If you’re willing to travel to seek out good value, you can definitely eat out in Sydney without breaking the budget. One of the diligent Sydney Scoop team dined at 142 places in 60 different suburbs across 2023. These are the five best meals she ate that didn’t break her budget:
Hai Au Lang Nuong (Canley Vale) takes you on a crazy-good trip to Viet Nam with the wafting aroma of charcoal, tinny tunes, wildly chaotic decor and really excellent eats. We liked it so much we went back a second time...
Salma’s Canteen (Alexandria) breaks the ‘healthy’ cafe mould by combining generous salads courtesy of Kepos Street Kitchen’s Michael Rantissi with pastries by Andy Bowdy (ex-Saga Enmore). As a result I could see myself making friends with salad a lot more often...
The Rice Den (St Leonards) delivers quality Chinese food & bite-sized dumplings at a price that makes you feel you can eat out more often. It’s the whole package too, with good wines, friendly staff, and a kitchen team who care enough to taste every dish.
Yok Yor (Haymarket) puts taste back into Thai food in an inexpensive, energetic and authentic little space on the fringe of ThaiTown. You can take in a show at the nearby Capitol Theatre then dine on the street listening to woks crash in the fast-paced kitchen.
Bella Brutta (Newtown) makes pizza classy. We shared a pizza and some small plates (including a mountain of creamy Jersey milk stracciatella cheese), drank by the glass, enjoyed sassy service and left kind of chuffed after this a mid-week dinner.
