Hum: 12 affordable Ottawa restaurant meals that deliver on portion and price (2025)

For Canadian consumers, the news seems unrelentingly bad. The U.S.-Canada trade war is expected to result in higher grocery prices for items that Canada imports from the U.S., with price hikes for appliances and other goods to follow. The Conference Board of Canada’s Index of Consumer Confidence, a broad measure of how Canadians feel about the economy, was already plunging in February. Also that month, the annual rate of inflation rose sharply to 2.6 per cent. TD economists are even predicting a “shallow recession” for 2025.

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No wonder a reader recently wrote me: “Most of your reviewed places are very expensive. Who has the money to throw away on this??? Groceries are getting costly. Trying to make ends meet is a challenge. Rent is exorbitant. Eating out is NO LONGER AN OPTION. Are you in the real world?”

The dozen affordable treats below are for her, and for all of us. Hopefully, even in the real world, eating out is still an option, provided we can still find $15 for a meal out or at least a meal brought home. And we can funnel that part of our budget to an independent Ottawa small business while we’re at it.

While you won’t find a dry-aged striploin steak or seafood tower in this compilation, you will find hearty sandwiches, solid takes on Ottawa staples like shawarma and pho, and meals that reflect the city’s diversity

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Note: Prices are subject to change following the publication of this article.

Chicken leg lunch special at African BBQ House – $9.99

African BBQ House

3001 Carling Ave., 374 Dalhousie St., 385 Tompkins Ave., Unit 7, 2401 Bank St., Unit 4africanbbqhouse.ca

The $9.99 quarter-chicken lunch special at Ottawa’s African BBQ House locations seems to me like a true celebration of parsimony. A superbly spiced and moist chicken leg on a bed of nicely seasoned rice, accompanied by crisp fries and a fresh green salad, will leave you feeling very well-fed, for just the smallest of dents in your bank account. Furthermore, I was told when I called the Carling Avenue location to verify the lunch deal that, in fact, the definition of “lunch” is pretty loose. That’s to say that if you ask nicely at dinner and tell them that it’s lunchtime in Vancouver, you might get the special.

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Read Peter Hum’s full review of African BBQ House

Papa Crispy Chicken from T&T Supermarket – $15

T&T Supermarket

224 Hunt Club Rd. Unit A, 300 Eagleson Rd., tntsupermarket.com

At the risk of angering nutritionists and dieticians, I’ll tell you that at Ottawa’s T&T Supermarkets, $12 gets you a box of deep-fried deliciousness called a Papa Crispy Chicken. Inside the box is a full, flattened bird, breaded, deep-fried and blessed with surprisingly moist meat that had been flavoured with garlic and even sugar. Containers of chili-laced seasoning perk things up.

Sausage on a bun at Around the Block Butcher & Market – $14

Around the Block Butcher & Market

117 Centrepointe Dr. Units 123/124, aroundtheblockbutcherandmarket.ca

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Compared to the street-meat treats that hot dog carts sell, Around the Block Butcher’s sausage on a bun is more expensive. But it’s also pretty bougie, in a good way, and well worth your $14. Consider its house-made sausage on a poppy seed bun, topped with house-made sauerkraut, apple Dijon mustard and pickled red onion as a full-fledged gourmet treat and you’ll think that you came out ahead in the exchange.

Grilled pork or chicken Banh Mi from Bahn Mi Yes – $12.98

Banh Mi Yes

1128 Wellington St. W. and 101 Schneider St., banhmiyes.com

These Vietnamese subs are nothing fancy, and frankly, the pickled cabbage inside them is too chunky. But the chicken and especially the pork that stars in these banh mi are the savoury, sweet, funky real deal, and the baked in-house baguette-style bread is very, very satisfying.

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Shawarma at Jasmine Bakery – $9.75

Jasmine Bakery

2730 Iris St., 613-695-3088,instagram.com/jasminebakeryottawa

The all-dressed chicken shawarma wrap was perfectly balanced in terms of its meat and garnishes, and the meat, which had been slow-cooked over charcoal to develop its alluring flavour, was both toothsome and delightfully smoky. Of course, the bakery’s bread was fresh and just right, reaffirming my pledge to swear off shawarma sandwiches made with pita bread from a plastic bag.

ReadPeter Hum’s full review of Jasmine Bakery

Pho Tai at Phở Việt – $14.98

Phở Việt Noodle

1100 Wellington St. W.

Not to be confused with Pho Viet Taste, which is further west on Wellington St. W., this new Vietnamese noodle shop in Hintonburg made a spot-on small bowl of rare beef pho for $14.99.

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Pad Kee Mao lunch special at Thai Bite – $13.99

Thai Bite

2010 Trim Rd. Unit 6, thaibite.ca

This tiny, takeout-only place has a number of $13.99 lunch specials ($14.99 if you want to pop for shrimp rather than chicken, pork, beef, tofu, or mixed veg). Since I’m on team pad kee mao, not team pad thai, I went for that Thai rice noodle dish, aka “drunken noodles,” that leans into savoury, spicy, funky flavours. Although the noodles here were thin rather than thicker and chewier, the flavours were complex, the chicken was tender, and the portion was massive and generous, loaded with crisp bean sprouts, bamboo shoots, baby corn and flecks of red Thai bird’s eye chili.

Porchetta Sandwich at Paninaro – $15

Paninaro

642 Somerset St. W., paninaro.ca

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When I got home from the Italian sandwich and coffee shop in Chinatown, I got out my kitchen scales. That porchetta sandwich weighed in at one pound, seven ounces — almost a pound and a half. Even better than its size and its heft are its contents — luscious, thinly sliced porchetta, tart, spicy eggplant, peppery arugula, nutty pistachio cream, and a cushion of fior di latte, all in perfect proportion — sandwiched between pillowy schiacciata bread, a Tuscan specialty similar to focaccia. Other schiacciata sandwiches at Paninaro may be very, very good, but I can’t yet bring myself to not order this one.

The Four Horsemen pita wrap at the Nutty Greek Bake Shop – $11.75

Nutty Greek Bake Shop

490 Rochester St. (entrance is on Beech Street), 613-680-0806,nuttygreek.com

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While the Nutty Greek Bake Shop may be best known for its pastries, its savoury choices should not be discounted. In particular, for the meat-aholics, there’s a secret menu item — a pita wrap ($11.75) that includes chicken, gyro made of beef and lamb, and bacon. It’s evocatively nicknamed the Four Horsemen, and for all its tastiness, maybe you should just cross your fingers that it doesn’t trumpet the end of the world for your digestive system.

Read Peter Hum’s full review of the Nutty Greek Bake Shop

Smash Daddy burger at Smash Daddy – $13

Smash Daddy

298 Preston St., 2235 Robertson Rd., 84 O’Connor St., smashdaddy.ca

Smash Daddy, which opened in Little Italy in the spring of 2024 and has already opened two more locations, consistently makes burgers that knocked me out. Most obviously, the patties were smashed to an almost exaggerated extent, so that flaps of deliciously browned beef, which are the first things I happily gnaw on, hang out beyond the confines of the bun. There’s no greater example of the culinary magic called the Maillard reaction, in which a hard sear imparts complex, robust flavours to a piece of meat. The Smash Daddy smash burger’s crisp, enjoyable texture was a big, big bonus. If you pay basically double the $13 price for a burger, you can upgrade to a Wagyu burger ($24). But I don’t think that you’ll get twice as much pleasure from that bougie burger.

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Read Peter Hum’s full review of Smash Daddy

Jamaican patties at Run2Patty – Patties for $4, $4.50 each

Run2Patty

1224 Shillington Ave., Unit A.

The patties at this modest takeout spot in Ottawa’s Carlington neighbourhood are better than any I’ve had elsewhere, and that includes in the Caribbean, thanks to their superior, rich pastries and moist, flavourful fillings. While beef patties are the most popular here, don’t ignore the jerk chicken, saltfish and ackee and oxtail patties either. Single patties are either $4 or $4.50, meaning that you can afford three, given our $15 ceiling. Warning: the patties might be a gateway to more expensive options here, such as the top-selling jerk chicken platter or the oxtail platter.

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Pork buns and wonton soup weekday combo at Bite & Bite Shanghai Fried Buns – $14.99

Bite & Bite Shanghai Fried Buns

1465 Merivale Rd., Unit 2

Given that you get two courses and might even have leftovers for your $14.99, this Shanghai-style combo could be the ne plus ultra of deals on this list. Start with four pork meatball-filled pan-fried buns, although you should know two things. First, eat them carefully, as there’s a savoury but piping hot liquid inside the bun with the meatball. Second, you might not be pacing yourself if you eat all four of the buns. I was glad that I was prudent and saved two to take home. The main event of this combo, which is available on weekdays only, is a bowl of pork wonton soup, which consists of a dozen delectable dumplings in a clear broth that’s been amped up with seaweed. This is even a place where the lowest percentage setting for a tip is 13 per cent. In all, the combo, including tax and tip, comes out to under $20, and you might have a fried bun to snack on later.

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phum@postmedia.com

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