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You can drop $3 on soup dumplings in Chinatown, walk ten minutes to Kensington Market for a $6 Chilean empanada, then cab to Parkdale for Caribbean doubles that cost less than your coffee did this morning. Try doing that in Vancouver. Or Calgary. Or anywhere else in this country.
Toronto’s cheap eats scene is basically a world tour you can do on a TTC day pass. Fifteen spots, twelve-plus cuisines, and almost nothing on this list costs more than $10. Here are the best cheap eats in Toronto right now.
Chinatown: three blocks, three countries
1. Juicy Dumpling
Signature Dish: Xiaolongbao (soup dumplings). Six of them for $2.99. Thin skin, scalding broth inside, pork filling that actually tastes like pork. The green onion pancakes ($9) are the move if you want something crispy.
Vibe Check: Tiny counter inside Dragon City Mall on Spadina. You order, you eat, you leave full. That’s the whole experience.
Address: 280 Spadina Ave, Chinatown
Why It Made the Cut: This place shows up on every cheap eats list in the city and it still feels like a secret when you’re standing at the counter. $2.99 for soup dumplings that are this good shouldn’t be possible in 2026.
2. Banh Mi Nguyen Huong
Signature Dish: Classic banh mi. $5.50. Fresh-baked bread stuffed with your choice of protein, pickled daikon and carrot, cilantro, and jalapeño. That’s it. That’s all it needs to be.
Vibe Check: Cash-only, no-frills sandwich counter. The line moves fast. Don’t overthink your order.
Address: 322 Spadina Ave, Chinatown
Why It Made the Cut: A Chinatown institution that’s been doing one thing perfectly for years. A $5.50 sandwich in a city where a mediocre one costs $16. Do the math.
3. Hong Kong Island Dim Sum House
Signature Dish: BBQ pork buns. $2.50 each. Golden, slightly sweet, stuffed with char siu. The egg tarts and cocktail buns are $2 each if you want to load up a bag for later.
Vibe Check: Hong Kong-style bakery with a dim sum counter. The display case is the menu. Point and eat.
Address: 248 Spadina Ave, Chinatown
Why It Made the Cut: $2.50 for a BBQ pork bun that’s this fresh. These prices feel like a time warp, and honestly, nobody’s complaining.
Kensington Market: the $6-and-under zone
4. Seven Lives Tacos y Mariscos
Signature Dish: Baja fish taco. Crispy battered fish, shredded cabbage, chipotle crema, all tucked into a corn tortilla. The smoked tuna taco is the one regulars order. Under $10.
Vibe Check: Small, loud, usually a line. Kensington Market energy at its peak. Eat standing up or find a curb.
Address: 72 Kensington Ave, Kensington Market
Why It Made the Cut: If you’ve been to Kensington and haven’t eaten here, you’ve been doing Kensington wrong. The tacos are sloppy, flavourful, and priced like it’s still 2015.
5. Jumbo Empanadas
Signature Dish: Chilean empanadas. $6.50 each, made fresh daily. Beef, chicken, cheese — all good. The dough is flaky and the fillings are generous. One empanada and you’re sorted until dinner.
Vibe Check: Tiny counter on Augusta Ave. You’ll smell it before you see it.
Address: 245 Augusta Ave, Kensington Market
Why It Made the Cut: Chilean food doesn’t get enough love in this city. Jumbo surely does it right, does it cheap, and does it with enough filling to justify the name!
Parkdale: the quiet cheap eats capital
6. Ali’s West Indian Roti Shop
Signature Dish: Chickpea doubles. Under $5. Two soft bara (fried dough), curried chickpeas, tamarind sauce, pepper sauce. Also: dhalpourie rotis stuffed with boneless goat, chicken, or shrimp that are a meal and a half.
Vibe Check: Been here nearly 50 years. The scotch bonnet pepper sauce is house-made and it will remind you that it’s house-made.
Address: 1446 Queen St W, Parkdale
Why It Made the Cut: Half a century of feeding Parkdale for under $5. Ali’s doubles are the best deal on this entire list, and the rotis are the best deal if you want to eat once and skip your next meal entirely.
7. Loga’s Corner
Signature Dish: Momos. Steamed or fried, your choice. Lamb, beef, chicken, pork, potato, or veggie fillings. Under $10 for a full order. The house-made hot sauce is bright orange and addictive.
Vibe Check: Small, family-run, hidden on a residential side street off Queen West. Two locations now, but it still feels like a secret.
Address: 216 Close Ave, Parkdale
Why It Made the Cut: The best momos in Toronto, and most people walk right past the place. Nepalese dumplings made by hand, priced like they actually want you to come back.
8. Garleek Kitchen (Parkdale)
Signature Dish: Tibetan breakfast combo. Curries, pho, thupka (Tibetan noodle soup), all under $10. The menu reads like a tour of the Himalayas by way of Southeast Asia.
Vibe Check: A fusion that sounds chaotic on paper — Tibetan-Vietnamese-Nepalese-Indian-Sri Lankan — but why not? Somehow it is perfect poetry on the plate.
Address: 1500 Queen St W, Parkdale
Why It Made the Cut: Try naming another restaurant that blends five South and Central Asian cuisines into one coherent menu for under $10. Parkdale is the only neighbourhood in Canada where this place could exist.
Across the city: the ones worth the trip
9. Casamiento
Signature Dish: Pupusas. $4.50–$6 each. Thick, chewy corn griddle cakes stuffed with beans, cheese, loroco, or chorizo. Handmade, served hot, and filling enough that two is a proper meal.
Vibe Check: Small Salvadoran spot on Dupont. The people making your food grew up eating this. You can tell.
Address: 787 Dupont St, Dovercourt Village
Why It Made the Cut: Salvadoran food is one of Toronto’s most underrated cuisines. Pupusas at $4.50 are among the cheapest filling meals in the city, and Casamiento makes them like they’re supposed to be made.
10. Mister Yummy
Signature Dish: The Mister Yummy lunch special. Under $10. Stir-fried vegetables with your pick of chicken, pork, sausage, or tofu, all over rice with sweet chili sauce.
Vibe Check: Inside Crossways Mall food court at Dundas and Bloor. You’d never find it unless someone told you about it. It’s been here over 20 years.
Address: Crossways Mall, Dundas St W & Bloor
Why It Made the Cut: Twenty years of impressive longevity inside a mall food court. Nobody’s written it up, nobody’s Instagrammed it (okay that might be a slight exagerration for dramatic effect), and the lunch special is still under $10. Some places don’t need hype.
11. Sang-Ji Fried Bao (North York)
Signature Dish: Fried bao. Four for under $10. Crispy golden shell, steaming broth trapped inside, pork filling. You bite in and it explodes. Carefully.
Vibe Check: Started as a tiny takeout counter near Finch station. Got so popular they had to expand. Still feels like a discovery.
Address: 5461 Yonge St, North York
Why It Made the Cut: One of the few spots on this list that pulls you out of the downtown core, and it’s worth every stop on the subway. Fried bao done right is hard to find anywhere, let alone for under $10.
12. Square Boy (Greektown)
Signature Dish: The burger (banquet even better) without question. Under $7. A good, honest patty that hasn’t been smashed, dry-aged, or drizzled with anything. A price that basically doesn’t exist anymore, except here. Gyros and souvlaki are also popular.
Vibe Check: Family-owned retro diner on the Danforth. The menu board hasn’t been redesigned since the ’90s and that’s the whole appeal.
Address: 875 Danforth Ave, Greektown
Why It Made the Cut: A $7 burger on the Danforth in 2026. That’s the cut. Old-school Toronto at its best.
13. Hastings Snack Bar (Leslieville)
Signature Dish: Pierogies. Handmade, pan-fried or boiled, served with sour cream and fried onions. Kielbasa and cabbage rolls round out the menu. Most plates $10–$20.
Vibe Check: Mother-and-daughter-run Polish lunch counter in Leslieville. Cash-friendly, no-nonsense, feels like someone’s kitchen.
Address: 5 Hastings Ave, Leslieville
Why It Made the Cut: Homemade Polish comfort food in a neighbourhood that’s mostly brunch spots and coffee shops now. It’s a holdout, and the pierogies are why.
14. JABS (Just Another Burger Joint)
Signature Dish: Smash burger. $9. Two patties, melted cheese, secret sauce, pickles. Messy enough that you’ll want napkins before you start, not after.
Vibe Check: Small spot on St. Clair West. No truffle oil, no $22 price tag. Just a well-made smash burger at a price you won’t feel guilty about.
Address: 630 St Clair Ave W
Why It Made the Cut: Toronto’s smash burger scene has gotten expensive. JABS has kept it at $9 and didn’t cut corners. That’s increasingly rare.
The real flex
Every city in Canada claims good food. Toronto is the only one where you can eat your way through twelve cuisines in a single day and spend less than you would on a single main course at a downtown restaurant. Shanghai dumplings, Vietnamese sandwiches, Caribbean roti, Salvadoran pupusas, Korean rice bowls, Chilean empanadas, Nepalese momos, Egyptian falafel, Greek burgers, Mexican fish tacos, Polish pierogies, and Tibetan noodle soup. All under $10. All made by people who grew up eating this food.
Good luck finding that anywhere else.
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