The best cheap eats in London

A grab-and-go neighbourhood treat, the gem in Stamford Hill's crown is this much-loved Caribbean takeout spot. Trinidadian doubles with tamarind sauce, or curried lamb roti are the way to go – and don't forget to wash it all down with some fruit punch. 

Price: Doubles; £4 for veg (channa or pumpkin and channa), £5 for jerk or curry chicken, £6 for curry lamb or curry goat.

Sandwich lovers, assemble. This endlessly charming deli has been run by the same family since 1900 and has an epic line out of the door every lunchtime. Punters come in their droves for old school sarnies made to order by white-coated servers who offer up more fillings than Pret could ever muster. Salt beef, tuna mayo, many, many kinds of cheese, they've got it all. Eat-in at the fabulous formica tables and on caff-style seating, while surrounded by jars of jam. 

Price: Sandwiches start at £3.40.

This Latin American indoor market was recently saved from the developers axe; even more reason to go and feast on authentic Colombian food in the friendly cafe in this popular community spot. Empanadas are a big draw, but the meat-y, brothy sancocho soup is the true elixir, packed with veg, yuca and meat on the bone. It just feels good for you.

Price: Sancocho; £5. 

Brave the queues at this small but mighty hole-in-the-wall Chinatown spot, which serves up jianbing pancakes and superlative street food. Whipped up right in front of you, these lacey crepes are stuffed with spring onions, chilli oil, pickles, hoisin sauce and pork belly if you want to make it meaty. Worth the wait. 

Price: Crepes start at £4.50. 

Just of Peckham's main Rye Lane, you'll find this family-run food truck serving up sublime, North African-style wraps packed with with falafel, halloumi, and lamb and chicken shawarma. All the bread is freshly made, and they slather everything in a bounty of stunning sauces.

Price: Chicken shawarma wrap; £6.

A family-run Vietnamese cafe in Clapton, where Mama Hai rules the roost and puts buckets of love into every dish she prepares. Flavour-packed chicken, prawn or tofu bánh mì are only £8 to takeway, but it's the sensational mango salad that you'll want to order. It's walk-ins only, but everything is £2 cheaper if you bag if for takeway when all the tables are taken.

Price: Mango salad; £7 takeaway, £9 eat-in.

A satisfyingly low-key Kurdish tandoor which pumps out a seriously decent variety of naan-style bread in Finsbury Park, from plain to peshwari via garlic, chilli and cheese. They're so loved that nearby natural wine bar Top Cuvee has even done a collab with them.

Price: Falafel wrap £5.50; three plain naan £1.50.

A slice of Echo Park in Stoke Newington, this LA-style taco joint offers a short menu of grill and guisado (braised) tacos. Most are pork and beef-based, though there’s a cactus leaf nopales offering for vegetarians and faux chorizo for vegans. A sensible diner would order three tacos, but you’d be within your rights to order four, even five. Prices are an extremely reasonable £3.50 to £5, and though they look petite, Sonora’s paper-thin tortillas come packed to the floury brim. Truly excellent stuff. 

Price: Carne asada taco; £4.50, barbacoa taco £4; bean quesadilla £2.

Bargain Cantonese bakes line the windows of this Chinatown mainstay. Swerve the buffet and instead focus on the bakery where you can score a crispy BBQ pork bun for £2 and onion buns for an even more reasonable £1.50. Sweets comes cheap too, with crispy coconut buns at £1.50 and chocolate tiger rolls and pandan swiss rolls for £1.80. 

Price: Crispy BBQ pork bun £2.

This kid-friendly Japanese café canalside on the Kingsland Basin, close to Haggerston station, offers up an ever-changing daily set lunch menu of a main dish, rice, miso soup and a small salad. Always delicious and always packed full of variety, there are also rice balls, teas, Japanese toasts and desserts. The name translates as 'kids on the floor', so expect a few of those, too. 

Price: Set lunch £8.40

Get on your bike (quite literally, as it's near the bikers paradise that is the High Beech tea hut) and head down to this seriously fresh seafood spot in the heart of Epping Forest. Open Thursday to Sunday, swing by for hot and cold platters full of prawns, cockles, whelks and more. 

Price: Pint of cold prawns; £6.50

A discreet, some might say demure, bakery on the backstreets of Stoke Newington, Bake Street is also where you will find some of the city’s best burgers. There’s a Nashville hot chicken burger option as well as the mightiest of all the London smashburgers, and both come in for under a tenner. 

Price: Smashburger; £9.50. Nashville hot chicken burger; £8.50.

Durak Tantuni is an all-night (well, until 2am) Turkish spot at the Turnpike Lane end of West Green Road in north London where they have perfected the art of tantuni – an endlessly tasty dürüm wrap stuffed with fried beef, parsley, onions and a smattering of sumac. A plate of pickled chillis and lemon comes alongside every order - squeeze the lemon over the meat to liven things up a notch. 

Price: £4.50 for a tantuni wrap; £9 for tantuni in bread. 

Michele Manze and family arrived from Italy in 1878, started out as ice-cream merchants and finally opened this pie, mash and eel shop on Tower Bridge Road in 1902. Inside, little seems to have changed since those early days: the Victorian green-tiled interiors speak of history, while the pie and mash is reckoned to be some of the best in town. A truly iconic London feast and one that comes with a reasonable price to boot. 

Price: Pie and mash, £5.50.

The sign outside announces ‘ale, cider, meat’, and that pretty much sums up what’s on offer at one of the best pubs in north London. It's their small but powerful bar snack menu that really sets this boozer apart. The roast pork bap is the finest meaty treat in town and comes complete with heroic crackling and oozy apple sauce. Vegetarians won't be lonely; there are cheese baps and veggie Scotch eggs on offer, too.  

Price: Hot roast pork bap £5.95; pork pies £4.50; cheese and chutney bap £5.75. 

This teeny Euston backstreet basement serves up astounding Malaysian rotis, either stuffed or with equally first-rate curries for dipping. They’re crisp, chewy and feather-light but also dense – perfect with an ambrosial glass of teh tarik (chilled sweet tea). Also look out for great-value ‘local’ dishes such as nasi lemak, nasi goreng and beef rendang. RK is really is small, so dining solo or in pairs is probably sensible. Go early evening to beat the queues.  

Price: Roti canai from £6.50 (two pieces); nasi goreng £8.95.

Zeitgeist or no, this Taiwanese joint is a tip-top contender that brings a slice of Soho to SE15 with its fluffy steamed bao buns, small plates and cocktails. The classic Mr Bao (pork, pickle and peanut powder) is both larger and cheaper than its uptown rivals (but just as good), and we also like its extended list of vegan offerings such as the ginger-braised tofu bao. And for God’s sake, don’t skip the Bao S’more, with marshmallow and chocolate.

Price: Mr Bao bun with pork belly £4.80, ginger-braised tofu bao (vegan) £4.60.

When only a filthy-good US-style burger made with rare-breed dry-aged beef will do, Bleecker comes up trumps for London’s meat-mad hordes. The oozing bacon cheeseburger is a carnivore’s dream – especially when it’s loaded up with ketchup – although adding a side of ‘angry fries’, drizzled with blue cheese and hot sauce, will take you over the £10 limit.

Price: Burgers from £8.50.

Make your way through an indoor market in Queensway and you’re rewarded with incredible Malaysian food from Normah Abd Hamid. Roti canai is made to order and arrives hot and flaky, lavished with ghee, and scrunched into a buttery mess. Most dishes are just over a tenner, but plump for the beef rendang with two roti and you will just about scrape under the £10 cheap eats price tag. Word has it that the beef rendang at Normah’s is pretty special. It is. Patiently simmered for four hours, unctuous meat is drenched in a rich sauce spiked with fresh curry leaves. 

Price: Roti beef rendang; £9.89.  

A garish, grungy Mexican pop-up bar and taqueria gone permanent, Del 74 promises banging beats, good vibes and easy-drinking margaritas, plus a bar menu of well-crafted classics – brisket tostadas, tinga quesadillas, that sort of thing. Veggies are guaranteed to do well here. Drop by at any time for a cheap eat, although the best value is on Taco Tuesday when the happy hour lasts all night long and you can pick up tacos for £2.50. 

Price: Veggie tinga tacos; £6. Chicken quesadilla; £6.50.

You probably wouldn’t stumble upon Asian Takeaway unless you were looking for it, but it’s more than worth the quest. Tucked away off Rye Lane, this little hatch is banging out shish and curries like nobody’s business, for really affordable prices. The daily selection tends to include an on-the-bone chicken dish and their great chana masala, and a combo platter won’t set you back much over a fiver. On a hot day, eat at the tables next to the truck, and make sure to order a naan, freshly made on the tandoor, to scoop everything up.

Price: Combo platter, £5.50.

A new-gen greasy spoon that serves simple yet effective set menus, chip butties and piping hot mugs of tea. Your tenner will go far here, with bacon sarnies or cheese on toast for a fiver or a proper English breakfast with ham, two eggs and chips for £8. Indulgence on a budget.  

Price: Beans on toast with cheese £5; chip butty £5.50; mug of tea £1.

Done out like a Tamil truck stop with lurid lighting, furniture the colour of Sunny Delight and movies on the flatscreen TV, this Sri Lankan-South Indian caff is famed for its minuscule prices and superlative dosas. Veggie options are the standouts – the Mysore masala dosa, served with spiced onion, potatoes and three house chutneys is a winner, as are the onion utthapam and veg biryani.  

Price: Dosas from £5.99.

One of a number of London locations for this fun and fast Japanese noodle house, with katsu curry and kimchi toppings on hand-pulled udon, as well as vegan options. The classic katsu comes in chicken and aubergine options. You can also build your own curry rice bowl, starting at £7.50, then adding on tempura toppings or chicken karaage to your hearts content. An onsen egg is £1.75.

Price: £8.95 for a small chicken katsu udon.

Hindi film posters, Bollywood soundtracks and relaxed staff strike an authentic tone at this Indian street food stop just off Oxford Street. The main attraction here is a line-up of eminently affordable kati (pronounced ‘karti’) rolls: marinated meats, vegetables and cheeses, all bundled up in flaky paratha flatbread that’s been griddled and spread with beaten egg. There's a second branch on Artillery Lane by Liverpool Street.

Price: Unda aloo roll £6; steak tikka roll £6.20.  

A whole pizza? In central London? For just over a fiver? That’s the magic of Icco, a family-run Italian that’s been serving up cheap, cheap pies from its bright green corner site on Goodge Street since 1999. You can bag a funghi for six quid here, but you should spend 50p for the indulgence of the fiorentina – a salty, oily feast featuring a runny poached egg. Also in Camden, Wood Green, Croydon and Colindale.

Price: Pizza from £3.95.

London’s first vegan ‘chicken shop’ was born out of Hackney’s Temple of Seitan street stall. It’s all about ‘meaty’ wheat gluten (aka seitan) here, whether you order one of the Temple burgers, or doner wrap plus sides including popcorn bites. Brace yourself for blaring music, no indoor seating and a booze-free nosh. There's also a Camden branch.

Price: Temple burger £8.75; doner wrap £6.50. 

Colourful, crowded and charmingly bonkers, Sally Chambers’s Middle Eastern café is shoehorned among the paraphernalia of Peckham’s Persian delicatessen. Expect a full-on veggie interpretation of Levantine and Persian cuisine, from traditional meze and wraps with seasonally inspired fillings (quince, halloumi and caramelised celeriac) to daily soups and hotpots, and all-day fillers such as baked sweet potato topped with Persian baked beans. Also, don’t miss the lush turkish-delight sundae. BYOB for supper.

Price: Meze platters £4/£7.50; wraps £9.

Stoke Newington Church Street has been filled with pretty chic shops, bars and restaurants, but none of them has the star quality of veggie south Indian spot Rasa and its bright pink restaurant front. Dosas are a delight, but our favourite is the creamy aubergine bagar baingan from Hyderabad. 

Price: Plain dosa £6.50; bagar baingan £7.95.

Fish and chips is one of those fast-food staples that, if you want to get a nice version of in London, always seems to be unnecessarily expensive. The solution? Head to one of the city’s best chippies (that’ll be Poppies) but skip the £15 fish in favour of some of its crisp-on-the-outside-soggy-on-the-inside chips squished into soft bread for a build your own butty.

Price: Chips from £4.50; two rolls and butter £1.75.