10 Best Cheap Eats under $10 in New York City (Budget-Friendly and Instagram-Worthy)

Food is one of my fave aspects of travel (or actually, of life). Whenever going to a new destination I love exploring local cuisine and trying out all kinds of foods, restaurants and eating experiences. However, I am usually on a budget and I've gotten quite good at finding affordable yet Instagram-worthy and yummy places to fill my belly. Hope you enjoy <3

Watch the full travel vlog! <3

Famous Original Ray's Pizza 

811 Lexington Ave (Upper East Side)

Slice for around $4

There are many Pizza shops around NYC, this one was our fave. It is very likely that one slice will fill you up because they are honestly gigantic. I also tried the garlic dough balls which were yummy.

DŌ, Cookie Dough Confections 

550 LaGuardia Pl (Greenwich Village)

1 Scoop for $4

*Sugar coma warning* Get this sweet treat to share with someone because even the dessert queen (me) could not finish this scoop by myself. 

Food Trucks

Everywhere 

Most things are around $2-4 

Literally my fave thing in NYC. On every corner you get those cute food trucks that serve all kinds of foods - our faves were defo the big pretzels! They also have iced coffee that looked very yum, hot dogs, burgers - all the fast food stuff ;)

Doughnut Plant

220 W 23rd St (Chelsea)

Donuts for $3-4

I tried the Brooklyn blackout donut which wasn't the most amazing donut I've ever had (still good tho), however, my friend tried the Banana Peanut Butter one which was yummy. 

Harlem Shake 

100 W 124th St (Harlem)

Cheese Fries for $4

Milkshake for $7 

Burger for $7

Our fave restaurant! The milkshakes are to die for (I got black & white both times we went and it was so good), the cheese fries are heavenly and the burgers are good too (although a bit too greasy for my taste). Also, we loved the retro vibes in this diner. 

Magnolia Bakery

Banana Pudding for $5 (Greenwich Village)

West 11th Street, 401 Bleecker St

Such a yummy dessert. We got a small size which was just perfect to snack on whilst strolling along Bleecker street. They also had adorable cupcakes and a blueberry bar thingy (can't remember how it was called) that looked so good!

The End Brooklyn 

522 Metropolitan Ave (Brooklyn)

Health Drink for $9

If you want to treat yourself to a health drink (idk what's in it exactly) try the Lavender one! I got the Merbabe one and it was quite disgusting haha - the lavender one my friends got were got tho. 

Q&N Food

107 E 125th Street (East Harlem)

Bagel & Coffe for $3

Breakfast buffet for $8

Best food place ever. We went here almost every morning and were amazed by the food every single time. They have a huge breakfast buffet with the most delicious sweet and savory foods. You can get a big box of food for around $7, such a good deal!

Sweet Moment

106 Mott St (Chinatown)

Shaved Icecream for $7

A super Instagram-worthy place. Not the cheapest, but a small portion of this ice cream is definitely enough. We tried tiramisu, matcha, and mango-cheesecake flavours. 

Eileen's Special Cheesecake 

17 Cleveland Pl (SOHO)

Mini Cheesecake for $5

I got the Strawberry mini cheesecake and loved it. It's a great way to try out typical NYC cheesecake without getting a huge slice and falling into food coma afterward. They also had hot cocoa which we didn't get but it smelled yummy. 

Check out my 5-day NYC itinerary here if you are interested in what other things we did besides eating (although that was a huge part of the trip as you can tell). 

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