You foodies have responded by buying the book and going out to eat with it. For this we thank you. This year we've discovered even more authentic gems. It's been a challenge keeping up with everyone's activities. Good eateries have shut shop; we've lost Brisbane's only two Polynesian bakeries to the dreaded economic downturn, places have changed hands, some don't qualify as budget bites anymore and others have slipped in quality.To keep Brisbane’s Budget Bites as accessible as possible, we chose restaurants, cafés and providores across the city, looking for two things:

• good value (in this case, under $20 for a meal), and

• a consistently high standard of food for the price.

The thing is that the economic downturn has forced us to take creative licence with eating out. We haven't stopped eating out - we're just doing it a little less frequently perhaps, but we're definitely becoming more savvy with our money and our food choices when we go out. In the spirit of budget biting, we tried our best to keep to the under-$20 budget. As a result, our budget biters got creative by choosing more vegetarian dishes than meat and seafood, and sharing plates rather than dining the traditional way. The trend of plate-sharing, or tapas-style eating, is a perfect way to combat the financial gloom. We think it's the best way to get value out of a meal and, besides, it's such a communal, fun and friendly way of breaking bread with those we like. We've come to appreciate more the eateries that are trying their hardest to provide an authentic meal.

This time round, we've gone off the beaten track and headed down to the Gold Coast to find not-so-obvious multicultural eateries. The list may be small for now but there are lots more goodies to be found. We wanted to break the stereotype of the Surfers image and prove once and for all that the Gold Coast has more accessible and affordable dining that we've come to expect. We hope you enjoy eating from the 2010 edition as much as we have.

We realise that you may already have a copy of Brisbane's Budget Bites 2009. The 2010 edition is packed with more eateries, a chapter on Indian food and Brisbane's top Indian spots and a new chapter on the Gold Coast so if you want to keep up with the eat scene it's important to get a copy of the new edition. It's never been more important to support our local small businesses in order to keep our communities alive!