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Brisbane's Best Cheap Eats

Updated: Apr 28, 2026

When it comes to finding the best cheap eats in Brisbane, where meals can still be found for $25 or under, it pays to have a sense of adventure.

For scattered throughout Brisbane's inner city and suburbs are a wealth of great value multicultural eateries, from Polish to Greek, Lebanese to Latin American, Persian to African, where you can feast like a king without breaking the budget.  

Of those, here are 20 of the best - some long-standing Brisbane institutions and others hidden gems off the beaten track that you didn't know about till now:

Gnocchi Gnocchi Brothers, Australia’s very first dedicated Italian gnoccheria, can be found on Paddington’s Given Terrace
Mirchh Masala is a secret Indian restaurant that peddles authentic vegetarian street food
Kafenio offers traditional Greek and Cypriot cuisine from its blue and white West End workers cottage
Sing’s Asian Kitchen at Rosalie is one of the inner west’s long-lasting gems
Taste of Saffron is a Persian and Mediterranean restaurant serving authentic cuisine in Stones Corner
One of Brisbane's oldest Indonesian restaurants can be found in the city's Asian street food laneway
A colourful and basic Lebanese eatery that has been on this bend of Waterworks Road since time immemorial
The Ukrainian Club Restaurant and Bar brings a traditional slice of The Ukraine to a quiet suburban street
This colourful flag-trimmed cottage in Paddington provides authentic Nepalese cuisine
Club Polonia is the place to go for traditional Polish cuisine, beers and vodka
This lively West End restaurant dishes up some of the best Mexican food in Brisbane
The quaint hilltop eatery is serving up the best Turkish street food to be found in Brisbane
This little noodle bar in the Valley dishes up the fattest and freshest, authentic Chinese biang biang noodles in town
This quirky colourful Colombian restaurant is located in an old West End cottage
Mu’ooz, the long-time fave Eritrean restaurant of Moorooka, has upped roots and moved into a quaint Queenslander in West End
This hilltop cottage lit by colourful Turkish lights and candles is an enduring Brisbane favourite
An authentic and delectable Indian street food diner, unlike anything to be found elsewhere in Brisbane
Bringing the authentic tastes of Kuala Lumpur's Indian-Malay street stalls to Brisbane CBD
An authentic Ethiopian/Eritrean restaurant found in an arcade in the heart of Brisbane's Little Africa
Taco Joint in Oxley serves up some of Brisbane's best tacos, loaded fries and chocolate-coated churros.

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