Cheap eats in Manchester, from £5.50 momos to a £7.80 banh mi

Six beef momos at the Tibetan Kitchen in Firswood cost £5.50, and a single one is £1 if you only want to try. That is the cheapest full plate below, and nothing in the first six entries costs more than £8 at the venue’s own posted price. Two of the deals stop at 4pm, and the practical lines say which. Three food halls follow for days when nobody in the group can agree.

How we chose: prices from each venue’s own menu this autumn, Taste of Manchester’s 2026 lunch and food-hall lists, and the 2026 Manchester Food and Drink Awards.

Tibetan Kitchen

The momos are steamed wheat-flour dumplings, lightly fried after, in beef or a vegan vegetable filling, and they are the reason to make the trip out to Upper Chorlton Road. It’s an evening place, 4pm to 9.30pm, and the business also runs the café at Chorlton Water Park.

Upper Chorlton Road, Firswood · six momos £5.50 · evenings only · walk-in or collect

This & That

Rice and three vegetable curries is £6 at This & That, the Soap Street canteen that has fed the Northern Quarter since 1984, and one meat with two veg is £6.50. The pots change every day (Monday brings lamb and pumpkin), and there are three vegan curries daily. It was Takeaway of the Year at the Manchester Food and Drink Awards in January.

Soap Street, Northern Quarter · rice and three £6 · walk-in

Bundobust

Order the okra fries, £6.50: okra in a crisp chickpea batter with black salt and mango powder, and the menu’s own best-seller. Add one vada pav slider for £4.25 if you’re hungry. Bundobust has served Indian street food and its own beer on Piccadilly since 2016.

Piccadilly, opposite the gardens · okra fries £6.50 · walk-in

Tai Wu

With Yang Sing shut since early 2022, the big dim sum room in town is Tai Wu on Upper Brook Street, the former Tai Pan, which seats up to 220. Nearly 100 kinds are served until 6pm. A basket of har gau is £6.50 and a char siu bun £5.80; go at lunch with a friend and share four or five baskets.

Upper Brook Street, Ardwick · har gau £6.50 · full dim sum until 6pm · book for big tables

Pho Cue

Pho Cue on Faulkner Street makes its name on a broth simmered for 24 hours, but the bowl is £12.50. The cheap order is the banh mi, chicken, beef, pork or tofu and avocado, at £7.80, and only until 4pm.

Faulkner Street, Chinatown · banh mi £7.80 · banh mi until 4pm · walk-in

Nell’s

This is the one with conditions: on weekdays from noon to 4pm, Nell’s sells two slices and a dip for £7.77, or any 14-inch pizza from the same price. The Kampus site on Minshull Street is one of five.

Kampus, Minshull Street · two slices and a dip £7.77 · weekdays 12–4pm · walk-in

Mackie Mayor

The Smithfield market hall of 1858, the last piece of the old market complex, reopened as a food hall on 3 October 2017. In July Taste of Manchester listed Honest Crust’s wood-fired sourdough pizza, Pico’s tacos, Takio Ramen, Mumma’s fried chicken and Chilli B among its traders. Start with the pizza, and order from a second counter while it cooks.

Eagle Street, Northern Quarter · closed Mon · walk-in

Arndale Food Court

On the Arndale’s upper mall, a run of small independent counters (Hong Thai, Pancho’s Burritos, The Fish Hut, Hunan and others in Taste of Manchester’s July count) shares one big seating area that works for children. Several Manchester businesses started here before opening on their own.

Arndale, Market Street · walk-in

Campfield Market

On Saturdays, three Grade II-listed buildings on Liverpool Road open as Campfield Market, run with the street-food organisers GRUB. It opened on 8 November 2025, with 12 food stalls and an Estrella Galicia bar in Campfield Studios, and since 18 April a street market with more than 100 traders has spread onto Grape Street.

Liverpool Road, St John’s · Saturdays 10am–4pm · walk-in

Checked October 2026.