Northern Eatery serves a summery spin on schnitzel

Some restaurants arise out of strategy and spreadsheets, others spring from the heart. Northern Eatery is in the latter camp, operated by a Greek guy from Preston (Anastasios Stamatiou), the business partner he met during 12 years in Greece (Tony Tzoumabas), and the life partner and now chef he brought back from Athens (Dimitrios Petrakos).

If that makes it all sound very Greek, it isn't. Northern Eatery is a restaurant for the northern suburbs of Melbourne, cosmopolitan in outlook and welcoming to all.

Open almost a year, the modest dining room is comfortable and not too noisy. The service is personable and the food responds to the seasons, built upon daily trips to Preston Market.

So, right now you'll see lots of tomatoes, plenty of herbs and some last hurrahs from stonefruit. The leanings are Mediterranean but there's a little turmeric here, some quinoa there, and the occasional dash to Asia among the specials.

It's easy to share but you could also go with traditional entree-main-dessert if you like. A one-page well-priced wine list has a decent handful by the glass.

Shredded zucchini and carrot are tossed with cherry tomatoes, juicy spiced chicken fillets and flecks of parsley.

A simple Cretan-style salad with tomato, olive and fresh cheese is given a modern Melbourne spin by tumbling it with quinoa and ricotta.

Lamb backstrap is seasoned judiciously with lemon and pepper, nicely cooked to a deep pink, and served over smooth carrot puree.

Eggplant is combined with walnut and parmesan to form sweet, textured polpettine that are then fried and arranged over napoli.

Barramundi is crumbed and fried schnitzel-style and served with a vibrant panzanella salad (crouton, tomato, olives) jazzed up with pickled onions. It's a winner of a dish, the crunchy crumb echoed by the bread in the salad, the tart spike of the onions elevating the subtle flaking fish.

Braised goat shoulder – fall apart, succulent – is served with a tahini sauce, potatoes and – yes – tomato salad.

A dessert called "summer on a plate" – strawberries and oranges with gin-and-tonic granita – was tasty, yes, and refreshing, definitely, but oranges aren't a summer fruit so I found this a seasonal misstep.

This isn't complicated food. Every dish looks like exactly what it is, which also makes it easy for the kitchen to respond to allergies or preferences. It's a refreshing simplification of dinner, in a way: just food, in season, cooked with care and understanding and served at very fair prices.

Threading through it all is a deep understanding of the Melbourne dining scene. Stamatiou started as a teenage kitchenhand almost 30 years ago, and spent most of the 1990s at key Brunswick Street venues Joe's Garage and the Provincial, places that spurred the city to more interesting and vibrant times by combining casual drinking and dining with high quality.

Northern Eatery is a sincere exposition of similar values, updated for 2017: it's honest, high quality and rendered with a generous spirit.

Rating: Three and a half stars (out of five)