Budget eats in London that don’t feel budget
What Do Locals Eat in London?
London is England but it’s also, well, London. It’s a City and an expensive one at that. After a trip Tesco where you forgot the one item you intended to buy, what do you eat? In your London flat when you have a craving but no ingredients? Order from Deliveroo or other food delivery apps every day?
The Food Scene In London
What about coffee shops (although we’re a tea drinking Nation) and Italian restaurants, sushi chains? Are they any good? Will I get my value for money – as a student, a budget traveller fighting the exchange rate? How about we, the Londoner, not wanting to try new food: it’s too much risk for our hard earned Great British Pound?
International Cuisine for Under £20 in London
British cuisine lacks seasoning or it doesn’t apply the seasonings acquired from lands colonisation. This is the reputation of British food instilled into many non-Brits. We have marmite and the scotch bonnet pepper. Neither are bland.
I like the lunch dine-in option of this chain. To take away or Deliveroo your order can leave you with a lot of noodles that aren’t soggy (as they cleverly separate the noodles from the broth) but to dine-in means you have delightful fresh cut chilli and garlic in vinegar, nuoc cham, chilli oil and if you like sriracha you can go to town on it too. It’s on the table at no extra cost (except the nuoc cham which you can ask to be topped up). They are generous with bean sprouts, mint, coriander and Thai basil.
Price point dining in: £15 (with one main) A beer or starter along with with a pho or other main, between £20-25. There are also choices to make your pho broth vegetarian as well as lots of vegetarian and vegan options on the menu.
Avoiding Tourist Traps In London
So, you’ve paid your extortionate fee to sleep well, refrigerate foodstuffs and already packed Fortnum and Mason tea bags as gifts. Supermarket bought bagged and loose tea leaves taste great too, by the way. So do the biscuits and chocolates from Tesco or Morrisons. It’s how Londoners survive, in case you were wondering.
After scrolling through TikTok and watching you tubers munch on chocolate covered strawberries in Borough Market for the hundredth time.. What do you actually eat here? Whatever you want, of course!
A running theme you’ll notice in this blog is that I like to dine out where I can order menu items or dishes I wouldn’t typically make myself. English breakfasts in London are not something I’m familiar with as I like a Greasy Spoon. Sadly, the reality is that: I liked a Greasy Spoon. I’m not talking about Regency Cafe or E. Pellecci in Bethnal Green. I’m talking about the liquidation prone Greasy Spoon by the laundromat where a bacon sarnie cost £1.50. If you have a kitchen in your air bnb and you’re staying for over 3 nights, buy: a tin of Heinz baked beans from Tesco; along with some eggs, tomato, oyster mushrooms, toast, British Cumberland or Richmond sausages, British bacon and black pudding. It sounds like a lot but it’s not when portioned out.
Alternatively, if you’re kitchen free and like big breakfast, The Ritz Cafe in Hammersmith on the district and piccadilly lines serves you a make your own English Breakfast with a choice of tea or coffee for £7-11.
Indian Street Food in London
Pani puri, dosa, vegetarian delights, lamb, combined with seafood, flavours from Goa are discoveries to be found in Southall. Southall is a West london residential area away from the tourist magnet that is Central London, which can be reached by public transport on the recently built Elizabeth line. It’s street food heaven if you want to nibble away on delights and purchase some spices for cooking. I would dine-in for dosa and reserve the bigger meals with starters, mains and naan with or following a pint, for Brick Lane in Shoreditch, East London. Dosa tastes better when its hot and fresh and enjoyed on a plate, in my opinion. Pani puri needs to eaten standing up by a street cart if you’re to avoid inauthentic add ins or service for bites you pop in your mouth and off you go!
For chaats, puris, pakoras and samosas for under £5 while you stand and chat to locals before deciding where to shop, the two links below offer a starting point into what Indian street food in Southall, London has to offer.
Deli Sandwiches For Under £10 In London
Pret a manger is the typical sandwich chain you’ll see in every Borough of London. More or less. That’s because it’s fresh and located by City offices or where one typically takes out a sandwich and heads back to the office.
When I think of a deli sandwich, I think filling. Layers and layers of filling, stacked so that I can’t finish the sandwich and the other half can conveniently fill me up later in the day. At £8.70, this offering from Delizie D’Italia for any of their sandwiches – including vegetarian options – is what I would call value for money.
Best Dim Sum In Chinatown London
As much as I’d love to eat it every day or at least once a week, dim sum is not cheap. Cheung fun in London is hit and miss. More on China Town later.. but if you get to Leicester Square I suggest you keep some cash on and make a dash for Kowloon Bakery on Gerrard Street. Grab some fresh – make sure they’re fresh – Youtiao and whatever freshly baked treats take your fancy. Point at the display if you can’t pronounce the items you’d like to try and let the lovely lady get your goods ready while you head to the counter on the right ready to pay. Everything is under £6 per piece, tastes as good as you’ll get in London and not just for the price.
Pro tip for visiting London’s Chinatown: Lo’s Noodle Factory supplies most of Chinatown in London’s dim sum restaurants which noodles and dumpling wrappers. You can purchase these from them directly on Dansey place in Chinatown.
If you need to rest your legs, I like Beijing Dumpling on Lisle Street in Chinatown for the fact that they don’t care if you’re alone, how much you order, you can see them make the dumplings; it’s hard to spend over £25pp minus alcohol (which is unique for a dim sum spot) and you can order a bottle of house wine for £17.50 and take it home with you if you don’t finish it. It get’s busy at peak times but the queue moves fast. It’s not as instagram-able like Din Tai Fung or Leongs Legend but it does the job.
Nearby (3 min walk away) in the same London China Town at 3-6pm slurp one-pound-a-pop oysters at Burger and Lobster on Wardour Street.
Cheap Pizza in London
If you’re sick of frozen pizza or craving pizza in London as a tourist, there are too many options. If you are visiting from Napoli you’ll shed a tear at the prices. Pizza Union, with various locations throughout East London and one in Kings Cross, doesn’t compare to Napoli but at least we’re talking £4 for a marinara from the start. We are talking about budget eats in London that don’t make you feel like you’re on a budget. So I’m including it as you won’t spend over £10 for a 12 inch pizza here. There is a whole lot of pizza in London. Sicilian, Neapolitan, Roman, etc. May be a discussion for another blog.
Is Wetherspoons Any Good?
The first Wetherspoons pub opened in Wales. You can get a full English there for £6 at most JD Wetherspoons pubs. Along with a pint you can tuck into an array of offerings like burgers and curries. It can get rowdy in the evenings. The clientele can change dramatically, depending on the Wetherspoon’s location, so take note. Or rather, take caution (especially if you’re with children).
If you’re craving a beer and quick bite you can find a Wetherspoon’s pub here, saving you some time on trying figure out how to spot them.
Finally, if you’ve read till the end, I would love to know your budget eats in London. Where did you get the most value for your money eating out in London? Would you be interested in a part 2 from a resident of this City for 25 years? What types of cuisine interest you the most?
EuroRevs 
Let me know if you’d like a part 2!