The good news: you live in the best city for food in the world. The bad
news: you’ve only got 20 quid. The better news: it needn’t
matter! Whether you crave Caribbean jerk chicken, Portuguese
coxinha or good old bangers and mash, there’ll be somewhere to suit.
Our critics have eaten their way around the capital to select the 50
best budget restaurants. Bon appetit!
When Time Out produced its first Cheap Eats guide nearly two decades
ago, the list was divided into burger bars, pizza joints, cheap
Italians and a disproportionate number of vegetarian caffs. This was in
the days before most Londoners would dare eat sushi, and organic food
was for cranks.
Now London, one of the most exciting food cities in the world, offers
more choice of healthy fast food options than ever before. In this
year’s pick of the best we have Burmese and Ethiopian restaurants, a
park café selling wholesome and tasty British food, a new wave pie and
mash shop, a Southwark canteen where the pasta is hand rolled fresh
every day – even a speciality houmous joint.
Feature continues
Many of the changes have followed in the wake of the ‘Asian invasion’,
which has been the most marked change in our eating habits over the
past 20 years.
A trend kicked off by Wagamama in the 1990s, every high street now has a noodle bar. Asian food no longer
means Chinese or Indian – south-east Asian flavours are now mainstream,
as are many signature Japanese dishes. You can find signs of this
everywhere from Pret a Manger sushi boxes to Asian herb mixes in
supermarkets.
Most recently – within the last three years – we’ve seen an explosion
in the number of gourmet burger bars, a trend begun by the delightful
Gourmet Burger Kitchen. Now there are many other smart
joints such as Hamburger Union, Ultimate Burger, Fine Burger Company,
Real Burger World and the more restaurant-like Time Out Eating and
Drinking Award-winner, Haché.
The makeover of fish and chip shops is another recent trend, with
places such as Sea Cow, Fish Club, and fish!kitchen vying for the title
of London’s poshest chippy, alongside long-established places such as
Two Brothers.
The very latest trend seems to be taking Asian street food, giving it a
polish, and putting it into smart restaurant settings. Asian street
food has been around in London for ages – from Wembley to
Tooting and all points in between – but it’s now found a way out of the
ethnic food ghetto with a bit of clever repackaging. Pho and Imli are two of the best,
but Asian street food is being served in top-end restaurants, too.
So what’s the next big thing? The crystal ball goes cloudy when we look
too closely, but we reckon Korean food will be the next Asian cuisine
to break through, with more and more Korean cafés and restaurants now
opening in the West End. And, of course, there can be no end to the
number of places selling ‘healthy’ meals in settings which have long
since cast aside their lentil bake and vegetable moussaka image. Then
again, the next big thing could be vitamin pills served in head massage
bars. So: enough speculation – what’s certain is thatthere’s never been
more fun, entertaining and affordable places to eat out in London. Tuck
in.
Useful information
At all the restaurants featured here, you should be able to tuck into
two courses with a half-bottle of house wine or a couple of beers and
service for no more than £20 a head, sometimes much less, but this does
depend on what you order. But there are also some takeaways where you
can eat for far less. We’ve classified the likely cost of eating with
one to three ‘£’ signs:
£ = £10 and under (probably a takeaway or single course, with a soft drink)
££ = £10-15 (two courses, soft drink)
£££ = £15-£20 (two courses, half a bottle of house wine kind of place).
BYO Where restaurants allow you to bring your own wine we’ve specified the corkage charge (if any) in each listing.
NEW indicates somewhere that has opened since our last Cheap Eats issue.
Central
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East
West
Time Out London magazine (Issue 1858)
