Need to find a quick lunch in the city for less than $10? No doubt you have your go-to spots when you’re on the run and on a budget, but keep these in your back pocket for your next grab and go.
Dumplings at New Shanghai
Emporium’s range of food options are some of the best under one roof and when it comes to authentic Chinese cuisine, New Shanghai hits the spot. With an ex-HuTong head chef at its helm, the city’s favourite soup-filled Xiao Long Bao dumplings are now available in this hot shopping complex. Eight dumplings will cost you $7.80.
Filled with soup and full of flavour, the Xiao Long Bao at New Shanghai are a tasty lunch choice
Lunch special at Mantra Lounge
A mecca for vegans, vegetarians and the sustainability-minded, Carlton’s Mantra Lounge offers one of the best deals for students and city workers. Made with love, each meal on their rotating menu comprises of a main, side salad and dessert. So for only $7.95, feed your soul and your stomach.
Soup at The Soup Place
Centre Place’s The Soup Place welcomes visitors with nine cauldrons of simmering soup. Try the minestrone, spicy Moroccan, tomato and basil, and an ever-changing soup of the day. With three sizes–starting at $7.95–it’s the quickest way to warm up when it’s cool out.
Warm up at the Soup Place and spend an extra $3.50 to help feed Melbourne’s homeless while you’re there
Centro Espresso
Centro Espresso is situated at the intersection of three of the city’s favourite laneways, where they’ve been serving coffee and cheap lunches for years. Focaccia, roti wraps and borek for only $6 makes this busy little cafe is a solid choice when passing through on the way to a meeting or lecture.
Centro Espresso’s cheap lunches lay at the heart of Melbourne’s favourite laneways
Wonderbao
The steamed buns at Wonderbao have to be tasted to be believed. These piping hot morsels of heaven on A’Beckett street are a bargain at $2 to $4.20, which means you can polish off a few before breaking the bank.
Bing Boy
Offering a modern twist on a classic Asian street food, Bing Boy’s omelettes are filled with your choice of meat or veg. They’ve taken the city by storm, with outlets popping up in the Emporium, QV and Melbourne Central. At $6.90 for their beef-filled ‘Mad Ming’ or $7.90 for the ‘Prawn King’, there are a few flavour combinations you’ll want to come back for next time you need to fill your belly and save those coins.
The food theatre comes free at Bing Boy
Any lunches under $7.95 we don’t know about? Tell us about them.
Please note: These prices were correct at the time of writing.