Eat well in London without overpaying: the locals'-budget edition.
Eat well in London for under €15 a plate: the places locals on a budget actually use.
Brick Lane's 24-hour bagel counter in east London, trading since 1974, runs salt beef bagels for £6 and cream cheese bagels for £2.50, the city's defining.
TrySalt beef bagel
TipOrder at the counter, pay at the till. Salt beef is the canonical order; cream cheese-and-tomato is the budget version at £3.50.
The 1946 white-tiled greasy spoon on Regency Street in Westminster London, runs the canonical full English breakfast for £8.50, a working-class set-piece.
TryFull English breakfast
TipCash and contactless. Closed Sundays and from 14:30 weekdays. The mug of tea is £1.50; classic mug-of-tea-and-fry-up is the £10 menu.
Padella's hand-rolled pasta counter at Borough Market in London, opened 2016, runs the city's best-value fresh pasta at £8 a bowl, the cheap-counter.
TryFresh pasta
TipUse the Padella app at 12:00 sharp for first lunch slots. Mid-week dinner queues clear by 19:30 most weeks.
Ning Ma's Beijing street-food cafe inside Brixton Village in south London, opened 2011, runs hand-rolled dumplings, hand-pulled noodles and the family.
TryHand-rolled Beijing dumplings
TipWalk-up only. Five dumplings around a fiver; the chilli oil noodles cost £8. Weekday lunch walks in without queueing.
Koshari Street's Egyptian street-food counter on St Martin's Lane in Covent Garden London, opened 2014, runs the canonical Cairo bus-station dish at £8 a box.
TryEgyptian koshari (rice, lentils, pasta, spiced tomato sauce)
TipSingle-size £8 box comes with all the toppings (caramelised onion, chickpea, tomato-chili). Closed Sundays.
Tayyabs Punjabi grill on Fieldgate Street in Whitechapel London, opened 1972, runs charcoal-grilled lamb chops at £12 and karahi gosht at £15.
TryPakistani charcoal grill (lamb chops, karahi)
TipBYOB; bring beer or wine from the off-licence on Whitechapel Road, no corkage. Closed Mondays. Queue runs 30-60 minutes on weekend evenings.
E Pellicci's 1900 Italian-British family cafe on Bethnal Green Road in east London, Grade-II listed for the 1946 marquetry interior, runs full English.
TryFull English breakfast
TipClosed Sundays. Cash and card. The famed lasagna is £8; the bacon-and-egg roll is £6. Saturday queue runs 30 minutes.
Honest Burgers' first counter inside Brixton Village London, opened 2011, runs dry-aged Ginger Pig beef burgers at £12 with their famous rosemary-salt chips.
TryBritish burger
TipWalk-up only at the Brixton original. Online queue system shows wait times. The Plant burger is the £12 vegan option.
Bao Soho counter on Lexington Street in central London, opened 2015, runs the classic Taiwanese bao at £6 each, the city's best-value Asian counter eats.
TryTaiwanese steamed bao
TipThree bao plus a side runs £20-25; budget visit is two bao for £12. Walk-up only with the chalkboard waiting list outside.
Blacklock's pre-theatre chops menu in their Soho London basement, opened 2015, runs the all-chops platter at half price between 17:00 and 18:30 most.
TrySkinny chops at half price
TipWalk-up only for pre-theatre. Last orders 18:30 sharp; the chops platter at the early sitting is the same kitchen as 19:30 service.
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