Where to book dinner in Birmingham tonight without paying for a star

Every day from noon to 5pm, the dim sum at Chung Ying in Chinatown is 20% off, which takes a basket of siu mai below £5.50 at the restaurant that has been steaming them since 1981. Birmingham’s best-value dinners mostly look like that: a family room in Chinatown, a chef’s own place in a converted factory, a suburban kitchen a national critic has found. None of the eight below holds a star or a Bib, and at one of them dinner costs less than £15.

How we chose: restaurants named by a national critic since 2025 or listed by Michelin inspectors, plus the city’s oldest Chinatown kitchens, priced from their own menus.

Chinatown, the old hands

Chung Ying Cantonese

The Wong family opened Chung Ying on Wrottesley Street in 1981, the first restaurant in what is now Chinatown, and still own and run it. The restaurant says its dim sum list is one of the longest in the UK; order siu mai (£6.75), har gow (£8.25) and the wafer-wrapped king prawns, then a cheung fun at £7.75. It suits a group of six who want to share and a family who want the noise to be someone else’s.

Wrottesley Street, Chinatown · dim sum 20% off 12–5pm daily · book

Cafe Soya

Make the soya milk and the tofu fa (a soft soya dessert) your reason for climbing into the Arcadian: Cafe Soya makes both fresh every day, along with its broad rice noodles, and has done since the family opened in 2000. The menu runs Chinese into Vietnamese, with a vegetarian section long enough to feed a mixed table; the mock crispy aromatic duck with pancakes is £11.90.

Arcadian Centre, Chinatown · mock duck £11.90 · walk-in

Chef-led rooms

Trillium

Glynn Purnell opened Trillium by Snow Hill station in January with the wine merchant Phil Innes, and Rob Palmer runs the kitchen. Start with the Brummie cakes with bacon jam and clotted cream (£9) and the XXL gougère with Montgomery cheddar (£7), then share the Tamworth pork chop with mostarda at £41.

Snow Hill Queensway, city centre · snacks from £7 · book on SevenRooms

670 Grams

Kray Treadwell cooks in the Custard Factory with graffiti on the walls and the music up, and his à la carte is £45 against £90 for the tasting menu. Take the à la carte, and go at lunch: it opens from 1pm Thursday to Saturday.

Gibb Street, Digbeth · à la carte £45 · Wed–Sun · book

Cuubo

Two courses cost £35 and three £45 at this Kickstarter-funded room on Harborne High Street, which Michelin inspectors list. Tom Parker Bowles, reviewing for the Daily Mail in February, called the cooking “clever, polished and assured” and the price “exceptional value”. Book it for a date when you want to talk.

High Street, Harborne · two courses £35 · book

Small rooms and big flavours

Vieni

Grace Dent went to Vieni on Pitsford Street for The Guardian in July and called it “small, Sicilian and scrappy”. Order what she ordered: the 32-hour ox cheek crispy lasagne and the arancini stuffed with peas, broad beans and pecorino, which she called magnificent. It is the sister restaurant to tuttoapposto, from Ange Adamo.

Pitsford Street, Jewellery Quarter · Tue–Sun, lunch Wed–Sun · book online

Eat Vietnam

Ming Nham turned a street-food pop-up into this Pershore Road restaurant in 2019, and the weekly menu is short. Get the crispy pork belly with sweet chilli dip (£13) and the chilli oil roast potatoes (£6.50), and add the crispy duck leg in red curry with lychee (£12) if there are two of you.

Pershore Road, Stirchley · crispy pork belly £13 · book on Tebi

Zindiya Streatery and Bar

A husband and wife opened Zindiya on Woodbridge Road in Moseley to serve Indian street food with a bar, and nothing on the 2026 street-food list costs more than £7.95. Order the pav bhaji (£6.95) and the aloo tikki chaat (£7.50) and you have dinner for under £15.

Woodbridge Road, Moseley · street food £5.95–£7.95 · from 4pm Tue–Thu, noon Fri–Sun · walk-in

The first booking

On a first visit to Birmingham, eat dim sum at Chung Ying before 5pm. It is the oldest kitchen on this list, the discount does the rest, and Hurst Street’s bars are a few minutes’ walk away when you finish.

Checked October 2026.