20 cheap lunch eats for under $15 in Melbourne's CBD

Bowltiful needs no introduction, but for the uninitiated, it is one of the city's most popular noodle purveyors. Chewy hand-pulled noodles find their perfect home inside a bowl of rich broth, beside chunks of tender halal beef, which are topped with fresh, tingling chilli oil and herbs. And the beef noodle soup bowl goes for just $14.80! All Bowltiful chefs train for at least six months to become experts in crafting the noodles, and each serve of noodles is hand-pulled to order. The Lanzhou-style lamb burger is stuffed with spicy three-hour braised beef brisket and makes the perfect side dish, and for only $8.80 is a real steal. There are also excellent vegetarian dishes available including dry noodles with stir-fried mixed vegetables or hot chilli oil spill dry noodles.

It’s almost impossible to visit a market without smelling the fried goodness of a gözleme. The stuffed Turkish flatbread is best enveloped around a combo of cheese and spinach, but the legends at Göz City (whose humble origins started at South Melbourne Market) offer a variety including herbed chicken, minced meat or mushroom and veg, too. There's even sucuk sausage and egg pides or böreks for those looking for something doughier, or some pretty phenom salads if you want something fresh. 

Lulu’s has taken the city by storm with a char kway teow that tastes as if it were made on the streets of Penang. At Lulu's, thin flat noodles are stir-fried over a hot wok lending it that beautifully charred and smoky flavour vital to any char kway teow. These are tossed with prawns, lap cheong, scrambled egg, bean sprouts, pork lard, chives and chilli (which you can tailor according to your tolerance). While Lulu's signature char kway teow comes in at just over $15, there are still several items on the menu that come in under budget, such as the duck egg vegetarian char kway teow for just $12. 

There’s a lot to love about an Italian sanga for lunch, whether it be a porchetta roll or a cotoletta panina. At Saluministi, your $15 will get you a pollo panina filled with crumbed chicken, roasted peppers, provolone chilli and rocket, a prosciutto sandwich with fior di latte and rocket or a fried calamari sanga with salsa verde and lemon tartare. This is a lunch that will get you through the afternoon.

Udon Yasan is a little Japanese eatery specialising in, you guessed it, udon noodles. It's a humble ode to the thick, springy noodle we all know and love, and you can get yours swimming in a broth with sukiyaki beef, bean curd, teriyaki chicken or even kimchi. There are also rice options for those looking for an alternative.

Sal's is known for slinging New York-style pizza slices bigger than your head. You could go for a couple of slices of your choosing, or take our advice and spend your $15 on the Sal's Classic Combo that comes with one slice, three garlic knots, Sal's legendary sauce and a can of soda, and will leave you with $3 change. 

French Fix offers a taste of Paris in Melbourne. It's not your average boulangerie, with the team baking fresh baguettes and loading them with all sorts of fillings. Le Roast Beef comes with layers of roast beef, crisp pickles, a healthy smear of Dijon mustard, mixed lettuce, tomato and mayo, and might just be our top pick of the bunch.  

N. Lee Bakery is a purveyor of one of the best portable lunches you can find: bánh mì. Melbourne is blessed with a vibrant Vietnamese community, and as a result, we’re lucky to have spots like N. Lee slinging Vietnamese baguettes in the heart of the CBD. Get yours filled to the brim with lashing of roast pork or mixed ham, and make sure to choose all the trimmings including pickled julienned carrot and ribbons of fresh cucumber. 

Lanzhou beef noodles are addictive, and Lanzhou Beef Noodle (a whole venue dedicated to the dish) is the type of place that will pop into your mind randomly. Maybe you’ll be sitting at your desk staring at the ceiling and – bam! – you’ve conjured up images of its light broth, slippery noodles, thin slices of beef and chilli crisp so inviting you could swim in the stuff. This bowl of noodles is what dreams are made of and is most definitely what you need for lunch on a cold day.

Captains of Industry might be the most Melbourne venue to ever exist. What does that even mean? Well, you need only know that it has a café, barber, shoe cobbler and gentleman's outfitter all under the one roof, and it serves a mean sandwich. The specials board changes quite regularly, but the one to look out for is the three-cheese toastie – a holy union of bocconcini, gruyere and cheddar with basil and molten tomato. Sweet dreams are made of cheese.

Biang Biang Noodle House is home to springy, long and flat hand-pulled wheat noodles tossed in accompaniments like stewed pork, slow-cooked beef, and tomato and egg, as well as a ton of chilli oil. The fact that Biang Biang is perennially packed speaks to its appeal. The namesake biang biang noodles are the must-order, but if you’re feeling like something different or can’t process gluten, there are rice noodles served cold as well as vermicelli. 

Soi 38’s coveted boat noodle dish is available to purchase at lunchtime and (for those not in the know) is made with a pork broth loaded with Chinese five-spice powder and star anise and served with your choice of braised pork or beef. It’s a must-try, but the venue also offers a Thai take on laksa, for those seeking something creamier.

Nana Thai might be making waves for its central Thai-style moojum (hotpot) and mookata (barbecue), but its lunch specials are well worth trying, too. Sample the likes of a mid-week pad thai with prawns or for a spicier option (because Nana Thai doesn't hold back on the sweltering Thai chilli) go the pad gra prow – Thai basil and chilli stir-fried with beef served atop a bed of rice. 

Chances are you’ve spotted Little Ramen Bar with a line snaking outside its door, comprising folks keen to sample its classic ramen. It's a creamy tonkotsu soup loaded with pork broth and topped with seaweed, bamboo shoots, spring onions and chashu pork. You can even choose to amp up your base with shoyu, miso or shio. 

You’ll find some of the city’s best dumplings at Shandong Mama. Shandong Mama's signature dish is the juicy Spanish mackerel potstickers, but you can opt for pork and Chinese cabbage dumplings or mixed seafood and chicken dumplings that both come in at under $15 for a generous serve of 10-12 dumplings. 

Students and worker bees alike jostle to find a spot in this split-level restaurant – you’ll most likely find yourself sharing a table with someone else, but what Blok M lacks in space and comfort it makes up for with the unapologetically punchy flavours of Indonesian cuisine. Blok M draws from every corner of the country – its balado (a chilli-based spice mixture) dishes are from West Sumatra, while its grilled chicken owes its provenance to Java. 

Earl Canteen is a one-stop shop for sandwiches, salads, sweets and coffee. Think of it as your work mum that packs you nutritious and tasty lunches so you can be the envy of your colleagues. Go for the classic chicken sandwich with the Callebaut chocolate chip, walnut and sea salt cookie – one of the city's best cookies.

Stop by the Borek Bakehouse for snacky Turkish staples that will always leave you with change in your pocket. A trip to the Bakehouse is incomplete without a crisp, bready borek stuffed with punchy feta and spinach, aromatic lamb and veggies or spiced potatoes. If you feel like some other doughy goodness, opt for a pide stuffed with sucuk and egg or chicken and mushroom. You can even add on a couple of housemade dips and still stick within the budget. 

We have another baguette contender – one that offers petite and grande options. You could get two grande baguettes for $15, which makes them ridiculously affordable and equally delicious. The trimmings are of your standard deli variety, and if baguettes aren’t your thing, you can nab a croissant to go.

At Sarawak Kitchen Express you can get three dishes with rice for $13.90 – and what these three dishes are is where things get exciting. Let's just say you won’t find any honey chicken or Mongolian beef here. Common accompaniments include fried chicken, potato and minced pork, braised tofu with bitter melon, braised pork knuckles, clam curry, cumin beef and tomato egg.