Alexandria sprawls. There’s no high street, no single hub of activity, just warehouses converted into apartments, streets of workers cottages, industrial estates and hidden pockets with places to eat.
Eating here requires either stretching the budget slightly or sticking to a diet of (admittedly very good) bacon and egg rolls. Good deals do exist, but some things, like Bread and Circus’ congee, are worth throwing in an extra fiver for.

Roast-chicken sandwich at Meet Gerard
It’s called the “best roast-chicken sandwich ever” and we’re tempted to agree. And not only because it’ll set you back just 10 bucks.

In-between two large slices of brown sourdough bread are hunks of juicy chicken, herbed aioli, rocket and – this is what makes it great – stuffing. This isn’t a fancy sando, but that stuffing elevates this lunch into something pretty great.

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54 Henderson Road

Congee at Bread and Circus – $11 side, $16 bowl
Server Maddy Taylor’s eyes light up as she describes the congee at Bread and Circus. “I’ve never had it because I’m a vegetarian, but it smells so good and it tempts me all the time,” she says.

“It’s really yum,” her colleague pipes up. “People come just for the congee. I’ve even had customers leave because we’ve run out.”

The soupy rice porridge is fragrant with ginger, carrots, celery and onions and is slow cooked over six hours. Brown rice, chilli flakes and a whole chicken form the flavourful base of this comforting soup. The tender chicken meat can be pulled from the bones and the pieces are stirred through the thick broth.

21 Fountain Street

Pad kee mao at Yum Yai – $10

Yum Yai is one of the few places in Alexandria where you can get a substantial lunch for $10. The menu is common to many cheap and cheerful Thai eateries around the city – it has pad thai, green or red curries with a pick-your-protein option – but the food stands out for freshness and flavour.

Owner Anne Enphanit recommends the pad kee mao, or drunken noodles. “It’s called that because in Thailand drunk people eat it. The spicier, the better,” she says. “It’s made with rice noodles like pad thai, but it’s totally different. You have the heat from the chilli, the balance of fish sauce and oyster sauce, plus the Thai holy basil that gives the dish its fragrance.”

5/72 Botany Road

Common Burger at 4 Ounces – $12

Chef Rory Donnelly describes the Common as a classic American-style burger, but way better. “Our meat is from grass-fed, pasture-raised cattle. We mince and press it in-house, we use premium ingredients and we make our own sauces,” he says.

From the mural of rapper MF Doom on the wall, to the names of burgers – like The Ol’Dirty (after Ol’ Dirty Bastard from the Wu-Tang Clan) and Ghostface (after Ghostface Killah, also of the seminal rap group) – 4 Ounces is infused with music culture. “It’s all about the generation of hip-hop I grew up with in the ’90s,” he says.

The Common is named for its everyman burger status, and after velvet-voiced rapper and poet Common.

Rare beef pho at Nguyen Brothers – $13
There’s plenty to choose from on the Nguyen Brothers’ menu but co-owner Le Nguyen recommends sticking to a classic. “Rare beef pho is the best,” he says. “I make it with cinnamon, star anise, beef bones, onions and ginger.”

Nguyen cooks the pho in a pot that’s over a metre tall. Such scale for a small eatery might seem excessive, but it sells out quickly. “We go through one full pot of pho per day in winter.”
Aside from the broth’s complexity, the soup is simple: rice noodles, tender strips of rare beef and bean sprouts. Hoisin, Sriracha sauce and lemon wedges come on the side.

Staff member Na Trinh wrinkles her nose at the idea of putting the sauces directly into the soup. “Mix it in a small dish on the side and use it as a dipping sauce for the beef,” she says.

Shop 5 and 6, 21 Fountain Street

Pie at Wild Cockatoo Bakery – $6 to $7
The fact Ray Chalmers can singlehandedly fill Wild Cockatoo Bakery with pies, croissants and as many as 14 varieties of sourdough on a daily basis is almost unthinkable. “I start at 3.30 in the morning and I don’t stop until 6pm,” he says. “I work mostly alone because I haven’t found anyone who keeps up with what I do, or who I can trust apart from a few weekend staff.”

Tireless work is a huge part of Chalmers’s success, and so is expertise. “I have a background in product development, and I apply mass-production techniques to small batches.”

For his pies, he hand rolls and presses pastry into moulds before filling them. The vegetarian is stuffed with black-eyed beans, fresh turmeric, lime juice, ginger and chilli; and there’s also one with free-range pork and fennel. The lamb filling is cooked in moong dal coconut curry with fresh turmeric, lime and spices; and the filling for the chicken pie includes chilli and beans.

There’s nowhere to sit in the tiny bakery but you can take away to eat at nearby Alexandria Park.

30 Botany Road

Roast-chicken sandwich at Bourke Street Bakery – $9.50
Another chicken sandwich option but this time from Bourke Street Bakery’s Alexandria outpost.

This used to be where all of the bread and pastries were made for the company after the original Bourke Street shop (in Surry Hills) and Broadway couldn’t keep up with demand, but it too has been outgrown (pies and sausage rolls are now made in Marrickville and everything else at Banksmeadow).

The roast-chicken sandwich is a favourite of co-founder David McGuiness. “We change our sandwiches seasonally and I love this one for winter,” he says. “It’s like a roast dinner on a sandwich.”
Served on two pieces of Bourke Street’s sourdough, it comes with chicken, roasted corn, mayonnaise and a herby, rich stuffing. “We take corn, carrots, onions, celery and garlic all diced up and roast it in the oven. Then we fold it through sourdough breadcrumbs with a lot of butter.”

472–474 Gardeners Road

Want more cheap eating? Here's our Cheap Eats guide to Wynyard.