Good, solid brunch options are hard to find in Melbourne’s CBD. Until now

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Something went wrong with brunch. It became complicated. There was fairy floss and flowers. Shards and towers. Everything had to be epic: pulled pork in places it didn’t need to be, raspberries walking the catwalk. It worked the angles, photo-ready and fabulous but sometimes simply too much. You needed a nap to recover from brunch rather than enjoying the vim it gave you for the day.

Randy Dhamanhuri and Valerie Fong know all about this phenomenon. The Indonesian-born entrepreneurs launched their first cafe, Operator 25, a decade ago when there were hardly any destination brunch spots in the city and you had to explain what a matcha latte was. They sparked something, stuffing chocolate and cheese into French toast and refashioning TikTok trends for their menus.

Their latest place, Operator Diner, is something of a reaction against brunch
magnificence, finding joy in simple. Opened almost a year ago in the excellent Wesley Place precinct that also houses bluestone drinking hideout Caretaker’s Cottage and Korean cafe Ondo, Operator Diner taps into a nostalgia for American diners that most of us have probably absorbed from movies or music clips.

The design is retro swanky, with booths and space-age branding, wood-panelling and colour-blocky ceiling trim. It’s comfortable and relaxed – though less so if you’re lining up at 11am on Sunday, evil-eying the early birds taking advantage of the bottomless filter coffee served in chunky mugs.

The menu is Americana with canny Melbourne polish served to a hip-hop and
R&B soundtrack. Buttermilk pancakes are served with a puck of butter whipped with maple syrup and pecan. They look iconic, and they eat easily, too. French toast is fluffy and cinnamon-scented. English muffin is the base for the popular breakfast roll, stacked with house-made sausage patty, American cheese, a
soft scramble and smoky bacon chutney.

Fried chicken is done a few ways. Tenders are served with cheesy waffles, there’s juicy thigh poking out of a potato bun in a Japanesey spin on katsu, and there’s my favourite, the Julius Caesar salad with crunchy sliced thigh over a classic toss-up of cos lettuce, bacon, croutons and mustard-spiked dressing.

Espresso is still king in Melbourne, but the barista here seems to be constantly topping up the filter brew, suggesting more people are saying “See you later” to the latte. Iced tea is a diner staple and the version here is batched and served with pride. Milkshakes come in classic glasses with whipped cream but you know
you’re in Melbourne, Victoria, not Melbourne, Florida, because one of the flavours is Milo. Apple tarts are from excellent AM Bakehouse.

Operator Diner is polished but not posh, friendly but not froufrou and proves every day, there’s beauty in basic.