There are some pretty good burgers on Smith St, but the best one I’ve had was at Betty. And it wasn’t just the burger that was great – the atmosphere, the setting, the service, the fitout, the Bob Dylan on the stereo, it all adds up to a terrific experience.
It’s also very colourful and friendly-looking, as you can see 
There were no tables free when we got there, but sitting on the couches just inside the front windows watching the passing Collingwood/Fitzroy foot traffic was cool. (OK, I love living in Collingwood, so this was always going to work for me.)
The fitout is kitschy old tables and chairs, which fits the area perfectly – the hipsters will go made for it 
But irrespective of their little eccentricities, it works really well for the setting.
Most excellent milkshake – I had the caramel and Cha had the strawberry, and both were very good.
I had the Betty’s burger – house-made beef and pork patty with bacon, egg, sundried tomato, Swiss cheese, lettuce, onion and pickle on a Turkish roll with wedges and aioli on the side – and it was as good as that sounds and as the photos looks. Photos often lie – a lot of my photos seem to make to food look better than it really is – but not here. It was great. Everything about it, with he possible exception of the bun, which I found a bit crunchy. But the patty, the cheese, the bacon, the sundried tomato, the (free-range) egg, the dressing – great. I’m not an egg-lover in general – although I’ve eaten a lot in my life, especially since getting to Melbourne – but this one really added to the burger. Great flavours, all working together in a really good way.
And the wedges were the best I’ve had anywhere, with a really good aioli dip. Like, REALLY GOOD WEDGES.
They’ve got other stuff on the menu that I want to try, but it’s going to take massive will power not to order the burger.
Cha had a salad – Salt ‘n Pepa calamari on a bed of roquette salad with a blood orange & mango salsa – which was also really nice, but not UTTERLY AWESOME like the burger.
TLDR: Really excellent food, service, location, ambience. Get along, you deserve it.
