When D. H. Lawrence saw the Trent Building going up at the new University of Nottingham campus in the 1920s, he reportedly compared it to an iced cake.
Tenuous evidence, perhaps, that the city’s student scene has always had food in its blood. And, occasionally, blood in its food: from the local black pudding in full English to the congealed cubes of pork blood that turn up in a bowl of bun bo Hue across town.
Almost a century on from the much-misquoted iced cake line, Nottingham’s two universities educate more than 70,000 students, and these students are hungry. Lunch deals are sacred. Bottomless brunches are a competitive sport. Independents sit comfortably alongside chains that have, against the odds, kept their prices broadly sensible.
What follows are ten spots we’d send a student to without hesitation, whether they’re recovering from a heavy night at Rock City or trying to impress a date on a £15 budget. Here are 10 of the best cheap eats in Nottingham for students.
Zaap Thai Street Food
Off Bromley Place behind the Cornerhouse, Zaap is doing its level best to convince you that you’ve fallen through a wormhole and landed in a Bangkok night market. Tuk tuks, neon signage, hawker-style decoration; rolling into Zaap, that’s a cheap vacation. The fit-out gets the attention, but the food keeps the queue forming: pad thai, panaeng curry, sticky pork belly bao, bowls of aromatic tom yum… It’s good stuff, and the latter of that list is spicy enough to dust off even the most assertive Snake Bite hangover. Do students still drink that?
Speaking of students, they also do Yum Mama, an instant noodle salad with chicken, pork, squid or prawns in a spicy dressing. Thailand’s ultimate student fuel, and a genuinely rare sighting on a UK menu.
The big draw for those on a budget is the Lunch Set Menu, available Monday to Friday from midday until 5pm, which gets you a starter, a main and a soft drink for £15. There’s also a rotating set of weekday daily specials kicking in at £11.95 between 12pm and 6pm, with deals like Pad Thai Tuesdays and Thursday Curry Club. Walk-in only.
Address: Unit B, 6 Bromley Pl, Nottingham NG1 6JG
Website: zaapthai.co.uk
Tamatanga
A short walk away in the Cornerhouse complex on Trinity Square, Tamatanga has been feeding Nottingham its fresh, brightly-spiced Indian home cooking since before most current students were born. The dining room is loud, the music is louder, and the staff are happy to talk you through the menu if it’s your first time. If you’ll hear them or not is another question entirely…
A weekday daytime deal gets you a main and a soft drink for £14.95 before 5pm, which on a curry that might otherwise be £14 on its own, is a fairly handsome bit of math. The Saturday bottomless brunch runs to 90 minutes of free-flowing drinks alongside a curry bowl, and for anyone who has never had a thali, the £15.95 chicken or £15.45 veggie versions are about the most generous introduction you’ll get.
Walk-ins are welcome; groups of four or more can book online.
Address: The Cornerhouse, Trinity Square, Nottingham NG1 4DB
Website: tamatanga.com
Pho
Pho is a chain (you know it; not sure why we’re doing this), born of a husband-and-wife trip to Vietnam back in 2005. The Nottingham branch on Carlton Street offers students 15% off food, a discount significant enough to encourage repeat custom, we’d say.
The pho itself, a fragrant beef or chicken broth poured tableside over rice noodles, is pretty good, if not a little greasy, but it does the job. A first-timer should head straight for the Pho Tai with rare steak brisket, or the bun bowls if you want something lighter.
Around a third of the menu is vegan, with plenty of gluten-free options too. A dependable mid-week dinner that you’ll find yourself coming back to.
Address: 24-32 Carlton St, Nottingham NG1 1NN
Website: phocafe.co.uk
Roosters Piri Piri
Roosters lives on Angel Row, a minute from Old Market Square, and it’s where students go for chicken that’s more affordable than – cough – Nando’s, and just as delicious. A chicken pitta is £5.99, wraps and salads are not much more, and all of it lands under a tenner with fries and a drink.
Plates and platters scale up for bigger appetites or sharing, but the wrap-plus-fries category is where the value sits. Choose your flavouring from Lemon & Herb, Medium, Hot, Extra Hot or BBQ, pick your dip, and you’ve got a substantial meal for under a tenner. Its location, a minute from Old Market Square, also makes it a useful benchmark if you’re flat-hunting nearby.
As student accommodation platform amberstudent note, the Arboretum is one of Nottingham’s most popular student areas, and it’s a ten-minute walk from Angel Row, putting most of this list within easy reach of your front door.
Address: 4-5 Angel Row, Nottingham NG1 6HL
Website: roosterspiripiri.com
Pizzamisù
Pizzamisù on High Pavement, just down from Nottingham Contemporary, is the only certified Neapolitan pizzeria in the city. The dough is fermented for up to 48 hours, fior di latte and other key ingredients come from Italy, and the wood-fired oven turns out the real thing rather than a British approximation of it.
A full Marinara is £9.95, a Margherita £10.95, the Smoky Pancetta or Cotto e Funghi £13.95. None of which quite qualifies as cheap eats, but the quality is sky-high, and for under a tenner, that merits a place on our list.
Cash or card, in and out. It’s the best tenner you can spend at lunchtime in Nottingham.
Address: 9 High Pavement, Nottingham NG1 1HF
Website: pizzamisu.co.uk
Yamas Meze & Tapas
Round the corner on Thurland Street, the Christofi family have been running Yamas since 2008. The concept is straightforward: small Mediterranean plates inspired by their Greek Cypriot heritage, with the occasional Spanish or Moroccan side-quest.
The lunch menu is the one to remember, getting you three meze dishes for £15.50 a head, available Wednesday to Saturday between 12pm and 4pm. Order the halloumi, the kleftiko, the keftedes, throw in a Greek beer, and you’ve got a meal worth fighting over.
Closed Mondays and Tuesdays.
Address: 5 Thurland St, Nottingham NG1 3DR
Website: yamas.co.uk
The Three Crowns
For sheer reliability per pound spent, The Three Crowns on Upper Parliament Street is hard to beat. It’s a Vintage Inns pub, which usually means safe rather than thrilling, but the weekday lunch deal here genuinely delivers. Pick a lunch dish, add a drink, pay £7.95, available Monday to Friday from 12pm to 4pm.
Beyond lunch hours there’s a bottomless brunch at £25 with unlimited pizza slices and cocktails, which is reasonable maths for a Saturday session.
The pub itself is exactly what you’d expect: sports on the screens, comfortable booths, no airs and graces, and that’s part of the appeal.
Address: 51 Upper Parliament St, Nottingham NG1 6LD
Website: thethreecrownsnottingham.co.uk
Warsaw Diner
Warsaw Diner sits just off the Derby Road, a brisk walk from the city centre, and it remains one of Nottingham’s more unusual propositions. A Polish family running an American-style diner, with vinyl booths, a chequerboard floor and an open kitchen where you can watch the hash browns being shredded by hand.
Breakfast is the meal to come for. A Sausage Cob is £3.50, a Hash Brown Cob the same, a full English £12.95, and the build-your-own option is yours for a 50p plate charge plus whatever toppings you fancy from £1.50. Two veggie sausages, a couple of pancakes, scrambled eggs and a coffee will set you back less than a posh sandwich elsewhere.
Polish dinner specials appear Thursday to Saturday evenings if you fancy pierogi after dark.
Address: 93-95 Derby Rd, Nottingham NG1 5BB
Website: warsawdiner.com
Bustler Market
If you want somewhere you can graze across half a dozen kitchens in one sitting, Bustler is the move. The Nottingham site sits in Sneinton Market, a short walk from Lace Market tram stop, trading Wednesday through Sunday.
The current line-up takes in Argentine barbecue from Banquet 1415, deep-fried lasagne and arancini from Little Big Sicily, handmade gyoza from Yorkshire’s Big Mouth Gyoza, and Dirty Chicken doing fried chicken the way it should be done. Most plates land between £8 and £12, drinks come from local craft brewers, and there’s enough indoor seating to make this work year-round.
For students dining on a budget, Wing Wednesdays at Dirty Chicken is the move; they bring £1 wings all evening. The £5 Thursday pub quiz remains one of the better fivers you can spend in Nottingham, and Saturdays bring live DJs. You might yourself in Bustler several times a week, and not feel a shred of guilt about it, either.
Address: Avenue E&D, Freckingham St, Nottingham NG1 1DW
Website: bustlermarket.co.uk
Crocus Café
Down on Lenton Boulevard, in the middle of University of Nottingham student-housing territory, sits Crocus. It bills itself as Nottingham’s oldest community café, run as a not-for-profit by volunteers and the mental health charity Real Lives, with a menu sourced partly from surplus food that would otherwise be binned. It’s fully vegetarian, with a great many vegan options clearly marked.
Breakfast is served all day, with a Beans on Toast cob coming in at £3.50, scrambled tofu on toast £7.50, avocado on toast £6.50, and a full Crocus Breakfast (two sausages, hash brown, baked beans, fried tomato, toast, mushrooms, fried egg or scrambled tofu) £9. Sandwiches, all served with salad, run £6.50 to £7.50.
From Thursday to Saturday evenings between 6pm and 9pm, Crocus runs an Around the World menu of small plates inspired by a different cuisine each week, written up on a chalkboard by the door. Get the carrot cake while you’re there.
Address: 18 Lenton Blvd, Nottingham NG7 2ES
Website: crocuscafe.com
The Bottom Line
What ties this list together isn’t price-per-plate alone, although none of these places will leave you in your overdraft. Each one has decided what it wants to be and committed to doing it well, whether that’s a £5 wallet pizza at lunchtime or a £1 wing on a Wednesday.
Save a few of them to your phone, layer in some meal-deal apps for the lean weeks, and you’ll eat better at university than most of your tutors do at home.
