Best Cheap Eats in Oxford

As we all know, Oxford can be an expensive city. It’s expensive to live in (just ask anyone looking to buy here!) and it can be very expensive to dine in. When you’ve been living here for a little while though, you start to realise there are plenty of places to go for great food at very reasonable prices so we thought we would share some of those places best for… cheap eats.

Whether you have £20 to spend or a fiver, there’s always something interesting to be eaten in Oxford, here are our favourite cheap eats in the city, along with some reader favourites:

Supper Clubs – Both Chilli Boo Chan and Wolvercote Supper Club have been road-tested by the Bitten team. Offering excellent home cooked food at £25 per person for plenty of food, great company, wonderful hosts and a chance to met new people in a communal dining set up.

@ChilliBooChan had some suggestions herself: Oli’s Thai, Sushi Corner and Becca’s recommendation of Sasha’s dumplings! At Sushi Corner, the Chirashi Don is great value. For just under a tenner, you get a generous amount of sashimi on top of a bowl of sushi rice. So good too! At Oli’s Thai, I’d definitely recommend the aubergine curry. Again, under a tenner and, in my opinion, one of the best dishes in Oxford! If budget allows, I’d definitely end the meal with a custard tart!

Pierre Victoire – ahhh, one of my favourite ‘date night’ restaurants. Thankfully, romance can come cheap – £23.50 for a three-course set dinner, or £11.50 for a three-course set lunch. Delicious food, chic and intimate setting, professional, courteous service – what’s not to love?

Turl Street Kitchen – a not for profit restaurant, serving up home-style food done really well, in an effortlessly cool setting. On a normal day you can get a three course lunch for as little as £20, or dinner for a little more. Better yet, go to one of their 25×25 events, hosted each season – £25 for three courses of über local food, all supplied within 25miles.

Mission Burrito – for less than £7, get yourself a huge rice, meat (or veggie), beans, salad, guacamole and cheese stuffed burrito that will fill you up for hours! It tastes good too, think that’s called winning. @peejaybee agrees: “Best cheap eat is defo Mission Burrito. Delicious, independent, filling and all for well under a tenner!”

Itsu – half price food, every day, half an hour before closing! For the uninitiated, Itsu started as the brainchild of Pret’s early pioneers, serving up sushi, ramen, miso, plus plenty of healthy snacks and drinks – with a tagline of “eat beautiful” they are proud to be “dedicated to lower fat, lower calorie, delicious food”. Ater eating there a few times, I can certainly vouch for it being tasty – lls and yoghurt coated edamame!

It’s hard not to agree with @ProperEllipsis‘s suggestion of Oxford’s Grill. Having recently discovered it myself, it has to serve up some of the most amazing tasting restaurant food in Oxford, for one of the cheapest pricepoints.

Brookes Restaurant – Part of the Oxford School of Hospitality Management, Brookes Restaurant is staffed by students in the kitchen as well of front of house, with support from a fully trained team – giving the students an opportunity to cook in a real life commercial kitchen, with real paying customers. Open Monday – Friday, 12-2pm, you can get three courses for £15.95, or two courses for an incredibly reasonable £13.95. A great opportunity for the chefs and restaurant managers of the future to learn, and an even better opportunity to eat a slap up meal, in a formal restaurant setting, for way under the normal price range.

@Francessss suggests “Red Star on Cowley Road £6 lunch deal is hard to beat for quality and service. Big society too! I’ve only had the pulled pork bun but it was fab and the fries are good.”

So there we have it, our top picks for cheap eats in Oxford – let us know i you think we’ve missed any out!