Takeaways with the Michelin seal of approval! 2026 awards reveal the UK’s best budget-friendly restaurants…so, is there one in your area?

Eating Michelin Guide-approved food often requires dressing in your Sunday best and making reservations months in advance.

However, this is not always the case; The Michelin Guide of Great Britain and Ireland has announced the 2026 edition of the Bib Gourmand Award, with 37 restaurants receiving the coveted title; Some of them also offer takeaway service.

Unlike Michelin-starred restaurants, where a meal costs hundreds of dollars, the Bib awards, as they are popularly known, recognize places that serve exceptional food at affordable prices.

The UK capital took the bulk of this year’s awards, with 12 London restaurants listed.

These include Tamila and Clapham. The brand shot to TikTok fame with Indian bars The Tamil Prince and The Tamil Crown in Islington, before opening Tamila in King’s Cross and Clapham.

Specializing in South Indian small plates and curries, this restaurant costs up to £16 for a curry (Thanjavur chicken or Chettinad lamb) and is available on Deliveroo.

In Wimbledon, just west of Clapham, authentic Korean restaurant and takeaway Ssam Ssam won the prize thanks to its £15.50 wagyu bavette and £13.90 traditional bibimbap.

Notting Hill’s Canteen, planned by The Public House group, the team behind The Pelican and The Hero in west London, and The Bull in Charlbury, near Oxford, has also been a success.

Italian-inspired Canteen in London’s Notting Hill features on this year’s coveted list

Although the menu changes daily, customers can expect seasonal pastas, pizzas and small plates all for an average price of around £20.

The canteen was similarly praised by the Daily Mail’s food critic Tom Parker Bowles, who visited it again when it opened in 2024. He praised the mostly female cuisine and River Cafe-trained head chef Jess Filbey as a ‘class act’.

London’s leafy borough of Islington also won major awards for De Beauvoir wine bar Goodbye Horses and Newington Green’s Cadet.

Elsewhere in the UK, Nottingham’s affordable neighborhood eatery Piccalilli also made the list. Focusing on seasonal small plates, the independent restaurant strives to offer local East Midlands produce.

There’s also Stockport’s Bib winner Cantaloupe, who keeps simplicity at the forefront of her agenda.

The sophisticated joint offers a £35 per person lunch menu of exceptionally well-prepared simple dishes such as Milanese Chicken Terrine and Smoked Sausage, Lentils and Dijon Mustard.

One of the previous requirements for the prize, established in 1997, was a three-course menu priced at £30 or less. caterer.

Michelin has since scrapped the criterion, stating that a competitor must only offer ‘quality, good value cooking’.

Image: Dry-aged sirloin from a five-year old dairy cow in the Peak District at Erst in Manchester

Nottingham’s Piccalilli, which offers seasonal small plates with local produce, was also on the list

The chefs at ‘Osteria locale’ Borgo in Dublin make everything in house daily, including sourdough pizzas and fresh pastas

Purple Poppadom, an Indian restaurant and takeaway in Cardiff, received an award. It offers traditional dishes, such as the £18.95 Lamb Rogan Josh, while some plates, such as the Burrata Lababdar, get a modern twist.

The only other Welsh winner was The Gaff in Abergavenny, a small restaurant that serves creative dishes while highlighting seasonal ingredients.

Scotland has added four restaurants to the list, including Glasgow’s underground bar Sebb’s, which serves wine on tap and entertains guests with rotating DJs.

The other winner, from Glasgow, is the more casual gastropub The Clarence, which focuses on traditional dishes and offers a three-course set menu for £29.

The Borgo in Dublin, meanwhile, was one of four places in the Republic of Ireland to receive the title.

The chefs at ‘Osteria locale’ prepare everything in-house daily, including sourdough pizzette, fresh pastas, cultured butter and fresh ricotta.