Dinner for $10 and under in Chatswood? It’s easier than you think.

With prices rising everywhere in Sydney, sometimes the prospect of finding lunch or dinner for $10 or under seems impossible. 

Luckily, we’re here to tell you that there are certainly still places in Chatswood where you can find a meal while holding down a tight budget.

And while ten dollars is our maximum price, with this list we’re trying to get as low as possible, finding the food courts and noodle shops that will give us the absolute best price for a feed: no matter how basic the meal or how obscure the restaurant. Many of the places listed don’t have a website, let alone an instagram page, so you’ll have to take notes on the addresses we give and find them yourself.

Did we miss somewhere? Let us know! Send an email to [email protected]

Four Seasons $10 Beef Noodles

Sitting right outside Chatswood train station, you can hardly miss this small Chinese soup restaurant advertising its signature ten dollar braised beef noodles. The restaurant also sells cold seaweed salad and cucumber salad as sides. 

Where: 426 Victoria Ave

The Base — Post Office Lane

Just next door from Four Seasons Noodles, you’ll find a little hallway hosting a variety of restaurants serving easy, cheap meals on red trays. On the left of this strip, you’ll find Hainan Chicken, Chongqing Noodles, and Guilin Rice Noodles, all selling meals around and below the $10 price point. On the right of the strip, you have Fu jian shaxian snacks, serving a variety of noodle and dumpling dishes under ten dollars. 

Where: 424 Victoria Ave

Lemon Grove Food Court

Making your way down Victoria Avenue, swing left into the old Lemon Grove mall, where you’ll find a bunch of great options at an affordable price. Immediately you’ll notice Park Bong Sook, selling Korean fried chicken, skewers, gimbap, and a bunch of cheaper, smaller snack type foods. 

Just next to Park Bong Sook, you’ll see Cam On, a Vietnamese restaurant boasting a ten dollar beef pho all day, every day. 

Next door, you’ll find Chinatown Noodle Restaurant, where you can get three meat buns for seven dollars.

Where: 441 Victoria Avenue, bottom floor

Hawker Lane Food Court 

Just below the Victoria Avenue entrance to Chatswood Westfield, you’ll find a small food court of asian restaurants serving various cuisines. Among these, the best deals you’ll find down here will be meat skewers: try Lamb and Cumin, Yummy Gui Lin Taste, and Don’t Tell Mama Skewers. 

Some of these spots serve individual skewers for less than a dollar each. 

Where: 366 Victoria Ave

Mandarin Centre Food Court

If all else fails, head to the Mandarin Centre, which has been the champion of affordable food in Chatswood for as long as I can remember. 

Heading up to level 2 via escalator, you’ll first be greeted by Bear Chinese Burger, which serves their take on a burger — slow-cooked meats on a flaky, sweet bun — for under ten dollars.

Heading right, you’ll also find a few budget friendly options at Tea Square Cafe, serving Hong Kong street food such as macaroni soup, spam and egg sandwiches, and fish siu mai. 

Further around the food court, Lucky Spoon sells a budget-friendly classic: rice with a choice of curry. Choose between chicken and vegetable, pork meatballs, or mapo tofu to accompany a plate of steamed rice, at well under the ten dollar mark. 

Finally, if you’re keen on Japanese but don’t want to break the bank, try Fujiyami Noodle Bar, where you can get a chicken katsu curry, wagyu beef rice, or chicken teriyaki rice all for ten dollars. The small restaurant also has a variety of udon bowls well below ten dollars.

Where: 65 Albert Ave, level 2