026

 

   

 

Arepa Days has been on our wishlist since it opened, it being a sibling to Michael's beloved Sonido. (The list ticks over slowly, with Arepa Days opening back in 2018.) At long last, I found my excuse to meet up with a friend there for Sunday brunch! I love the cafe's relaxed fit-out and splashes of colour, though I'd rather more of the seats had backs. Thankfully I was in early enough to grab a bench against the wall. 

 

The name clearly indicates the features here: a daytime cafe with a menu centred on arepas. The menu is mostly gluten-free, and the arepas are also vegan when not explicitly cheese-stuffed. They can be served simply, with just cheese, butter and salt or some corn, or built up with eggs, beans, pulled beef, even black pudding. There are rice bowls, too, lots of sides to customise your plate, and an attractive little selection of sweets at the counter. 

 

   

 

I was early and cold, and started with a chai ($6.40). It was milky and not too sweet; it could have been spicier but was nevertheless lovely to nurse.

 

   

 

When it came time to eat, I went for the huevos arepa plate ($18.10) with a side of beans ($5.50). It looked a little small but proved deeply satisfying, with lots of golden scrambled eggs striped with hogao and piled onto a soft arepa, the flavourful beans dotted with feta and everything scattered with fresh coriander leaves.

 

Staff were happy to let us linger, and I would have lingered longer still if I didn't have places to be. Arepa Days was everything I anticipated.

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Arepa Days has also been reviewed by Mamma Knows North. 

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Arepa Days

25 Preston St, Preston  

food, drinks 

https://www.arepadays.com.au/

 

Accessibility: Arepa Days has a wide entry with one step up. The interior is quite crowded with furniture, mostly regular-height tables with backless stools, and some benches along the walls. We ordered and paid at a low counter. We didn't visit the toilets.

Lankan Tucker II

April 12, 2026 

 

   

 

Michael loved our first visit to Lankan Tucker, but it just wasn't conveniently located for us to make many follow-up visits. Last year Lankan Tucker shifted to Carlton, nestled within College Square and invisible from the street, but Michael got wind of it somehow. We took refuge there for lunch on a day with dreadful weather, and were warmed by the staff welcome long before the food.

 

While the menu starts with eggs and toast, it's Sri Lankan flavours from then on: lots of roti, a biriyani burrito, tacos stuffed with black pork curry, and banana leaf rice and curry. There aren't any dietary markings on the menu, but the staff seem to know their stuff.

 

   

 

Michael relished the vegetarian version of kotthu roti ($26), a warming toss-up of shredded roti, veges and egg flavoured with soy sauce and chilli, nicely charred around the edges and garnished with curry leaves. It worked well with a fresh glow juice (carrot, apple and ginger, $10, pictured top). 

 

   

 

Sadly for me they were all out of Milo French toast (and now I think it's disappeared from their menu entirely!). I bounced back rapidly, having seen faluda on the menu ($10, pictured top). This one's a cheerful layering of rose syrup, milk and cream with a sprinkling of seeds, but no rival to the over-the-top versions I've previously enjoyed at Savour and Maalu Maalu. More unique was the veg pan roll ($7, pictured above), subtitled "the much cooler cousin of the sausage roll": here a warm vegetable curry is wrapped in a crepe, crumbed and deep-fried. The shell reminded me more of a Chiko roll, though it was much better, with this roll offering greater sophistication in its textures and flavours. No sauce needed!

 

   

 

Lankan Tucker are also doing quite a line in take-home products, from T-shirts to preserves, tea and ready-made meals.

 

It was so nice to be back at Lankan Tucker after so many years. Though they're tucked away, they've remained front of mind and I've already been back for another faluda-pan roll lunch! 

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You can also read about our previous visit to Lankan Tucker at its original location. Since then, its Brunswick West incarnation was reviewed on Melbourne Vita, Good Food, Good Karma, and Whatever Floats Your Bloat. 

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Lankan Tucker

570 Lygon St, Carlton

8000 3929 

food, drinks 

https://www.lankantucker.com/

 

Accessibility: Lankan Tucker has a flat entry and a heavy door. Furniture is medium spaced, mostly regular height tables and backed chairs. There is one large table located up two steps, and one large high table with backed metal seats. We ordered at our table and paid at a high bar.