Residents in Melbourne’s Northern suburbs are being treated to a new range of culinary delights with Greensborough Plaza’s new ‘Tables on the Green’ casual dining precinct launching today.

The precinct is enhancing its entertainment and dining offering with the introduction of five quality food retailers including Schnitz, Dumpling Chef, Groove Train, Flame400 and Fukutonei Ramen, along with a luxury upgrade to the precinct’s Hoyts movie theatre and the introduction of a new Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Store.

The new precinct comes as casual dining continues to rise in popularity. Director of Brain & Poulter food consultants, Suzee Brain explains that consumers are dining out now more than ever before however supplementing this expenditure by seeking cheaper dining options.

“ Overall food catering has only risen by 5% in the last five years however the casual dining sector is really driving this growth and has risen by 30%,” Suzee Brain said.

“ Consumers are looking for more affordable dining options that still allow them to dine out rather than at home, which is why casual dining is rising at a rate six times higher than that of other dining categories such as fast food and fine dining.”

Greensborough Plaza’s Centre Manager, Isaac Tait, said the upgrade has been designed to provide additional eating out options for locals in the area and features large dining areas designed to provide the perfect environment for consumers to share a bite to eat with loved ones.

“ With customers becoming increasingly time poor and shifting towards a preference for a more relaxed and casual restaurant option we decided to create Tables on the Green to encourage locals to see Greenborough Plaza as a place where they can share a meal with family and friends,” Tait said.

“Schnitz opened last week ahead of schedule and already we are seeing that it is very popular amongst locals and shop goers; for many of these premium casual restaurants this is their first local offering so there is a lot of buzz around the brands arriving to Greensborough Plaza,” he said.

Coinciding with the launch of Tables on the Green, the Plaza’s Hoyts movie theatre has also recently completed a substantial refurbishment to now feature reclining chairs throughout each theatre and a Ben & Jerry’s Scoop Shop with a range of their famous ice cream flavours available for movie-goers.

Tables on the Green was officially opened today with Banyule City Council Mayor, Tom Melican, cutting the ribbon for the momentous occasion and mark the beginning of a series of free activities for shop goers running during December.

Visitors to Greensborough Plaza will be treated to bite size food samples from each new restaurant throughout each day, acoustic performances from local artists, a resident DJ and silent disco and a series of fun kid’s activities such as face painting.

Restaurants will be serving a variety of cuisines including a modern day twist on the traditional schnitzel (Schnitz), Japenese (Fukutonei Ramen), modern Australian cuisine with European influences (Groove Train), Chinese (Dumpling Chef) and café style burgers (Flame 400).

An additional restaurant, Three Red Stripes, which serves traditional Vietnamese is also set to join the other restaurants at Tables on the Green and will open in early 2017.