Dining out doesn’t always mean splashing out. Here are three new places where you can eat for $16 or less – including a Collingwood diner with some of the best buttermilk pancakes around, a new Indian spot off Smith Street, and a buzzing Japanese joint in the city that specialises in omurice.

Tokyo Motto

This casual spot in Bourke Street’s Midcity Centre is best known for omurice, a homey dish that sees a plain omelette draped like a blanket over tomato sauce-flavoured rice.

At chef and restaurateur Spring Chee’s Tokyo Motto, the dish starts at $14.50, but for a little bit extra you can add accompaniments like chicken katsu, vegetable tempura or a hamburger patty. There’s also chicken katsu or chicken karaage available for $11.50. If you’re feeling adventurous, try the restaurant’s Sapporo-spice miso ramen served with a wafer cone of soft serve in the middle of the bowl.

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Mild to Mirchi

At this new Smith Street spot from Satish Reddy Gogula, lunch service is about fast and affordable options. For $12.99, you can enjoy rice with one curry. There’s a spicy slow-cooked goat curry adapted from a Gogula family recipe, or the crowd-favourite mild butter chicken. Plus, on weekends between 11.30am and 3.30pm, there’s an unlimited lunch buffet for $19.99 per person.

Jollygood Diner

This Collingwood joint from chef Raphael Exton Pery marries the classic American diner with the quintessential Melbourne wine bar. The venue, near Collingwood Yards, has a something-for-everyone menu, with approachable all-day-diner-style dishes betraying some refined influences from Exton Pery’s time in establishments such as Gimlet, Spensley’s and Little Andorra.

Breakfast sandwiches start at $13, with add-ons like hash browns, fried mortadella or maple bacon. The venue is well known for its stack of three buttermilk pancakes, which is $16 and big enough to share. Come midday, you can get a club sandwich or a cheeseburger for $16, or a three-cheese grilled toastie for $13.