Cheap Eats
At just £5.50 for a falafel wrap filled with sauces, three falafels and salad, Baban’s Naan has got to be one of the best cheap eats in town. All the naans are made on site – varieties include za’atar, peshwari, cheese, garlic, and chilli – and you can get them filled with minced lamb Kurdish kebabs and kubba as well as falafel. Already a steal if you buy them filled to eat then and there, the breads are even cheaper if you wanna take them home, so get down there and stock up.
This much-loved central London spot, with walls covered in writing and doodles of K-pop stars, is small and permanently busy, so be prepared to queue and be prepared to sit close to your fellow diners. It’s worth the wait though as you’ll stuggle to find better Korean food at such a bargain price point – the beef bulgogi kimbap, kimchi fried rice and seafood pancakes are particular highlights and get a honey plum tea to drink. The portion sizes are proper so you’ll actually leave full too.
CAFE SALAAM & SANDWICHES
This unassuming Finsbury Park spot is a real gem. There are three Algerian sarnies on the menu – merguez, chicken breast or chicken liver, or mincemeat with egg and potatoes (aka crushed up chips) – all made with baguettes and all costing a fiver, which is ridiculous value for the size of the things. Sometimes the simplest things really are the best.
This cute spot on Columbia Road is doing banging veggie Bengali curries, like paneer, chickpea, and spinach & potato, with sides of pakoras, samosas, naans and parathas. Not only can you get curry and rice for around £6, the homemade chutneys and sauces are free so you can pimp up your meals too. The ideal place for a hearty lunch in east London that’s light on the wallet.
Founded by Turkish chef Bilur Yapici (aka Bibi), Bibi’s cafes are the place to go for fresh and healthy salads and hot food bowls that don’t break the bank. At each of the cafes you’ll find a selection of colourful salads, like roasted carrots, chickpeas with herbs and turmeric, peas with cornichons, bulgur wheat with vegetables, and pickled cabbage, which you can mix and match into boxes and top with homemade dressings. You can also add hot elements to your salads or have them with roasted veggies and rice if you want something a bit more substantial – the roasted chicken with honey and cajun seasoning is SO GOOD – and there are handmade bakes and pastries on the counter if you fancy a little sweet treat. Bibi’s makes for a perfect weekday lunch and with six cafes and counting, you’re never too far away from one.
Calling all dumpling fans! A new Nepalese momo joint has landed in Borough Yards. Canteen and ‘momo factory’ Eat Momo, founded by sisters Trishna and Dipa Chamling, is bringing us authentic Nepalese steamed dumplings inspired by regional recipes from across the country. Fillings include pork, ginger and onion; chicken, garam masala and coriander; and paneer, seasonal greens and carrot with traditional accompaniments of spicy chilli pickle and tomato chutney. The dumplings are fresh and juicy, with well-spiced fillings, so they’ll defo satisfy your dumpling cravings. You can get them in half (5-piece) and full (10-piece), so they’re perfect for lunch alongside snacks like chickpea flour chips and spiced potato, carrot, cucumber, onion and sesame salad. There’s also a takeaway hatch so you can grab your momos to go too.
FALAFEL & SHAWARMA
It’s pretty obvious what this Camberwell spot specialises in. Whether you get falafel or chicken shawarma in your wrap, you can bet it’s going to be big, filled to bursting with hummus, salad, garlic sauce and homemade chilli sauce, and cheap. If you can bear to deviate away from the wraps, there’s the mezze plate, which comes with potatoes, vine leaves, rice, aubergine, hummus and falafel. And don’t forget the carrot juice!
Burmese food isn’t exactly easy to come by in London, but there are a couple of gems to seek out – one of which is the unassuming Cafe Mandalay. Located on the back streets of Old Street, Cafe Mandalay just looks like your regular cafe, and it does still in fact turn out English breakfasts and sandwiches. Ask for the Burmese food menu, however, and you’re in for a treat. They do an excellent lahpet (tea leaf salad), ginger salad, smoked fish curry, chicken coconut noodles, Shan noodles and much more. It’s fresh, authentic and delicious and many dishes top out at £10. Note it’s only open for breakfast and lunch until 3pm.
SILK ROAD
Located on Camberwell Church Street (now just one door down from its original location) Silk Road is one of the most popular spots in the area. And for good reason as it’s got to be one of the cheapest yet most delicious Chinese restaurants in London. You can spend ages in there with a big group, ordering all the food and drinking all the beers, and it’s somehow impossible to ever spend more than £15 a head. It specialises in food from the Xinjiang region and if you don’t order the smacked cucumber salad, the lamb fat skewers, the big plate chicken and the pork dumplings then you’re doing it all wrong.
Love kushiyaki? Then you’ll want to get down to Old Spitalfields Market and try out the skewers from Kushi. The Japanese-inspired kitchen comes from the same team behind Crunch (and is the unit next door) and centres around skewers, with the likes of chicken wings, chicken skin, smoked quail eggs, miso butter corn, lamb neck and grilled mackerel on the menu. They’re available individually, ranging from £2 – £5 each, or you can get a katsu meal box for between £10 – £13.
EAT OF EDEN
If you’re after vegan food in Brixton, you wanna head to Eat of Eden, whose menu of Caribbean plant-based dishes has made them so popular that they’ve been able to expand with two more branches in Clapham and Lewisham. They’re known for their platters, which you can build yourself from the selection of curries, stews, rice and salads. Go for a mini platter (£13.95 for five items), an Eden platter (£19.50 for seven items) or a shared platter (£32 for 12 items) and settle into the Brixton Village patio (you might be here for a while). Expect affordable options and big portions – be careful not to fill up on the jerk jackfruit bites.
Just a little further away from the main thoroughfare of Turkish and Kurdish restaurants that is Green Lanes, Durak Tantuni is a small, late-night spot specialising in the Turkish street food of the same name. Tantuni is the only thing on the menu here, a dürüm bread wrap filled with chopped beef flavoured with parsley, raw onions, and sumac. Durak Tantuni is credited with being the first to bring the wraps to London (if they do say so themselves) and has certainly perfected their recipe, having been operating out of their West Green Road site for more than 20 years. They’re open all day (from 12pm until 2am), so whether you’re after a quick lunch or a post-pub snack, Durak Tantuni has your back.
The Pleasant Lady Jian Bing Trading Stall has been insta-famous ever since the hatch opened up on Greek Street, and though that hatch is temporarily closed, you can still get your pancake fix at Old Spitalfields Market. Jian bing is a traditional Chinese crepe coated with egg and filled with sweet & savoury sauce, pickles, herbs and meats like char siu pork, cumin lamb and miso chicken, and it’s the perfect street food to eat whilst you mosey around the market.
If you find yourself in Epping Forest any time between Thursday and Sunday, you’re in luck because you’ll likely be within walking distance of the Oyster Shack & Seafood Bar, a fishy little spot tucked around the side of the Kings Oak Hotel. Whether the raw bar is your thing, or you’re more into grilled fish, or you’ve worked up the appetite for a platter while walking in the woods, the Shack’s got you covered. The star of the show is their raved-about bacon and scallop butty – likely to be a hit with even the most avid seafood avoiders among us.
A complete lunch in central London for around a tenner is a thing to behold, and although it may not seem like it, they do exist. Nécco (meaning ‘cat’) in Exmouth Market is a Japanese cafe and bar with a super affordable menu of sushi, curries, noodles, donburi, homemade cakes and desserts, beers, sake and cocktails. Head over any time between 12.30pm – 3pm to take advantage of their lunch set deal, which’ll get you two Japanese tapas items, a bowl of rice and a drink for just £10.80.
Despite what you might think, that’s not how it’s pronounced. Phat Phuc, meaning ‘Happy Buddha’ and pronounced ‘fet fook’, is a noodle shack off the King’s Road that serves up some of the best pho in town. The Vietnamese national dish is their speciality, with beef, chicken, prawn and vegetable options on the list (all at a tenner a bowl, except for beef which is £12). But there are also other dishes on the menu if you fancy venturing outside the pho world. You can grab some prawn har kau, char siu buns or duck pancakes for starters, or a bowl of laksa with either rice or egg noodles for your main. Then grab a seat in the first-come-first-served courtyard, which is even decked out with shelter, heaters and windbreakers for when the weather (inevitably) turns.
If you’re after a quick bite that’ll be more exciting than Pret, Yolk is a good shout. Self-proclaimed purveyors of ‘fine fast food’, it does exactly what it says on the tin – serve up reliably well-made food with no hanging around. You can choose from one of their poached egg pots, brekkie baps (like the classic bacon or *fancy* bacon), next-level sandwiches (with options like bang bang chicken and nduja club), hot pots or salad bowls and still have time to spare on your lunch break.
URBAN FOOD FEST
You’ll find Urban Food Fest street food and farmer’s markets all over London but head to Euro Car Parks on Shoreditch High Street on a Saturday and you’ll find a rotating bunch of food trucks plus plenty of stalls selling beers, wines and cocktails, and loads of places to sit – there are no covers though so you’ll wanna hope for good weather.