The Maltese love their food and drink. Cheap Eats Malta (Where to eat and drink in Malta). You can find restaurants, snack bars, pastizzerias, bakeries, and bars serving appetisers and a growing number of good quality food trucks in literally every corner of the Islands. Pizza and pasta are staples thanks to Italian influence but good quality fish, meat and salads are easy to find if you know where to look. In general, a queue of locals usually means you can expect abundant portions of good food at affordable prices.
Valletta – Cheap Eats Malta (Where to eat and drink in Malta)
Malta’s capital Valletta was the happening place on the island for much of the island’s history with many popular cinemas, theatres and bars attracting both locals and British navy sailors stationed here.
Strait Street is perhaps the centre of this revival with several of the post-war bars being restored in keeping with the days when British sailors and bar girls filled Strait Street. Tico and Loop Bar are two popular bars that also do food and regular gigs while Streat, found further up the road is a whisky bar serving great food at medium range prices.
After a few years of neglect Valletta is currently experiencing a revival and now offers a great selection of quality eateries and entertainment spots that attract a growing crowd.
For a taste of Malta and if you love tapas, charming little Legligin (which is an endearing name for drinkers in Maltese) in St Lucy Street does a fixed price (€23.95) bar dinner that includes a seemingly endless supply of Mediterranean dishes. L-Ingliż in St John Street is a tiny bar with a big character (mostly thanks to Albert the owner) that offers reasonably priced drinks, great local food and real Valletta character. You can also find free Wi-Fi and use their printer at a small charge.
Drink prices in Malta are very reasonable with the local lager beer Cisk being by far the most popular summer beverage. In tune with the Mediterranean culture, bars and clubs open late into the night with 4 am closing times being the norm in places such as St. Julian’s and Paceville.
The following is a short guide to where to eat and drink in Malta including some of the best spots for a good night out. Cheap Eats Malta (Where to eat and drink in Malta)
Summer time music gigs usually pop up in a few of the Valletta streets but Django, at the bottom of Republic Street, is probably one of the Island’s best locations for live music. From jazz to indie rock and swing, the selection is varied and the atmosphere buzzing. Entrance to gigs usually costs €2 to €5. If the dancing gets your appetite going, Ġugar just across the road does a selection of (very reasonably priced) vegetarian ftiras, wraps, salads and smoothies that will keep your engine running on healthy fuel. On Fridays from 20:30 hrs Bridge Bar just up from Victoria Gate, holds top-notch jazz sessions under the stars in summer. Sit on the outside steps and enjoy the beautiful music for free.
If roaming Valletta during the day, Reno in Zachary Street makes a great selection of very reasonably priced food making it very popular with Valletta workers while Piadina in St Lucy Street, just off Merchant’s Street makes the most divine sandwiches and salads you can possibly imagine.
Gżira, Sliema, St. Julian’s and Paceville – Cheap Eats Malta (Where to eat and drink in Malta)
Perhaps the quietest of the three, Gżira has a good few eateries that make it worth checking out. Grassy Hopper in St George’s Street (Open till 16:30 hrs on weekdays and evenings on Friday and Saturday), is a small vegetarian café with a big heart. Expect a simple menu of snacks and meals (try the spicy chickpea burger), fresh juices, smoothies, healthy desserts, low prices, heaping portions and a feel-good atmosphere.
These adjoining towns create what is definitely Malta’s most popular entertainment centre. Day or night, the area is always teeming with locals and foreigners having coffees and ice creams, sitting down for a sunny lunch or drinking and dancing until the early hours in Paceville.
Cheap Eats Malta (Where to eat and drink in Malta) – Owned by a New Zealand couple, Mint in Stella Maris Street, Sliema (open 08:00hrs to 16:00 hrs) probably gets the award for some of the best tasting café food on the island. Expect a mouth-watering selection of breakfasts, pies, snacks, cakes, desserts and smoothies that will keep you coming back for more.
In St. Julian’s, try Bianco’s in St George’s Street for great pizza, pasta and salads and Gochi further up the same road, for freshly prepared, well-priced sushi that you can take away or eat in at their Japanese style restaurant. Juuls is a reggae bar with a great vibe, famous for their strawberry mojitos and now also serving smoothies and yummy healthy vegetarian food.
If your sweet tooth is not yet satisfied, Dolci Peccati in 268, Tower Road Sliema lives up to its name (Sweet sins) and makes Italian ice-creams and cakes that really are impossible to resist. Piccolo Padre just across the road and a couple of metres downhill is a longstanding pizzeria where you can eat overlooking the water.
Cheap Eats Malta (Where to eat and drink in Malta)
Ftiras are another cost effective option usually found in most snack bars around Malta. Fresh Maltese bread with olive oil, tomato paste, tuna, salad and olives, and ftiras usually cost a couple of euro and make a filling meal.
Pastizzerias are perhaps the most cost effective eateries on the Maltese Islands. Springing up in literally every corner and usually sporting names such as Sphinx or Maxims (or some form of that including Mc Sims and Mc Sean) these take away shops sell the famous Maltese pastizzi together with qassatat – pastry cakes filled with spinach or ricotta, pizza slices, sausage rolls and more. Although not the healthiest option, you can eat good, hot food here for a euro or two.
No kebabs, no sandwiches – that’s our rule. Apart from that, if it’s good we’ll consider it.Tracking them down requires inside knowledge. Here’s TOP 10 cheap Paris restaurants:
Spicy rice and veg, 10th arrondissement | TOP 10 cheap Paris restaurants
Smelling of spices and stock, Le Bichat is a low-key cafe opened last year by actor and activist Augustin Legrand and run by his family. There are tempting salads and soups, but the big idea here is the bol (from €8), a bowl of seasoned rice served with generous helpings of organic veg sourced from small farms within 100km, plus a choice of topping – vegan, egg, fish, pork or chicken. Bottles of house tamarind or ginger dressing are passed between the tables. Wash it all down with unsweetened homemade ginger lemonade (€2), or drink water and save the euros for homemade cake or chocolate pudding. There’s also organic wine (from €3 a glass). •11 rue Bichat, lebichat.fr, open daily 9am-11pm
Canalside salads, 19th arr | TOP 10 cheap Paris restaurants
Bassin de la Villette is home in summer to the urban beach Paris-Plage, and to Le Pavillon des Canaux all year round. Order a big salad with chicken, chickpeas and avocado, or quinoa, asparagus, peas and pesto (both €9) at the counter downstairs and eat it on the canalside terrace, or in various retro-themed rooms upstairs in this former lock-keeper’s cottage. A programme of yoga, debates and workshops, plus the obligatory mashed avocado, speak of hipster ambition, but the quality of food (including homemade cake) is high. •39 quai de la Loire, pavillondescanaux.com, open Mon-Weds 10am-midnight, Thurs-Sat 10am-1am, Sunday 10am-10pm
Anyone for bibimbap?, 11th arr | TOP 10 cheap Paris restaurants
Celebrity chef and author Pierre Sang, known for Asian-accented haute cuisine (menus from €35), makes a meal to compete with McDonald’s on price. Each lunchtime, Monday-Thursday, he offers 40 portions of bibimbap, the national dish of his native South Korea, for €7 a pop. A raw egg tops a spicy bowl of (depending on the day) three kinds of rice, tender beef or salmon, baby carrots, mushrooms, kimchi, artichokes and tiny meat or fish dumplings, plus fiery chilli sauce. Get there early (between noon and 12.30pm, otherwise it’s all gone) and enjoy a cheap lunch with the sleek surroundings and charming service you’d get at, well, five times the cost. •6 Rue Gambey, pierresangboyer.com
A bargain in Saint-Germain, 6th arr | TOP 10 cheap Paris restaurants
The chi-chi Saint-Germain district is good for celeb spotting but bad for bagging a cheap meal, except at Le Petit Olivier, where owner Laurent presides in shorts and T-shirt. There’s tap water in old whisky bottles, offbeat art on distressed walls and a €10 menu (lunch and dinner) comprising a plat du jour (choice of three) and dessert. The plat might be cod with rouille, rice and bouillabaisse sauce, or roast pork on herby pasta. Afterwards, help yourself from five shelves of homemade desserts: oeufs à la neige (meringue on creme anglaise) with fruit, tiramisu, crumble or chocolate mousse. •82 rue du Cherche-Midi, no website, +33 6 17 18 02 83
Food and theatre afloat, 19th arr | TOP 10 cheap Paris restaurants
La Péniche Antipode is a big barge, berthed in the Bassin. Owned by the Abricadabra theatre company, it is a venue for plays, comedy and live music, but there’s cooking talent on display, too, made with artisanal and fairly traded ingredients. A satisfying meal of homemade soup, then something delicious on toast (spinach with chickpeas, garlic and paprika, say, or goat’s cheese with artichokes, pine nuts, honey and coriander) costs just €7. Add a salad for €2 or, still within the €10 limit, dessert for €3. The tables are on deck, with separate smoking area; covers and heaters keep it toasty. •55 Quai de la Seine, penicheantipode.fr, open noon-2.30pm (4pm weekends) and 7pm-11pm
Korean Bento in Little Tokyo, 1st arr
Rue Sainte-Anne, near the Palais Royal, is Paris’s Little Tokyo, but just off it is Ace Bento, a Korean interloper. Lining up at the counter, diners choose five tempting side/appetiser dishes from an array that includes sautéed garlic stalks, marinated papaya, seaweed, potato salad, lotus root or peanuts in soy sauce – and add a main such as crispy chicken, breaded fish or prawn fritters. The staff dollop on a generous portion of steamed rice, add a cup of miso soup and a fruit salad for dessert, and send you on your way – to a bench at a plain blond-wood table – happy and, at lunchtime at least, just €10 poorer. •18 rue Thérèse, on Facebook, open Mon-Sat 10am-10pm
Forget Nando’s, 5th arr | TOP 10 cheap Paris restaurants
At Nossa, a Portuguese chicken roastery near the Sorbonne, the skin of grilled spatchcocked birds is as crisp as, well, a crisp, the flesh tasty and yielding, and sauces come in whisky, curry or “secret recipe” varieties. There are chips if you must, but garlicky baby potatoes, rice, green beans or salad make better companions. At weekday lunchtimes, €10 buys a quarter of a chicken and a side dish, all served in a little wooden crate, plus either a starter, drink (wine or beer) or a pastel de nata (custard tart) for dessert. There are little green tables with folding chairs on the pavement outside, for sunny days. •1 rue de l’École Polytechnique, nossa-paris.com, open noon-3pm, 7pm-10pm (9.30pm Sundays), closed Monday
Bangkok street food, 10th arr | TOP 10 cheap Paris restaurants
Shiny metal tables at Street Bangkok, crammed together beneath walls decorated with Thai street art, already evoke steamy nights on Bangkok’s Yaowarat Road… and then you taste the food. Chef Ja, formerly of the Mandarin Oriental in the Thai capital, opened this place barely a year ago and is particularly hot (in more than one sense) on spankingly fresh salads. Green papaya, beef, pork sausage and crispy rice versions, served in cardboard trays, are liberally strewn with equally perky mint, Thai basil and coriander. Three salads with rice and a soft drink cost €10 at lunchtime (drink costs extra at night). Even the muzak is specially mixed by Thai DJs. • 3 rue Eugène Varlin, on Facebook. Open Tue-Sat noon-3pm, 7pm-11pm, Sunday noon-7pm
Rustic Breton bistro, 10th arr | TOP 10 cheap Paris restaurants
A million miles from the average creperie, La Pointe du Grouin is an industrial-chic Breton bistro near Gare du Nord. It requires diners to pay in its own currency, the “grouin” – changing euros (one for one) at a machine on the wall – which is a bit of a faff, but the friendly staff and loud, crazy atmosphere compensate. Specialities include breaded pig snout and sausage galette, but 10 grouins are well spent on a starter of whole artichoke with vinaigrette, then a bara bihan: this slightly breaks the no-sandwich rule, being a home-baked roll, but it’s filled with tasty cured herring, creme fraiche, tapenade and salad. That leaves four grouins for a slice of cinnamon-scented apple tart. Ouf! • 8 rue de Belzunce, lapointedugrouin.com, open Mon-Fri 11am-3pm and 6pm-midnight, Sat 6pm-midnight
Wines that dance, 13th arr | TOP 10 cheap Paris restaurants
Paris’s Asian arrondissement is home to Le Vin qui Danse, a very French-feeling bar/restaurant, with carefully chosen wines and a great-value €10 starter-and-main-course offer lunchtime and evening. The building is an old convent, with beams and exposed stone, and young owners Tony and Lucie source ingredients daily from the huge Rungis market a few kilometres away. A recent starter of lightly cooked salmon with sesame and tomato coulis came on a rather cliched slate, but was followed by gorgeous ravioli in creamy rocket pesto. Big eaters may find portions on the light side, except on Wednesdays, when they do their special burger, with the bun replaced by a pair of potato galettes. • 69 rue Broca, vqd.fr, open Mon-Fri lunch and dinner, Saturday dinner only
Best Cheap Restaurants in Trastevere Rome. Eating in Trastevere, Avoiding Tourist Traps. Some Good Restaurant Tips.
Anybody heading to Rome has to visit Trastevere, the place where the Romans go to eat, people watch and enjoy ice cream.
Not going to lie to you. We know Trastevere and we know it well. If you’ve visited this part of Rome before or you’ve explored it with us, you’ll know that it can get quite busy and there are a few tourist traps. But there are so many great places to eat in Trastevere. You are spoiled for choice with everything from cucina romana to regional Italian dining to pizza to even ethnic foods.
Trastevere is one of our favorite neighborhoods in Rome, known as the ‘13th district’ which literally means ‘beyond the Tiber’. This particular neighborhood is rich in history and was captured by the Romans during the Regal Period. This was done as to gain control of the waterways on both parts of the river. In days gone by, fisherman and immigrants coming from the East would settle at the river. Now its streets have developed their own charm and culture.
It’s sweet cobbled alleys, narrow and winding passageways and its buzzing social scene all add to our Trastevere highlights. Full of highly recommended restaurants and foodie joints, it’s the perfect hangout spot day or night for good quality food amongst a winning ambiance. Popular with tourists, Trastevere can deliver you some high prices for dining, so be careful of the places located on some of the most popular piazzas, notably Santa Maria in Trastevere. Follow our guide to the neighborhood and enjoy Trastevere like a local and savor the best foodie places in the area without paying double: here our guide about “Where to Eat in Trastevere Rome”
Below are places that I would recommend Best Cheap Restaurants in Trastevere Rome – You can book a table in some whereas for others you will have to wait in line … remember the best place often have queues.
Best Cheap Restaurants in Trastevere Rome
Ai Fienaroli
7, via dei Fienaroli, +3906 583 347 51
A very nice restaurant with a medium priced menu, they have very friendly staff who even coped well when I took a group of 14 drunken English and Irish people just before my wedding. I have eaten here more than five times would recommend visiting especially for the wonderful antipasto misto.
Popi Popi
Via delle Fratte di Trastevere 45, +3906 58 95 167
An excellent option for people with a lower budget, you can get decent antipasta and very good pastas at affordable rates. It is a large restaurant where you can often get a seat especially before 8pm. The staff are very friendly and happy to speak English or Italian to their customers.
Ivo A Trastevere – Best Cheap Restaurants in Trastevere Rome
158, Via di San Francesco a Ripa, +3906 58 170 82
I class this as the best pizza restaurant in Trastevere, they serve an incredible range of pizzas. My friend even had a brie and salmon one which she said was delicious. This place really is pizza heaven, the only problem is trying to decide which one to have.
Trattoria Da Lucia
2, Vicolo del Mattonato, +3906 58 036 01
My favourite restaurant in Rome, it is owned by a famous ex-boxer and family run. There are pictures are up on the wall of the owners boxing past. A very traditional place to eat, in the summer you can sit outside. This is always our choice for our first and last meal when we visit Rome, two excellent pasta dishes are “Cacio e Pepe and Penne Alla Grecia”.
Da Giovanni
41a, Via Della Lungara
This restaurant is on the outskirts of Trastevere, a bottle of house wine is only six Euro and very good. If you try this place out, be sure to get there early as it fills up quickly. It is a very simple restaurant, the waiter has perfect English if you cannot speak Italian. As the night goes the menu gets smaller and smaller as the food runs out.
Isole di Sicilia
68/69 Via Garibaldi, +3906 58 334 212
An excellent Sicilian restaurant where the portions are huge, it is a little more expensive than most restaurants in the area but is well worth it. Having visited Sicily, we thought we would give it a go and were very impressed. The fish and Nero d’Avola were excellent, it gets very busy and would be worth booking a table to avoid disappointment.
Antica Pesa
18, Via Garibaldi, +39065809236
This restaurant is high end, and you have to book to have any chance of getting a table. The menu boasts a wide range of dishes that you are unlikely to find anywhere else in Trastevere. The décor is very impressive and if you are there in summer make sure you reserve a table in the wonderful garden.
Fior Di Luna
Via Della Lungaretta
No list would be complete without recommending a gelateria, in the main square you will find Blue Ice which is part of a chain. Personally I would go back towards Viale Trastevere and on your left you will see Fior Di Luna – They sell the most amazing organic ice cream.
Thanks for reading Best Cheap Restaurants in Trastevere Rome.
Start your day in style, without making toast of your finances. Let’s talk about top 10 best cheap Breakfasts in London.
Whether you’re keen on a kipper or pining for porridge, here are our Top 10 best cheap Breakfasts in London that will guarantee you a money-saving breakfast.
Arancini Factory | Top 10 best cheap Breakfasts in London
Kentish Town never knew how much it loved arancini – Sicilian-style deep-fried risotto balls – until this affable caff opened in 2012. Now the place is a firm favourite locally. The arancini are served in several forms: plain (‘naked’), with salad, in wraps, or accompanied by a stew (we like the all-veg version). There are other options too, such as poached eggs, egg wraps and bagels for breakfast, and toasted sandwiches. Try the ‘full breakfast bagel’: ham, onion jam, roast tomato, fried egg and cheese. Note: the small garden eating area at the back is a haven of quiet in good weather.
Meal for two with drinks and service: around £16
Café Below | Top 10 best cheap Breakfasts in London
Café Below first won a loyal following for its vegetarian-centric café food, and its memorable setting – the crypt of a Grade I-listed Wren church. It still serves breakfast and lunch five days a week, but now also offers dinner from Wednesday to Friday. The food tends towards rustic simplicity during the day, getting more ambitious (and pricier) in the evening. The fish pie (£11.50), a long-standing feature, is a hefty, pleasing plateful. Mixed salads, with optional extras such as cheese soufflé or smoked salmon, use excellent ingredients and are dressed with unusual skill. Café Below is always busy at lunchtime, and for good reason.
Meal for two with drinks and service: around £30 (lunch), £45 (dinner)
Counter Café | Top 10 best cheap Breakfasts in London
A delightfully thrown-together-looking daytime joint behind artists’ studios, the Counter deals in brunches, salads and pies. Excellent herby lamb pie comes with well-dressed colourful salad leaves, while an all-day dish of perfectly poached eggs is topped by smoked salmon on potato cakes (ours were slightly under-powered). Own-made tomato relish is left on each table, and the flat white coffee is terrific. There’s good music in the ground-floor room right on the canal, and peace and quiet, plus a view of trees and the Olympic stadium, from squidgy sofas and large tables upstairs. A useful pit-stop when exploring this fascinating, evolving area.
Meal for two with drinks and service: around £25
E Pellicci | Top 10 best cheap Breakfasts in London
Opened in 1900, and still run by the same family, Pellicci’s is a Bethnal Green landmark. Chrome-rimmed Vitrolite panels line the outside, and the wood-panelled interior is filled with Formica tables and art deco touches. All-day breakfast fry-ups are first rate – note the ‘quality’ sausage, and the option for extras such as black pudding and ‘homemade bubble’. The fish and chips, daily grills, Italian pasta specials and desserts (from bread pudding to Portuguese pasteis de nata) aren’t bad either. But it’s the vibrant welcome and lively banter that make this daytime-only place so special (NB: unlicensed; no corkage charge).
Meal for two with drinks and service: around £20
Fields | Top 10 best cheap Breakfasts in London
It may resemble a concrete box, but this is Clapham Common’s best café by a jogger’s mile – created by those behind Balham’s über-trendy M1lk. Fields’ modestly furnished room belies a menu of great invention. Slow-braised oxtail arrives on sourdough toast with pickled shiitake mushrooms and basil leaves; burnt plum comes with Cornish cream, wet walnut and muscat grapes. Light bites include a yeasty, peat-smoked lardy cake, cooked in a tiny Bundt tin, or big Anzac biscuits. To drink, great coffee is made with either Workshop espresso or Koppi filter – plus there’s Kernel Table beer and even ‘natural’ wines by the glass. The large outdoor decked area adds child-friendly appeal.
Meal for two with drinks and service: around £30
Franks Canteen | Top 10 best cheap Breakfasts in London
Franks is open during the daytime only, but what it lacks in opening hours it makes up in quality. The kitchen produces great breakfasts, brunches and lunches, with dishes starting at around £5 for sandwiches and most of the weekly changing mains costing less than £10. All egg dishes are excellent; the kedgeree in particular is a natural-born killer and quiches will make you newly aware of the virtues of this café cliché. Just to add icing to the cake, it’s a lovely place to look at: clean, crisp, and light-filled when the sun’s out.
Meal for two with drinks and service: around £28
Hornbeam Café | Top 10 best cheap Breakfasts in London
Adverts on the wall for yoga and tai chi classes indicate where this daytime café’s heart lies. The welcome is friendly and the daily changing menu is short, wholesome and satisfying: a soup, a tabouleh dish and a salad, say, with ample cakes and fresh bread. The Hornbeam is now running as a partnership with local food business Norman Loves. It continues to serve vegetarian and vegan food with much of the veg locally grown by Waltham Forest-based workers co-operative Organiclea. Exciting? No, but we can’t help liking the place.
Meal for two with drinks and service: around £20
Lucky 7 | Top 10 best cheap Breakfasts in London
Lucky 7 gets you smiling the second you look at its OTT American roadhouse-retro décor. The menu is a smile too, long on breakfast, burgers and rich desserts. The fried breakfast is so big that two could easily make a meal out of it. Burgers feature excellent beef, good garnishes and ace fries on the side. Huevos rancheros include top-notch chorizo and a textbook guacamole. Even the salads are good. And please, please save room for the pecan pie. It’s a tiny place, and no bookings are taken, so you may need to queue – but it’s worth the wait.
Meal for two with drinks and service: around £35
Mario’s Café | Top 10 best cheap Breakfasts in London
Set in one of Kentish Town’s prettiest streets, Mario’s has been an incredibly popular and community-minded daytime spot for decades. The emphasis on community means that prices are lower than much of the competition; a full breakfast for under a fiver is not so easy to find as Kentish Town moves upmarket. And the quality of the cooking is a cut above. Yes, you’ll find standard caff stuff – eggs, grills, sandwiches, jacket potatoes – but what sets this place apart is the Italian cooking, by Mario’s mum. It’s genuine casalinga (home-style) cuisine in a modest setting at modest prices. Small wonder that the caff is almost always packed.
Meal for two with drinks and service: around £18
Regency Café | Top 10 best cheap Breakfasts in London
This workman’s café on the Westminster/Pimlico border is a striking example of its genre. The Art Deco frontage is jollied up with red-and-white gingham curtains, and the interior sports a classic combination of brown plastic chairs, Formica-topped tables and photos of yesterday’s stars on the tiled walls. The menu is a carb-fest of lasagne, omelettes, jacket potatoes and cooked breakfasts of all descriptions, plus own-made specials such as steak pie with gravy – all with the option of chips on the side, and accompanied by builders’ tea (naturally). Desserts include cinnamon-flecked bread-and-butter pudding, though it’s doubtful you’ll have room.
When traveling in Rome on a cheap budget restaurants Rome centre or simply wanting to get bang for your buck, there are many options on hand. Pizza by the slice is one great option for a quick, easy and cheap meal but we have a list to the best good cheap restaurants in Rome just for you.
Ahh Rome… one of the most fascinating, beautiful and historic cities in the world, but also one of the biggest tourist traps. The Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Trevi Fountain – with so many must-see attractions, the city is a magnet for visitors from around the world, and many local restaurants have hiked their prices to capitalise on the tourist dollar. But fear not – with our handy guide to the best cheap restaurants in Rome, you’ll be able to dine like the locals.
This is way more than your average café. It combines all of the good stuff – food, wine, cocktails, music, art, AND homemade cakes with a homely café atmosphere. The daily blackboard specials are the way to go, with quiche, hamburgers, and bowls of pasta for between €4 and €8.
Best cheap restaurants Rome Centre
FA-BIO
While we could happily eat pizza and pasta for breakfast, lunch, and dinner every day, it’s hardly practical if you want to be able to fit into your clothes. When all the carbs are making you a little sluggish, head to Fa-Bio. This organic takeaway cafe close to St Peter’s Basilica (cheap budget restaurants Rome centre) serves up an ever-changing seasonal menu of freshly made super-food salads and sandwiches, washed down with made-to-order smoothies, and juices.
This is way more than your average café. It combines all of the good stuff – food, wine, cocktails, music, art, AND homemade cakes with a homely café atmosphere. The daily blackboard specials are the way to go, with quiche, hamburgers, and bowls of pasta for between €4 and €8.
Address: Via del Pellegrino, 87
Website: barnumcafe.com
THE FISH MARKET
Start your night out on the tiles in Trastevere (cheap budget restaurants Rome centre) with a spot of dinner at The Fish Market, a local favourite serving up delicious fresh seafood at very reasonable prices. Their garlic bruschetta is mind-blowing, as is the fried calamari (€12), ceviche (€12), and their enormous cones of prawns (€8).
This bakery is one of the most popular in all of Rome due to its huge range of traditional Italian breads, pastries, and pizzas. It may sound a little unadventurous, but their mozzarella and tomato pizza will blow your mind. Should you fancy something other than pizza, snap up a tasty pesto linguine, fettuccine in a mushroom and cheese sauce, or a tomato risotto for under €7.
Although you’re likely to be surrounded by tourists rather than locals at this spot close to the Pantheon, the pocket friendly prices for delicious dishes make it more than worth it. Their set menu, which includes bruschetta, pasta, a main course, and a dessert is only €15, and the portions are decent.
gusto cheap restaurant rome,Best Cheap Restaurants in Rome
The industrial interior of this super-cool restaurant suggests prices will be far higher than the wonderful reality. You’ll find all of your carb-heavy favourites, but for something a little different and far lighter than your usual pizza pie, we recommend their Pizza Cilieggina. This “white pizza” comes sans tomato sauce, and is instead topped with cherry tomatoes, rocket, baked olives, parmesan, and lashings of mozzarella cheese. Pizzas start from €7 and salads from €10.
Address: Piazza Augusto Imperatore 9
Website: gusto.it
ARMANDO AL PANTHEON
Cheap restaurants near the Pantheon (cheap budget restaurants Rome centre) are tricky to come by, but amongst the usual tourist traps you’ll find one of the city’s most authentically Roman restaurants. The menu is full of Italian classics like grilled lamb chops, and pasta alla gricia (guanciale, pecorino cheese, and black pepper). The restaurant itself is relatively tiny, and the owners like to cram diners in, but mark our words, the food, the atmosphere and the price tag, are more than worth the squeeze.
This old-school establishment in the Old Rome area is known across the city for their one main dish, fried cod fillet for just €5. There is also a fantastic antipasti plate (€5), which comes piled high with salami, mushrooms, zucchini, and other tasty nibbles. This is a word-of-mouth kind of place – they’re so good they don’t even have a website.
Address: Old Rome, Largo dei Librari, 88
TAVERNA DEI FORI IMPERIALI
This family-run taverna is just a short walk away from the Roman Forum and the Colosseum, and is popular with locals, tourists, and even the odd celebrity! Expect typical Roman fare, our favourite being the burrata stuffed ravioli smothered in tomato sauce, or pesto. You can’t go wrong here, just sure you leave room for one of their homemade cakes. Grab a main from €12, and a glass of wine for just €3.
Cheap Budget Restaurants Rome centre FARINE LA PIZZA
Simplicity reigns at this cheap pizza restaurant run by a husband-wife combo, who both trained at Italy’s National School of Pizza. There will be no cutlery, no frills and no staff other than the couple, but the pizza is ridiculously good. There are the same seven choices on the menu each night, all you need to decide is how hungry you are, and whether you want to wash down your pie with beer or wine.