Offering high-end dishes without the hefty price tag, Picchi is a beautiful Italian restaurant with a menu bursting with classic, immaculately presented Italian dishes. With a four-course pasta-only tasting menu starting at 487 Brazilian real (£68/$85) per head, plus a 45 BRL (£6/$8) cover charge, you can look forward to the likes of Tuscan pasta with house-made sausage and lentil sauce or spaghetti with clams, pancetta and fresh sea urchin.

Having retained its Michelin star since 2011, Kitchen W8 proves that even restaurants just outside of London’s overcrowded centre can not only survive – but thrive. Its fuss-free style combines modern English cooking with French flair, informed by new seasonal produce and classic cookery. Ensuring there’s something to suit every kind of diner, the restaurant provides a set menu alongside its more elaborate tasting menu and à la carte options. The set menu offers three courses for £55 ($69).

For 388 Chinese yuan (£43/$53), diners at the exquisite Phénix nestled inside Shanghai's Puli Hotel and Spa can experience a three-course lunch menu to remember. The French-inspired menu includes dishes such as crispy frog legs, wagyu beef, and chestnut millefeuille, among other delectable options. If you really want to splash the cash, the ultimate experience awaits with the restaurant's 12-course dinner menu – for five times the price.

Tuome (pronounced 'tow-me') doesn't do lunch or a tasting menu, yet it still earned a place in Michelin's list of the cheapest Michelin-starred restaurants in New York City. Its food is an incredible fusion of contemporary American cuisine and Asian influences, with the cheapest main being a Michelin-approved crispy chicken with rice porridge. That costs $37 (£30), while the cheapest appetiser is the $15 (£12) devilled crispy egg.

This striking restaurant, complete with curved walls and gold detailing, has become renowned for its expansive offerings. The food here is beautifully plated, incorporating complementary colours and textures that result in fantastic tastes. Guests can enjoy three courses from the à la carte menu from 19,750 Hungarian forints (£40/$50), with dishes like pasta with truffle and pine nuts and an intriguing sounding dessert of chocolate, beetroot and lemon verbena.

A three-course business lunch at Attablez-vous will cost a shockingly reasonable €48 (£40/$50). It's only available on weekdays, of course, but that's enough to give you a taste of this creative French restaurant without breaking the bank. Perhaps the best thing about Attablez-vous (aside from the food on your plate) is the fact that it's home to a bona fide cheese cave, where unknown wonders age deliciously, awaiting their moment to shine.

Bistro Racine has coined the term 'bistronomic' to define its practice, capturing the convivial spirit and ease of authentic bistro dining while not being afraid to push the creative envelope with its techniques and signature dishes. Based around whatever the market sells on a particular morning, a three-course weekday lunch menu is available for €48 (£40/$50). The details of what you'll be eating are kept under wraps until you take your seat at the table.

Set on the edge of Exmoor National Park in England, The Masons Arms is led by Mark and Sarah Dodson, who are advocates for locally sourced ingredients prepared and presented with care. The gastropub’s food is as earthy as it is elegant, with a three-course lunch served between noon and 2pm for £39.50 ($49). The menu changes to reflect the finest produce, but dishes like duck liver parfait with rhubarb chutney and fillet of cod with mussels, crushed potatoes and chorizo have featured in the past.

Looking more like a modern art gallery than a restaurant, Noble Kitchen was awarded its Michelin star in 2020. All about 'soul food and happy times', the fusion menu travels the world for its inspiration, featuring everything from Dutch delicacies and Spanish cured meats to Japanese yakitori, sushi and sashimi. For €46 (£39/$48), you can tuck into a daily changing two-course lunch menu that offers a choice between starter and main or main and dessert.

Even though Hostellerie la Montagne is set in the beautiful grounds of a 17th-century house, the restaurant and menu are very much contemporary affairs. This is French fine dining, of course, but if you arrive at lunch, then it won't cost you the Earth. The lunchtime set menu is €44 (£37/$46) and provides four delicious courses, including roasted wild hake or roasted beef tenderloin as a main.

The building that Le Pilori calls home has been a hospitality venue since 1917. Almost a century later, the restaurant gained a Michelin star under the expert gaze of chef Michel Van Cauwelaert, whose vision comprises Japanese training and precision, a love for under-used ingredients and just enough experimental flair. He devises a set three-course market menu daily that costs €44 (£37/$46) at weekday lunchtimes or €48 (£40/$50) on evenings, weekends and public holidays. Frequently recurring ingredients include veal, langoustine and duck.

Bursting with classic English countryside pub charm, the Bridge Arms is a cosy spot worth exploring. On the delicious, seasonal set menu, expect dishes such as smoked chalk stream trout with baby turnip, pork jowl with onion and hipsi cabbage and a rich dark chocolate dessert served with almond and raspberry sorbet. Priced at £35 ($44) per head, it’s available Wednesday to Friday at lunch and on Wednesday and Thursday evenings.

One of the restaurateurs behind Tail Up Goat, Jill Tyler, grew up in the US Virgin Islands. Paying homage to the islands, Jill and her business partners created this neighbourhood eatery to foster relaxation, gatherings and good food. While the 'We Cook For You!' menu is the main draw, the à la carte menu allows you to enjoy Michelin-quality dishes for a fraction of the price. For roughly $43 (£34.50), plus tip, you can grab one of the small plates, a medium plate and a dessert.

Silabario sits within the port city of Vigo, just north of the Portuguese border. Its location between land, sea and river informs its recipes, which have been known to showcase lamprey (an eel-like jawless fish), Galician beef, scallops and venison. The restaurant’s Berbés menu is offered for lunch from Monday to Friday and Monday to Thursday for dinner at €40 (£33/$42). It is influenced by the local market’s daily produce and includes an appetiser, starter, main, dessert and an accompanying side of bread.

Located down a fairy light–lit side street in the Belgian city of Braine-l'Alleud, Philippe Meyers’ eponymous restaurant delivers a light touch when it comes to the dishes on offer. A €40 (£33/$42) set lunch menu grants diners the opportunity to try an ever-changing selection of appetisers, starters and main courses. All the courses have been expertly crafted to simply enhance the natural beauty of the ingredients they present.

Housed within the COMO Metropolitan Bangkok, nahm brings a contemporary twist to the traditional dishes of Thailand while staying true to its signature flavour profiles: sweet, sour, salty, spicy and savoury. The restaurant has a selection of curated set menus, including an incredibly reasonable lunch offering priced at just 1,400 Thai baht (£33/$42). Highlights include blue swimmer crab with pickled garlic, fish dumplings with coconut cream dressing and prawns in a savoury coconut and peanut sauce. There’s also an affordable à la carte menu available.

You’ll feel part of the furniture at this cosy family-run, French-inspired bistro. The space is brimming with character, complete with copper kitchenware hanging above the open-plan kitchen, large, patterned rugs and mismatched furnishings. The menu changes daily depending on the best seasonal ingredients available, but you can always guarantee something special. For $41 (£33) per head, you can enjoy the cheapest options on the menu, including Wild Burgundy snails, a hearty egg salad sandwich stuffed with pickles, and gâteau Breton.

Not only does this restaurant hold a Michelin star, but it also boasts a prestigious green star for its commitment to sustainability. Chef Clément Guillemot sources his ingredients from his on-site vegetable garden or as near as possible, championing those that are organic and biodynamic. Meaning ‘the good corner’ in the Basque language, Choko Ona guides visitors on a culinary journey through the diverse landscapes of the region, with a €39 (£33/$41) three-course lunch served daily (excluding Saturdays and public holidays).

Taking their lead from seasonal produce found within France’s Ardèche department, chef Richard Rocle and his wife Angèle (who oversees front-of-house) make a formidable team. A gourmet getaway at Auberge de Montfleury is characterised by the warmth of its hospitality and creative food that really tells a story. Local game, fresh fish and vibrant veggies often appear on the menu, with the cheapest being a three-course weekday business lunch (available Monday, Thursday and Friday) priced at €38 (£32/$40). 

The only pan-Asian restaurant in Rio to be awarded with such an eminent accolade, Mee is one of two Michelin-starred spots at the Belmond Copacabana Palace (Ristorante Hotel Cipriani being the other). Coming in at 215 Brazilian Real (£30/$37) for the least expensive starter, main and dessert, this dinner gets you edamame, bibimbap veg and a bowl of ice cream or sorbet. If your budget can stretch to it, sample some nibbles from the sushi bar.

In Perpignan, where the Pyrenean Mountains meet the sea, La Galinette’s dishes are fine-tuned to nature’s seasonal rhythms. Dedicated to highlighting the wealth of products harvested from his kitchen garden, orchards and olive groves, chef Christophe Comes builds his daily menu around vegetables, herbs and fruits that are fresh, abundant and exciting. For €35 (£29/$36) from Wednesday to Friday, you can indulge in a three-course lunch sitting that places you entirely at the mercy of the chef’s artistry. 

Serving mouthwatering modern American sharing plates, State Bird Provisions often has hungry customers queuing around the block. The cost of $33 (£26.50) per head is based on the cheapest 'provision', ‘commendable’ and dessert on the menu, including Hog Island oyster, CA state bird with provisions and peanut milk. But the non-traditional nature of the dining experience might mean you’ve got room in your belly (and on your bill) for more. The good news is that it’s still great value for money if you do.

With striking red walls and cream silk drapes, Vintage 1997 makes an elegant first impression. The restaurant’s name is derived from the year it opened its doors and a desire to honour Turin’s gastronomic past, showing how traditional dishes can still be celebrated and made relevant to modern consumers. They offer three-course set menus for lunch for €30 (£25/$31), with either a meat, fish or vegetable theme. Expect dishes such as veal with tuna sauce and egg yolk and linguine with vegetable ragù.

Housed within an old mill, Moulin de la Tardoire puts sustainable gastronomy front and centre. It utilises short supply chains wherever possible and sources from thoughtfully selected producers, resulting in seasonal dishes that combine the flavours of the French countryside with contemporary cooking techniques. Menu on the Go is served every lunchtime from Wednesday to Friday (excluding public holidays), offering a special taste of local cuisine priced at €29.50 (£25/$31). The menu changes daily but is always delicious.

It’s surprising to find that The Coach, a cosy English pub with a reputation as big as celebrity chef Tom Kerridge’s, serves up a flavour-packed set menu for such reasonable value. Priced at £15 ($19) for two courses and £22.50 ($28) for three courses, expect elevated pub classics, such as onion and mint soup with toasted focaccia, coq au vin with butter-roasted potato and pear and frangipane tart with vanilla ice cream.

While Thailand may be home to some of the world’s greatest street food vendors, it’s also awash with reasonably priced fine dining experiences, including this Michelin-starred delight in Bangkok. Utilising the country’s finest ingredients, Saneh Jaan offers one of the cheapest three-course lunch set menus on this list. Priced at 850 Thai baht (£20/$25), guests can enjoy an appetiser, soup of the day, a main course and dessert. Choose between dishes such as grilled chicken with peanut sauce, sea bass with chu chee curry sauce and rice and sago in sweet coconut milk.

While this Singaporean spot is more of a street food vendor than a restaurant, diners can still grab a seat at this bustling Michelin-starred space, so we think it’s worthy of inclusion. You can expect to be queuing for a while, but the wait is worth it to get your hands on steaming hot bowls of bak chor mee, a minced meat noodle dish packed with flavour. Prices vary depending on the size of the bowl, ranging from SGD $6 (£3.50/$4) to SGD $10 (£6/$7), and it comes served alongside a bowl of seaweed soup.

Taquería El Califa de León made headlines in 2024 when it became the first taco stand to be awarded a prestigious Michelin star. Chef Arturo Rivera Martínez has been working at the stand for over 20 years, and the taqueria has been serving diners since 1968, so the wider world is just catching up to the joint's brilliance. A beautifully simple single taco consisting of quality meat, a tortilla and green or red sauce will set you back just $5 (£4).

Now discover the world’s most surprising Michelin restaurants

Last updated by Luke Paton.