50 Of Melbourne’s Best Cheap Eats Under $10

Fifteen years ago you could have bought two large sausage rolls, three party pies and a Nippies chocolate milk for your Friday school lunch order and still get change from five bucks. Now you can barely get a happy hour G&T because inflation is the worst thing since rye bread. So to celebrate the current financial climate, we’ve put together a list of Melbourne's best cheap eats under $10 in our expensive beautiful city to help you distance yourself—ever so slightly—from the poverty line.

Below you'll get a hold of the best value restaurants, cafes, and bars in town—because we all need a cheap dinner now and then.

1. Get your Vietnamese street food fix with $3.50 rice paper rolls at Nhan Ngai on Richmond’s Swan Street.
2. Splash out for the $7 Crumbed Tasmanian Camembert at Shaw Davey Slum in Carlton, you can even pair it with a $2 pot of beer or cider and you’ll still be under budget.
3. Pizzas at Fitzroy’s Bimbo Deluxe are $4, which means you can bloody well have two! This pizza special occurs at different times each day, so make sure you check the website before you head over.
4. There’s good and bad news: you’ll be 80c short for a laksa at Flemington’s Laksa King, but you can still get four of their chargrilled satay chicken skewers for $8.80!
5. Shut the front door. The chicken pad thai at Asian Beer Cafe in the CBD is $9.
6. Pop across the road and you can grab a bowl of smoky mac ’n cheese from Father’s Office for only $8.
7. Head on down to our favourite watering hole by the Yarra and you can pick yourself up some $6 zucchini and halloumi fritters with labne and zhoug from Arbory Bar and Eatery.
8. We hope you’re sitting down because the tacos at the Fitzroy Social are no less than TWO DOLLARS.
9. But if it’s reeeaaal Me-hi-cahn you’re after, you can grab $8 Chilaquiles (fancy nachos) at La Tortilleria in Kensington.
10. Head up the road a bit and you’ll hit the brand new Mr Griffiths Bar on Macaulay Road where for only $8.50 you can grab the ‘G’s Burger’ with beef, cheese, pickles, onions, ketchup and mustard.
11. Cross the city to Collingwood where you can fork out $9.50 for a famous Flaxseed Falafel kebab at Biggie Smalls.
12. Or alternatively, spend that same $9.50 on the equally renowned ‘8Bit Burger With Cheese’ at in the CBD.
13. Spend an hour trying to track down Japanese restaurant, Don Don, in the CBD and then cough up only $7.70 for their delish chicken curry don (Japanese curry with teriyaki chicken on rice).
14. Get a lil bit fancy at The Atlantic with some $2 oysters, now that's cheap. Available Monday to Wednesday throughout winter.
15. Head on over to the Maeve Fox in Richmond for a some $1 dumplings and spring rolls on Fridays from 5-9pm.
16. Be a proper tight arse on Tuesdays from 3pm at the St Kilda Branch where they’re offering up 50c wings. Happy hour also runs until 7pm and features $5 house wines and $6 spirits.
17. PSA: Collingwood’s Mr Scruff’s has $5 nachos on Wednesday evenings.
18. This one’s a bit of a secret, but you can get $8 Philly cheesesteaks on Monday nights at The Catfish.
19. If you go to Naked For Satan in Fitzroy on any Sunday evening from 6pm, you can have literally any dish on the menu for $9.
20. Forget Philly cheesesteaks, you can get $9 Philly cheesesteak SPRING ROLLS with honey mustard aioli at Belleville in the CBD.
21. You can grab a $6.95 Dose meal at Dosa Corner in the CBD, which includes a plain dosa, idly, vada and drink.
22. Head over to the Malaysian Laksa House on Elizabeth Street in the CBD and grab a $9.80 vegetarian laksa.
23. Load up on three sushi rolls and a miso soup for $7.50 at Sushi Monger in the CBD.
24. You can fork out $9.50 for the Schnitty Bao at Mr Miyagi in Windsor.
25. Wander down to Misuzu’s at Albert Park for $9.50 Pork Gyoza.
26. Drop you homemade peanut butter sanga, because Burger Project in the CBD do their Classic Beef Burger for no more than $9.90.
27. Channel your inner New-Yorker and treat yourself to a $6 pizza bagel at 5 & Dime in the CBD.
28. $8.80 can buy you not one BUT FOUR BBQ pork bao at Wonderbao in the CBD.
29. Aphro & Wolfe are the cheese toastie connoisseurs of Fitzroy North (if not Melbourne) and have a $9 classic cheese toasty on their menu.
30. You can pay even less for a $7.50 toasted salami focaccia with halloumi, mushrooms, olives, tomatoes and roasted capsicum from The Green Refectory in Brunswick.
31. Pay up $7.80 for two satay chicken and cucumber Vietnamese rice paper rolls at Misschu in South Melbourne.
32. We’ve got your Friday night sorted because FAT Fried And Tasty do their ‘The Original’ crispy fried chicken burger with coleslaw and mayo for only $9.90. They do it at that price every day, but Fridays already embody a real feeling of celebration.
33. Head over to Son In Law in Collingwood and spend $9 on 3 prawn spring rolls.
34. For $7 you can grab the ‘Just Cheese Please’ at Gami Chicken & Beer in Fitzroy, which is no less than three pieces of deep fried cheese sticks with sweet chilli sauce, served with cabbage salad and apple dressing. 
35. Hawthorn’s Holy Moly serve $5 classic pizzas (such as Margherita, Calabrese and Napoletana) between 12-3pm and 6-9pm Monday-Saturday and all day Sunday.
36. Ok so this deal’s a bit sweeter–you can get an $8 ice cream sandwich from Windsor’s Bistro Morgan. Not only that but you also get to choose the type of doughnut, the ice cream flavour AND topping variety.
37. Head east and grab the $8.90 American Potato Gems with American cheddar, or chilli cheese sauce & spring onion from the Fish & Burger Co. in Doncaster East.
38. See what all the fuss is about with a $3.90 baked cheese tart from Hokkaido Baked Cheese Tart Australia in Melbourne Central.
39. Treat yo’ self to possibly the best toastie in the entire city with a $9.50 ‘All American’ cheese toastie from Maker & Monger at the Prahran Market.
40. You can throw your diet to the kerb with $9.00 onion rings and a mac & cheese croquette from Truck Stop Deluxe in Werribee.
41. You can grab a $6.60 wok fried rice with hot and tasty Japanese-style fried rice, scrambled egg, minced BBQ pork and spring onion at Little Ramen Bar in the CBD.
42. Get your cheap eats early with the $9 ‘Ellen’ breakfast burger packed with a hash brown, avocado, lettuce, tomato, smoked paprika mayo, and tomato sauce from Huxtaburger in Collingwood.
43. Cough up $8 for Agathé Pâtisserie’s famous Creme Brulee at the South Melbourne Market (everything else is pretty much under $10 as well).
44. Pick up a $5 Monsieur Truffle Chocolate Brownie from East Elevation in Brunswick.
45. Jump in line and treat yourself to the Pain au Chocolate for $6.50 from Lune Croissanterie (~fancy~).
46. Get a grip on a delicious Matcha Cheesetart from Uncle Testu for just $4.50 a piece.
47. Why not up your breakfast game with a chopped egg, and bacon bagel for $9 from Huff Bagelry.
48. Chow down on the 'Jane' at Toasta & Co for $9 with their signature 3-cheese blend.
49. Take up Upsy Daisy's eggcellent offer of 2 fried eggs on a slice of wholewheat toast for just $9.90.
50. You absolutely cannot go past the $5 parma at Forester's Beer & Music Hall which is on offer every single night of the week.

Image credit: Mr Griffith's | Griffin Simm