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$5 Meals at Melbourne Central
Home > Melbourne > Bars | Cheap | Dinner | Gluten Free | Lunch
Published July 11th 2016
The cheapest – and best – meals around
Getting a $5 meal around Melbourne Central is no mean feat, but good $5 feeds do exist, and I've gone out to prove it. There are two great venues in and around Melbourne Central offering a $5 dining experience, and not just for lunch – dinners too. We'll start with the well-known option: Asian Beer Café, located on level 3, overlooking the State Library.
There are many great value food and drink options at ABC, but of particular interest to me – a glutard – are the gluten-free $5 salad bowls.
These are available from 11am to 11pm, making them perfect for a light lunch or dinner. If you're the lucky kind of person who can eat gluten, you may be more tempted by the $5 pizzas also available from 11 to 11. I imagine they're more filling than the salad bowl, however I find these salads very satisfying. They're plastered with toppings, and have a good mixture of Asian cabbage and other greens. And, each come with guacamole, and a few corn chips. YES!
Your $5 salad bowl comes with your choice of any of the pizza toppings. I recommend 'Aladdin'.
Not only do I love a healthy $5 lunch, but I also enjoy the atmosphere of ABC. If it's a nice day, sit outside on the balcony and enjoy the view to the State Library and all the activity on its lawns
If it's cold outside, enjoy your $5 meal in the quirky interior of ABC. There's so much to see in here – I've made sure to sit in a different corner on each visit, just to take it all in.
Now to the lesser known $5 feed I recently discovered, which has since become a favourite: RedLove. You'll find the red door just north of Little Latrobe Street, about 70 metres away from the Swanston Street entrance to Melbourne Central.
Head upstairs into the elegant dimness above. It's a nightmare to get a photo of this place, because the lighting is kept low, and the décor is all black and deep red. So I'm sorry, no pictures here – you'll have to go check it out yourself.
The RedLove kitchen (called Brewhouse Kitchen) opens at 4pm from Tuesdays to Saturdays. I imagine the food specials are designed to bring in the after-work crowd to spend money on drinks. The only thing is, the drinks are cheap too! On Tuesday and Thursday you can get $5 pints of anything on tap, and $5 wines. Personally, getting a steak, burger or fish and chips with a pint of cider for a total of $10 is high up on my 'winning at life' list. I definitely have my priorities straight.
There is a normal menu too, with most items around $14, however there's a $5 deal on every day:
Doing my due diligence, I've been on a Tuesday and a Thursday now (and maybe on a Friday for the 2 for 1 drinks…)
The pressing question – how good can a $5 meal be? The answer is: very good. Unless you're a big eater, in which case, you might need two. But on a Thursday that means you can get a steak AND some fish and chips, for $10. I always find it hard to choose between steak and fish, so I happily ordered both and stuffed myself a little silly.
I was delighted to find that the fish was gluten free – grilled, not deep fried, and really nicely cooked. The meat portions were the right size for a serving, which means to our typically over-eating sensibilities, they looked a little small. But by the time I was tucking into my second meal, I was feeling rather full. The next time I went, I only ordered ONE, and I felt very healthy. (Well, healthy-ish. The side salad makes up for the chips, right?)
The quality is also good. It's nothing amazing, but for $5 I'd say it's excellent. The chips are lovely, the salads are fresh, and the meat has always been good quality and well-cooked.
On another visit, I took a friend for burgers, and she enjoyed her real burger option (by that I mean, she ate the bun). Me, I had a bun-less burger, and it was a fantastic way to go.
And, because we were spending $5 on the meal, we felt like a $5 cider and wine were an acceptable splurge. I took this photo in an attempt to show how huge the pints of cider are. It's the Brewhouse's own apple cider; enjoyed with some lime, it was a fresh, medium-sweet cider that I'll definitely drink again. The house red was of unknown origin, and I enjoyed it – but I'm a cheap red drinker. It's kind of my thing.
So, next time your wallet is feeling thin, and your stomach is calling for a decent meal, remember Red Love from Tuesday-Thursday after 4pm, and ABC all day, every day, 11am-11pm for pizzas and filling salads.
It's probably no surprise to you that these are now my second homes. Though, truth be told, the money I save on food by eating here gets spent on the $14 espresso martini at ABC. But hey, what's the point of saving money unless you spend it on something fun?
There are many great value food and drink options at ABC, but of particular interest to me – a glutard – are the gluten-free $5 salad bowls.
Not only do I love a healthy $5 lunch, but I also enjoy the atmosphere of ABC. If it's a nice day, sit outside on the balcony and enjoy the view to the State Library and all the activity on its lawns
If it's cold outside, enjoy your $5 meal in the quirky interior of ABC. There's so much to see in here – I've made sure to sit in a different corner on each visit, just to take it all in.
Now to the lesser known $5 feed I recently discovered, which has since become a favourite: RedLove. You'll find the red door just north of Little Latrobe Street, about 70 metres away from the Swanston Street entrance to Melbourne Central.
Head upstairs into the elegant dimness above. It's a nightmare to get a photo of this place, because the lighting is kept low, and the décor is all black and deep red. So I'm sorry, no pictures here – you'll have to go check it out yourself.
The RedLove kitchen (called Brewhouse Kitchen) opens at 4pm from Tuesdays to Saturdays. I imagine the food specials are designed to bring in the after-work crowd to spend money on drinks. The only thing is, the drinks are cheap too! On Tuesday and Thursday you can get $5 pints of anything on tap, and $5 wines. Personally, getting a steak, burger or fish and chips with a pint of cider for a total of $10 is high up on my 'winning at life' list. I definitely have my priorities straight.
There is a normal menu too, with most items around $14, however there's a $5 deal on every day:
Doing my due diligence, I've been on a Tuesday and a Thursday now (and maybe on a Friday for the 2 for 1 drinks…)
The pressing question – how good can a $5 meal be? The answer is: very good. Unless you're a big eater, in which case, you might need two. But on a Thursday that means you can get a steak AND some fish and chips, for $10. I always find it hard to choose between steak and fish, so I happily ordered both and stuffed myself a little silly.
I was delighted to find that the fish was gluten free – grilled, not deep fried, and really nicely cooked. The meat portions were the right size for a serving, which means to our typically over-eating sensibilities, they looked a little small. But by the time I was tucking into my second meal, I was feeling rather full. The next time I went, I only ordered ONE, and I felt very healthy. (Well, healthy-ish. The side salad makes up for the chips, right?)
The quality is also good. It's nothing amazing, but for $5 I'd say it's excellent. The chips are lovely, the salads are fresh, and the meat has always been good quality and well-cooked.
On another visit, I took a friend for burgers, and she enjoyed her real burger option (by that I mean, she ate the bun). Me, I had a bun-less burger, and it was a fantastic way to go.
And, because we were spending $5 on the meal, we felt like a $5 cider and wine were an acceptable splurge. I took this photo in an attempt to show how huge the pints of cider are. It's the Brewhouse's own apple cider; enjoyed with some lime, it was a fresh, medium-sweet cider that I'll definitely drink again. The house red was of unknown origin, and I enjoyed it – but I'm a cheap red drinker. It's kind of my thing.
So, next time your wallet is feeling thin, and your stomach is calling for a decent meal, remember Red Love from Tuesday-Thursday after 4pm, and ABC all day, every day, 11am-11pm for pizzas and filling salads.
It's probably no surprise to you that these are now my second homes. Though, truth be told, the money I save on food by eating here gets spent on the $14 espresso martini at ABC. But hey, what's the point of saving money unless you spend it on something fun?
Why? For great $5 meals
When: 11am-11pm everyday at ABC, or from 4pm Tues-Thurs at RedLove
Where: Melbourne Central, and 401 Swanston Street
Cost: $5
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