Indian£whitechapelDaily 12:00-23:30
Tayyabs Punjabi grill on Fieldgate Street in Whitechapel London, opened 1972, runs charcoal-grilled lamb chops at £12 and karahi gosht at £15.
Try: Pakistani charcoal grill (lamb chops, karahi)
Tip: BYOB; bring beer or wine from the off-licence on Whitechapel Road, no corkage. Closed Mondays. Queue runs 30-60 minutes on weekend evenings.
Italian£shoreditch-spitalfieldsMon 07:00-16:00, Tue 07:00-16:00, Wed 07:00-16:00, Thu 07:00-16:00, Fri 07:00-16:00, Sat 07:00-16:00
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.
Try: Full English breakfast
Tip: Closed Sundays. Cash and card. The famed lasagna is £8; the bacon-and-egg roll is £6. Saturday queue runs 30 minutes.
Burgers£brixton-tootingMon 12:00-16:00, Tue 12:00-22:30, Wed 12:00-22:30, Thu 12:00-22:30, Fri 11:30-22:30, Sat 11:30-22:30, Sun 11:30-22:00
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.
Try: British burger
Tip: Walk-up only at the Brixton original. Online queue system shows wait times. The Plant burger is the £12 vegan option.
Taiwanese£sohoMon 12:00-22:00, Tue 12:00-22:00, Wed 12:00-22:00, Thu 12:00-22:00, Fri 12:00-22:00, Sat 12:00-22:00, Sun 12:00-21:00
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.
Try: Taiwanese steamed bao
Tip: Three bao plus a side runs £20-25; budget visit is two bao for £12. Walk-up only with the chalkboard waiting list outside.
British gastropub£soho
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.
Try: Skinny chops at half price
Tip: Walk-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.
American diner£shoreditch-spitalfieldsDaily 00:00-24:00
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.
Try: Salt beef bagel
Tip: Order at the counter, pay at the till. Salt beef is the canonical order; cream cheese-and-tomato is the budget version at £3.50.