Often they rival any dishes you would find in any fancy fine diner. Going out for a meal is sometimes a big occasion, worth the splurge. But it doesn't have to be that way. From banh mi to tonkotsu ramen, biang biang noodles to vegan burgers, and pretty much everything else in between, some of Sydney's greatest culinary hits are the cheapest.
T hese are the ones well worth their salt. Brendan King says his nanna never cooked while he was growing up, and instead always remembers his grandpa in the kitchen, preparing spiced tandoori wings and fiery pork vindaloo.
This old faithful is famous for hand-pulled noodles with pork mince, and boiled, fried or steamed Northern Chinese dumplings. Pork and chive are an essential order, but don't overlook the eggplant bathed in a searing hot special sauce with intensely garlicky bok choy that must be one of Haymarket's most frequently ordered dishes.
Other notable mentions go to the delicious chicken and peanut number, and the crunchy cucumber salad with chilli and enough garlic to repel Edward Cullen and co. Our tip: get here early — this Haymarket eatery gets full quick. Queues still snake outside this Chinatown cheap eat during the week and for good reason.
The roti is paper thin, stretchy and the perfect vehicle to mop up nutty lentil curry and funky sambal. Coconut rice is surrounded by crisp fried anchovies , sweet and fiery sambal, cool cucumbers, a boiled egg and peanuts. After closing the much-lauded Billy Kwong in , beloved restauranteur and celebrity chef Kylie Kwong returned in , much to the delight of hungry Sydneysiders, with her lunchtime-only restaurant in the buzzing South Eveleigh dining precinct.
While Billy was all upscale elegance, Lucky Kwong is a simpler affair — a warm and relaxed diner that puts accessibility and sustainability front and centre.
With brick armour, a couple of sky-blue chairs out the front and photos of meals stuck on the street-facing wall, you may even drive past the eatery and not notice it, such is the no-frills aesthetic of this Thai restaurant.
But that would be a real shame, because this ten-table joint is home to excellent and affordable Thai food. Go to Thai town. Fratelli Fresh, in all incarnations, is the unofficial champion of the happy hour and meal deal. When a company has as many franchises as the Fratelli family does, it's easy to expect the quality to drop and for things to get a bit so-so but despite the odds, diners can still get some seriously quality chow and a bottomless Aperol Spritz to boot.
Parents can also breathe a sigh of relief because kids under 12 eat free every Sunday. The Cebu Island version is said to be the best, stuffed with aromatics like star anise, garlic, lemongrass and shallots, before slowly being roasted over charcoal for three hours.
It's the star of the show at this casual eatery, which is now found in Blacktown. We love to see it. But it's pretty bloody good. Since , this Italian joint on Stanley Street has been serving up massive and cheap meals to Sydney's hungry hoards.
May it never stop. Legendary Sydney spot Malay Chinese is now in Circular Quay , found down the steps at Sydney Place. Don't wear white. Pick from an array of tins holding crunchy butter lettuce, sweet beetroot, pickles, and crisp cucumbers.
Beware: structural integrity could be compromised if you play too fast and loose with additions. In good news, Aebi now accepts card payments. Happiness in a bite?
The seasons change but the steadfast joy of eating old-school Italian fare, right down to a cheeky tortellini boscaiola, at this long-serving red sauce joint never fades. If you have a mighty hunger and not a huge amount in the bank, head here for a pizza and pasta party, and why not BYO?
It's only a few bucks a head. A tried and true stalwart of Sydney's fierce Thai restaurant scene. The menu is a staggering 82 items long, so make like the rest of Sydney: start from the top, work your way down, and repeat over and over again.
Or just start with the revelatory o melette in a sour Thai soup, and head backwards from there. Xi An Cuisine doesn't have a website, though you can find the hole-in-the-wall on 90 Hay Street Haymarket — and you absolutely should. Born in Malacca in Southwestern Malaysia, Azizah Mohamed and husband Mahdhar Mustapha love to cook the food of their homeland.
Now, the duo has opened up their first bricks-and-mortar restaurant in Sydney's south west, called Warung Taming Sari, inspired by the warungs dotted all over Malaysia. This is charcoal chook at its finest, complemented by a supporting ensemble of Lebanese bread, fluorescent pickles and an almighty garlic sauce so pungent it could ward off an army of vampires.
Cult ramen restaurant Gumshara has a new location in Chinatown, and while you may have to line up for a bowl of goodness, it's absolutely worth it. It takes a whopping seven days to make the pork stock for the tonkotsu ramen and just three ingredients: water, miso and kg of pork bones.
The result is a rich, soul-warming bowl of noodle soup with an incredible porky flavour. Some of the very best burgers in the entire city await at this CBD stalwart, and perhaps the very best of them is the Blame Canada.
It's a cult classic, a thick, gram Wagyu patty topped with crisp, maple-glazed bacon, American cheese, poutine! and maple aioli on a milk bun. Hangovers, be gone! Forget about it. What you will find, though, if you happen to stroll past Elizabeth Street around lunchtime, is a line nearly snacking out the door, proving old-fashioned word of mouth still works.
Come for the mixed plate, which comes with two main numbers, three sides, rice and japchae, cooked by owner chef Mary Lee. This is Seoul food at its best. Ex-Aria Aria and Barangaroo House chef, Omar Hsu, dishes up the street food flavours of his homeland with dons rice bowls , hot snacks, cold sides and refreshing Taiwanese teas.
Frango in Petersham has long been a crowd favourite — so popular, in fact, that there are Frango stores popping up all around Sydney, including Bella Vista, Concord, Drummoyne, Edmondson Park, Gregory Hills, Penrith, Smithfield.
Now there's one in Marrickville , too. It's no wonder it's popular — they've been perfecting their butterflied and charcoal-grilled chicken more than 30 years.
It's also loved for its chicken burgers, lathered with mayo, as well as chilli sauce if you like it spicy. Grilled over charcoal, deep-fried, or deep-fried and coated in a sweetish glaze, Javanese style: those are the three choices you have when it comes to how you want the famous chicken prepared at this Kingsford Indonesian mainstay.
Bring the crew, order all three, compare notes and don't skip the satay or sambal either. All thrills, no frills and open till midnight all seven days of the week, this Indian-Pakistani institution offers pretty much everything you could ever want in a classic curry house.
Slow-cooked curries over rice? Solid tandoori chicken? Sweet, fluffy Kashmiri naan? And for the adventurous? Spicy brain nihari all the way. Executive chef Arman Uz has drawn on his Turkish heritage to create authentic and tasty street food plates.
Rosa Cienfuegos is famous for her tamales, steamed hot pockets of white corn flour masa flavoured with chicken and sharp tomatillo salsa. Or maybe you want the earthier flavours of the mole version.
Banh mi here are a celebration of simple things done well: the soft yet crunchy roll, three types of pork, the fistful of salad, hearty pâté, special chilli sauce and all.
You may associate Sydney's southern suburbs with golden beaches, national parks and the quarter acre block, but a love of yum cha transcends all postcodes in the Harbour City, which is why you may want to book for this Blakehurst Chinese restaurant taking care of dumpling cravings in the south.
As with all yum cha, the bill will reflect just how carried away you may or may not get but individual dishes and getting full rather than stuffed is absolutely achievable on a budget here.
Delivery and pick up are available. Willoughby isn't exactly the first place that comes to mind when you think of Sydney dining destinations but to dismiss this tiny hole in the wall would be a mistake.
La Botte on Willoughby Road is in the class of old-school Aussie-Italian eateries, with simple dishes done very, very well. The paper-thin sheets of pasta in the ravioli is an absolute must order.
At Keita Abe's pocket-sized ramen venue the broth is the colour of an egg yolk. It tastes unlike any other ramen in Sydney. Never had banh cuon? You need to. These silky rice noodle rolls are a traditional Vietnamese breakfast staple, usually cooked at little roadside stalls as swarms of scooters zoom past, and Banh Cuon Ba Oanh's are about as close as Sydneysiders can get to the real deal.
That includes a tiny kitchen cloaked in clouds of steam and squishy tables with ankle-high stools that will test your flexibility. Order the classic version, and your rice noodles will be rolled with a rubble of pork mince and flecks of crunchy black fungus.
The Inner West junk food lords have been flipping burgers worth crossing town for since The plant-based burger patties have a proper taste and texture, and solidly seasoned cauliflower serves as a knockout stand-in for fried chicken.
Thick, chewy, slurp-worthy noodles the width of a belt slathered in chilli and finished with slow-cooked pork and crunchy vegetables? Sign us up. Hot tip: the Haymarket outlet is BYO. Bolognese-filled arancini, steaming pasta set on newspapers, ciabatta rolls filled with Italian pork, perfectly-piped cannoli it's the kind of food you want to grab and wander around a Tuscan market eating.
Thankfully, there's no need to head that far — you can now pick it up in Kings Cross. In moving to a CBD food court, what it may have lost in suburban charm it has made up for in regular accessibility.
Is Alice Tan's char kway teow still the best in town? It certainly gives the competition a run for its moneybags. Expect to find soft, white, heavily buttered bread rolls plated up with rich chickpea stews, puffy flat breads crisped on a hot grill and samosas. Or maybe just bits of fried dough, smashed and splattered with yoghurt and tamarind syrup.
Hold your head over the deep bowl of beef soup chock-a-block with rice noodles, raw beef slices and curls of onion and breathe in deep. The stock is the clincher in any pho noodle soup, and the version here is a winner — light on oil and punchy with flavour. Grab a plastic tray, a pair of tongs and load up on yum cha favourites like har gow, pork siu mai and char siu bao, or have at the pineapple buns, red bean sesame balls and traditional desserts like Cantonese white gourd pies.
The odds are in your favour at Chat Thai — you can point to pretty much anything on the menu and walk away a winner, which is why it has grown into a restaurant empire. The multi-level Thaitown outlet might just be the best of lot, if only for the late-night trading hours and the added bonus of BYO.
Banh mi are almost a Sydney religion and here they make them cheap and crunchy. Pick your preference when it comes to choosing chilli, pâté and the special sauce make sure you get it all.
There is the traditional pork a cold cut combo , deep pink barbecue pork, crackling pork belly, chicken or dense meatballs. It's so popular that if you do go to this one, on Illawarra Rd near the corner of Marrickville Rd, you'll likely have to queue.
Hot tip: there's another one down the other end of Illawara Rd that's less busy. And there are others that have popped up in Darling Square and on Loftus Lane in the CBD.
Best falafel in Sydney? It's a big call, but these super crisp, fried-to-order handfuls of chickpea and herbs studded with sesame seeds are definite contenders. Have 'em in a pita pocket or on a platter with dips and pickles, and if the carnivore in you has an itch that needs scratching, the charcoal-grilled meats are as charry and juicy as you want them to be.
Thai food takes some modern turns at this buzzy Chatswood eatery beneath Westfield. You can, however, still get your hands on classics like a killer kra pao. Holy Basil, indeed. First comes a complimentary plate of pickled salad, chilli, olives, tomatoes, onions and mint.
Then, the platter itself arrives: hummus, tabouli, falafel, baba ghanoush, kofte, kibbeh and shish kebab. Talk about bang for your buck North and South Indian thali plates are a smart way to try as much as possible.
A lot of work goes into getting the chicken right at Flying Tong. The speciality at Gogyo is kogashi, or burnt miso, ramen. But you probably knew that already because you were one of the hordes of people who lost their minds when this Japanese chain landed in Sydney in Or you simply walked in for a bowl of ramen, smelled the scorching woks and spotted bowls of the black stuff on every other table.
You know the drill. It starts with the slowly spinning vertical rotisserie, jammed tight with chicken, lamb or beef. It's the simple things. The rice paper rolls more than do the trick, and if a colossal crepe is what you crave, the banh xeo has your name on it.
There are only a handful of burgers on the menu, but Kerby Craig's Barangaroo burger joint makes a convincing case not only that more burgers should have Japanese accents, but also that ridiculously crunchy lotus root crisps should stand in for French fries more often.
The housemade sodas are a must, too. Serving Leicchardt since , Bar Italia is the Platonic ideal of the suburban Italian restaurant. Arrabbiata, amatriciana, bolognese, carbonara, marinara, napoletana, parmigiana, pizzaiola, puttanesca — you name it, they've got it.
To Malso Lokal. Be it for concerts, plays, or its legendary flea market — the Kulturzentrum Reitschule Reitschule cultural centre on Schützenmatte is a popular event location. Its restaurant is also well worth a visit: The Sous le Pont offers fresh, regional, and mainly organic meals made from fairly produced ingredients — and the prices are more than fair, too.
The delicious soup starters, for example, only cost a few francs. And the varying main courses always include vegetarian and vegan options as well as generous pasta dishes.
To Sous le Pont. Its delicious food, always freshly prepared, has earned it a large fan base. Traditional meat dishes such as shish kebab, chicken or fish are also on the menu.
To Pittaria. The principle is as simple as it is sustainable: Bread, sandwiches and pastries from the day before — all perfectly fine baked goods from local bakeries and pastry shops — are sold at a reduced price.
This means that the assortment varies from day to day and you never know what will await you. To the Ässbar. They each have their own charm and specialities. The iconic Tramway owes its reputation not only to its laid-back, down-to-earth charm, but also to a dish for which it is famous far and wide: their cordon bleu made from Swiss pork and served with fries, which comes at the unbeatable price of And its size is unbeatable, too, so make sure you arrive with an appetite!
Speaking of cheese: Tramway also has its own fondue blend. Be it summer or winter, the delicious, savoury speciality is served at under 20 francs per person. To the Tramway. The cultural events are usually accompanied by food, with everything being very reasonably priced.
A three-course meal, for example, will cost you a mere 30 francs. To the Heitere Fahne. Best accompanied, of course, by a genuine Swiss raclette or fondue. The ambiance is not, as one might expect, rustic and traditional, but rather an urban, modern interpretation of the chalet style, attracting everything from tourists to homesick Valaisans.
And late risers, take note: on Sundays, brunch is served until 4 p. To the Lötschberg. Since the spring of , Emrah Tüysüz and Marion Ingold of Falafingo have been creating delicious Anatolian dishes from börek to baklava, delighting guests with their excellent Turkish coffee and warm hospitality.
Be it a traditional Anatolian breakfast, falafel, or a halloumi sandwich, everything is prepared with love. To Falafingo. On the menu, sweet classics with sugar and cinnamon or maple syrup are joined by modern creations with honey and ginger or vegan chocolate.
To La Chouette. Prepare for Kurdish hospitality in the heart of the Länggasse neighbourhood: The owner of Ali Baba always has a smile on his face and serves delicacies that seem to have sprung straight out of the tales of Nights.
Naturally, drinks are also served in style: the small appetizer plates are accompanied by raki and aromatic tea in small, ornate cups. To Ali Baba. But small it is indeed, there really are only a few seats.
Sit on one of the park benches or the green lawn and enjoy the sweet-and-sour chicken or the spicy noodles with vegetables along with the best view of the Matte neighbourhood, the Aare river, and the Alps.
The meal has to be right around $5. 2. We're looking for the best food the joint offers on a budget. It's not about the most food you can get Here are the best restaurant deals we know of for the upcoming week. Plan your meals out for the best day of the week for a discount. Invite a friend along for Looking for food deals near you? Look no further. We've rounded up all the current restaurant specials, including free food, weekday food
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