If you want to witness the soul-corroding effect of dining in snobby, expensive restaurants, you only have to say two words - ‘Michael Winner’. It’s a mentality I can’t understand, but years ago I had an opportunity to observe it at close quarters when I was completing the audio dub of a movie at a sound studio in Mayfair. The director of this film was one of those Englishmen who has been in Hollywood so long he seemed American. ‘We have this TV series in the UK called “Coronation Street”,’ I’d felt moved to tell him, only to be rebuked with the response: ‘Yes, I directed it for ten years.’
Alexei Sayle: connoisseur of fine frugal foods - © Rob Grieg
At lunchtime the director suggested we go for a sandwich. But to my surprise we walked past loads of decent, cheap, family-run places before coming to an upmarket tearoom with a maitre d’, linen tableclothes and waitresses. For him, inexpensive cafés, places that did without pretension or exclusivity, were literally invisible. I was shocked not only at how much he was prepared to spend on a sandwich, but also by how strongly I felt that a life spent eating in such establishments must be truly awful. To go occasionally to some Michelin starred auberge is a treat but it is also an event that can be fraught with tension, whereas eating at a cheap café is an experience that can only be composed of pure pleasure.
The café next to the weird storefront mosque on the Caledonian Road that does a Full English for £3.95 (80p less than the price of a bottle of water at Hakkasan) does not have an unlisted phone number you have to beg people to give you, the £3.50 all-you-can-eat vegetarian Indian place isn’t going to try and turf you out after exactly 90 minutes (though its unlikely you’ll want to stay that long) and the Chinese noodle place in Tufnell Park does not have a six month waiting list and there’s little chance you’ll find yourself sitting next to Amanda Holden. Instead you are free to enjoy the food and immerse yourself in the life of the restaurant and its neighbourhood. And if it isn’t quite what you wanted, you’ve only spent £5.95 and you’re still so full you feel sick.
Time Out's guide to cheap eats is for those who are as obsessed as I am with eating out at the lowest possible price consistent with a reasonable chance of avoiding food poisoning. You are not a miserly glutton; you are the champion of democracy, sustainability and egalitarianism.
Time out's classic cheap eats in London
10 - Wagamama
8 - Tayyabs
7 - Pizza Express
6 - Stockpot
5 - Song Que
4 - Mangal Ocakbasi
3 - Rasa
2 - Franco Manca
1 - Mandalay
For your bible to budget-friendly dining in London, get the Cheap Eats guide for 20% off in our online shop
Cheap eats loved and lost
Sadly, not all of London's cheap eats have stayed open over the years. Click here for our list of the budget eateries that Time Out has loved and lost.
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I have used Time Out's Cheap Eats Book on several trips to London from the US in the past few years! I enjoyed the recommendations so much that I bought the updated copy last year, and them a friend asked to borrow it for her trip. I cannot recommend this approach more strongly, and have used a similar approach when visitng Brussels, Berlin, and Amsterdam. In each case I found myself richer in both money and in cultural understanding, than if I had eaten withte "upper crust". Now Wagamama is starting to spread here in the States, and I couldn't be happier!
Nice article, but the 'classic cheap eats' list most definitely does not fit. Wagamama and Pizza express are huge chains, about as far from "decent, cheap, family-run places" as one can get. Places like Tayyabs and Song Que have also bizarrely become 'destination restaurants', where people come from all over london and wait in a queue to enter, before getting turfed out after 40 mins. Around the corner from these there is always something cheaper, far more relaxed, actually frequented by locals, where the food is just as good.
actually if you go for lunch and eat their lunchtime menu, you can eat surprisingly cheaply at some of these top restaurants, a full 3 course meal with wine and petit fours for less than £25. you might have you food cooked for you by chef you have seen on the TV. At that time of day the service is better, although admittedly portions would be small for the likes of Alexis, but it's great for those who aspire to be women who lunch
i like Wagamama, it is friendly, cool with pleasant food and inexpensive
I always find it surprising how much everyone goes on about Wagamama. With dishes generally around £8-10, it's ok but considering you sit in a line and can have your meal come 10 minutes after your dining partner's when they've finished eating, it really isn't as good as Busaba Eathai or the Hare and Tortoise. Especially the Hare and Tortoise in Ealing, definitely value for money.
I love this - a lot. There are so many great places in London to eat cheaply and really enjoy yourself. I find that I don't really enjoy fine dining - I prefer spending between £5 and £20 on some good food, a few drinks and a great atmosphere. My favourites include: Many of the Vietnamese and Turkish places in Shoreditch, Leon, Wahaca, Strada and Zizzi (with vouchers!), Giraffe, Daddy Donkey Mexican Grill and Wagamama.
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