LDNGuide
London’s Best-Value Restaurants (When You’re Waiting For Payday)
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Maybe you just booked a getaway to Marseille, maybe you went out for martinis last Friday or, maybe, you’re just living in what feels like the most expensive time to be a person, ever. Whatever the reason, this guide is full of great options when you’re trying to give your wallet a breather. There are slap-up full English breakfasts, hand-pulled Sichuan noodles, glistening jerk pork, crispy fried chicken, and a whole lot more for around £10-£15.
Central
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Without Wong Kei and its slapped-on-your-table wonton noodle soups and roasted meats bathing in sweet shining umami gravy, London would be a much poorer place. The Cantonese institution in Chinatown isn’t somewhere you come for the finest hand-pulled noodles or the most carefully simmered and deeply flavoured soup. But it is a place for everyone who knows the value of a steaming hot meal for under £10.
photo credit: Karolina Wiercigroch
London’s most famous, best-looking, and most-photographed cafe is the Regency. The legendary Westminster cafe is just as popular with tourists as it is with locals. They serve sandwiches, burgers, and pastas but it’s really the English breakfast deal that you want. Sides of black pudding and bubble and squeak at just over a quid each are a big yes.
photo credit: Karolina Wiercigroch
This cult Malaysian restaurant is in a basement in Euston and specialises in roti canai—soft, flaky flatbreads served with a bowl of delicious curry. The dhal one is cheaper, but the mutton version is our favourite and worth the extra pounds. They also serve brilliant versions of Malaysian hawker stall staples like char kway teow, nasi goreng, and curry laksa. FYI, there can be queues at peak hours. But that’s no surprise given it’s BYOB as well.
photo credit: Karolina Wiercigroch
The Soho sibling to Edgware’s legendary B&K Salt Beef Bar, Tongue & Brisket’s go-to sandwich is one of London’s finest examples of a meal between two slices. The slices in question are rye, flecked with the liquorice tang of caraway seeds, and piled with slices of moist salt beef, tangy pickle, sauerkraut, and a spread of mustard. It’s a really good sandwich. Especially for under £10. But if that’s not your thing, there’s chicken schnitzel, latkes, and cheesecake or pecan pie to finish it all off.
North
photo credit: Wolkite
This Ethiopian spot is part of a low-profile parade next to the Emirates Stadium that’s easy to stroll past, but this is a north London restaurant everyone should be seeking out. Wolkite specialises in kitfo, an Ethiopian dish of raw minced beef mixed with warm spiced butter and seasoned with mitmita (chilli powder). It’s a complete joy to scoop with injera, stuff in your mouth, and pay about £15 for.
photo credit: Jake Missing
Blankita is a bustling hub on the corner of Seven Sisters serving home-cooked Colombian food that’s as warming in winter as it is satisfying in summer. The beef tongue is one of the standout dishes. It’s covered in a fruity and mildly spiced yellow sauce, and slowly cooked with stodgy and starchy potatoes. The star, though, is the meat. A careless whisper could break the pink strands down and a mouthful alongside rice, plantain, and a dollop of sharp red chilli salsa will have you humming with happiness.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
You’ll find Durak Tantuni up towards Turnpike Lane. It’s a short walk from the Turkish and Kurdish options on Green Lanes’ Grand Parade—but it’s well worth the extra steps. Your choice in the brightly lit restaurant is simple: a chopped and fried beef mixture laden with sumac and parsley; wrapped in dürüm or bread; big portion or small; single or multiple. Two regular wraps will do the job of pre or post-dinner snack, and it’s open until 2am. Don’t skimp on the piquant green pickled peppers that arrive at your table either.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Brothers Cafe & Restaurant is a short stroll from the shiny spaceship that is Tottenham Hotspur Stadium. But unlike its hulking neighbour, there’s a small, social club vibe at this Somali spot, with solo diners spooning lamb broth and tucking into plates piled high with grilled meats and rice. Dishes are fragrantly spiced, mixing star anise, turmeric, and cinnamon with melt-in-your-mouth fat, and meals for two are often little more than a fiver each.
South
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
There are a tonne of noodle soups across the whole of London and Dr.Noodle’s is one of the best around. The little BYOB Chinese spot in New Cross is ideal for a low-key lunch or a cheap and cheerful dinner marked by the sounds of slurping and jingling bags from the off-licence next door. There are fried rice and vegetable dishes too, and you can just as easily cram your table as you can settle for a single bowl. Just know that a spoon of the doctor’s chilli oil is a must—the Sichuan pepper film coats your throat like an aggressive Strepsil.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Follow the big Brazilian flag waving invitingly in the centre of Brixton Village Market, to Reem's. It’s a tiny spot, about 90% kitchen with two outdoor tables, and an extensive menu of classics and beloved Brazilian versions of things like burgers, pizzas, and hot dogs. The £10 buffet is the biggest pull though. While dishes rotate, there’s always brilliant feijoada, which can be topped with farofa and enormous, crunchy pork scratchings. Stroganoff comes in a creamy white sauce with the correct amount (a hell of a lot) of garlic, crunchy matchstick potatoes, and white rice.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
The slices of burek at this Sydenham spot are good enough to cross London for. The Balkan menu includes things like the lamb and ghee potato pie with dipping gravy, that sound exciting, smell enticing, and are filling. Each slice comes with a generous scattering of parmesan, and the layers of filo are light and crispy. Visit during the day for a takeaway slice, or come in the evening, grab a bottle from nearby shop, 161 Food+Drink, and settle in.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
Hype is only irresistible if said thing is worth it. JB’s jerk pork is. Pork belly chunks, glistening fat, and jerk-infused crackling that’s best gobbled on the pavement make it so. There are a couple of little tables and chairs inside this Caribbean spot that’s become a Peckham institution, but all you really need is £10 and a spot to squat to enjoy anything from JB’s smoking drum.
East
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
There aren’t many places where we’d happily test our quad strength by squatting in an alley to eat a taco—but Sonora Taquería is one of them. The Mexican spot in Stoke Newington has a small amount of downstairs seating, but when the food is this good, inevitably these fill up fast. Wherever you end up pitching up, it’s worth it for the short menu of tacos and quesadillas. Whether you get yours stuffed with beef, pork, or nopales—they’re all brilliant. Two will set you back £10 and is a good lunchtime portion.
photo credit: Karolina Wiercigroch
A daytime Italian cafe in Bethnal Green that’s been open since 1900, E. Pellicci runs on strong cuppas, winking innuendos, and various formats of fried bread. It’s a high-energy caff where you can indulge in the biggest (and possibly best) fry-up of your life at circa 8am or a truly epic portion of lasagne come afternoon. It’s big portions with a side of personality and one of our favourite spots for a good old-fashioned escalope sandwich.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
The Pakistani canteen-style restaurant in Whitechapel is a straightforward spot with a short menu that ranges from homemade samosas to chicken tikka, to curries, daal, biryani, and naans. The chicken tikka, whether on a plate or in a roll, is particularly delicious. That said, the meat biryani—a mountainous plate of moist rice mixed with flaking pink beef—is pretty fantastic too.
photo credit: Karolina Wiercigroch
Andu is a homely Ethiopian cafe in Dalston where the only decision to make is to go alone or with friends. Decide between a platter with rice and perfectly tart injera, or just injera, and order large or larger. Either way, you’ll be eating moreish spiced yesimir wot (lentil stew), crunchy gomen (greens), and a load of other bits to be mopped up.
West
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
This little spot is just up from Alperton station in Wembley, and is a popular sit-down rest stop for an unplanned cup of chai and a bite. Like most fast food shops in London, it’s a little scruffy around the edges, but unlike most, the food is carefully made. The buns of the vada pav are just crisp on the outside but soft enough to absorb the chutneys and soft fried potato after one bite. Inhale one and then look towards adding cheese, the pani puri, or maybe a samosa while you make minimal contact with anything that isn’t edible.
photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli
Zeit & Zaatar in Shepherd’s Bush has been specialising in manakeesh for over a decade, and it shows. They’ve got all the classics like zaatar and labneh, and halloumi, as well as some Z&Z specialties like basterma with cheese, and cheese and honey. Most of them come within the £3 to £5 range and you can’t go wrong with a classic lahm beajin or spinach. We like to ask for some cheese on them, because... well... melted cheese.
photo credit: Aleksandra Boruch
There are plenty of reasons to go to The Best Broasted, but the signature chicken at this excellent Syrian spot in Willesden Green is the kind of thing you should happily travel across London to get your hands on. From the crunchy, sweet breading that clings to every succulent piece of meat, to the selection of pickles, the pot of creamy toum, and the chipped potatoes that come with it—it’s moving and memorable stuff.
photo credit: Giulia Verdinelli
This family-run bakery and restaurant in East Acton has a crowd-pleasing menu, with Lebanese classics like shish taouk and batata harra, but it's the bakery section that makes this spot worth going out of your way for. Their clay-oven baked mana’eesh are some of the best you’ll find in London, and they’re also some of the best-value. These flatbreads, topped with things like za’atar, spinach, or sujuk and cheese are all delicious—they’re crispy, fluffy, and perfectly baked. Our go-to order is a couple of lahm bi ajeen and spinach mana’eesh, all with additional cheese.
