• It's a food court, but not as you know it

Neil Perry's Burger Project joins Melbourne's busy burger scene on Thursday.

The chef's burger joint is the first of eight mini-restaurants to take over the top floor of the city's new luxury retail centre, St Collins Lane. Its neighbours will filter in over the next few months, with another Sydney expat, taco joint Los Vida, due to open in late May.

For now, it's all about the "healthy" burgers that have taken Sydney by storm: mostly beef-based (a cheeseburger with bacon and "secret sauce"); chicken (think free-range and fried, coleslaw and katsu sauce) and a crumbed confit mushroom version for vegos.

There's a push for quality produce: Cape Grim beef patties (50/50 brisket and chuck) are hand-formed on the premises – you can watch the production line through a glass-walled open kitchen – and sauces and ice-creams are made in house. It's licensed if you fancy a beer with your burger.

Perry says his burgers aren't bad for you, "except for the cheese … and you can't have a cheeseburger without cheese".

Don't expect table service; it's still a fast-food concept – there's an order-pay-buzzer system and a free-for-all seating policy. When you're done, just dispose of your biodegradable rubbish into recycling bins.

This isn't the last you'll hear of Burger Project; Perry plans to open eight more outlets by the end of 2016. Chadstone shopping centre is up next and Brisbane gets a look-in soon, too.

Open daily 11am-9pm.

Shop 2.05, level 2, St Collins Lane, 260 Collins Street, Melbourne, burgerproject.com