London will happily take £30 off you for an average bowl of pasta. It’ll also feed you brilliantly for a fiver, if you know where to stand. This list is the second kind of London: real plates of food, honest prices, and nothing dressed up to look more expensive than it is.
“Cheap” here means a proper meal, not a snack, for under £15 a head in most cases, often quite a bit less. Every entry below names the actual dish to order and what it costs, so you know exactly what you’re walking into. Twenty spots, all five corners of the city, so wherever you’re starting from, one of these is close.
Central London
ICCO Pizza, Fitzrovia
This is where ICCO started. Founder Ashraf Kamel used to deliver soft drinks to a café that once stood on this corner of Goodge Street. He got talking to the owner, an offer was made, and in 1999 that café became the first ICCO. His son Tamer runs it now, same dough recipe, same commitment to keeping prices honest in one of London’s most expensive postcodes. Two minutes from Goodge Street station, it’s the reason half the offices around Charlotte Street and Fitzroy Square treat “the Goodge Street pizza place” as their default lunch.
The dish to order is simple: a whole Margherita is £6.50, and it’s the one that built the reputation. Pepperoni, the most ordered pizza on the menu, is £7.50. Fiorentina (spinach, black olives, egg) is £8.25, and the Vegan Veggie is £9.50. If you’d rather spend less, a whole Marinara comes in at £3.95.
Everything is 100% halal throughout, no separate section, no need to ask, and there’s no booking, so just walk in. Open Sunday to Wednesday until 11pm, Thursday to Saturday until midnight.
Address: 46 Goodge Street, W1T 4LU.
ICCO Pizza, Soho
Same dough, same prices, same halal kitchen as the Fitzrovia original, but this branch stays open into the small hours Wednesday through Saturday, making it one of the few sit-down kitchens in Soho still serving proper food that late. The Margherita is still £6.50, Pepperoni £7.50, and if you’ve got a West End ticket in your pocket, ask about the pre-theatre deal: any pizza plus a soft drink for £10. It’s a genuinely useful stop before or after a show, given how many theatres sit within a five-minute walk.
Address: 23-24 Greek Street, W1D 4DZ.
Wong Kei, Chinatown
Wong Kei isn’t trying to charm anyone, and that’s rather the point. It’s been a Chinatown fixture for decades, the kind of place regulars go precisely because it’s fast, unfussy, and doesn’t waste your time. The dish to order is the wonton noodle soup, a proper bowlful of dumplings and broth for under £10, or a plate of roast meats over rice at a similar price. Portions are generous and the turnover is quick, so it suits a solo dinner or a quick refuel between errands just as well as a group.
Address: 41- 43 Wardour Street, W1D 6PY.
Junk Soho, Soho
Junk built its name on smashburgers, and the reputation has held up. The smaller two-patty build, called the M, lands just under £10, and it’s worth paying the extra pound for the sweet onion add-on, which cuts through the richness nicely. It also runs a serious takeaway operation, which matters given how packed Old Compton Street gets on weekend evenings, so getting yours to go and eating on a nearby bench is a perfectly good plan.
Address: 49 Old Compton Street, W1D 6HL.
Tongue & Brisket, Clerkenwell
The Soho sibling to Edgware’s long-running B&K Salt Beef Bar, and the salt beef sandwich is the entire reason to visit: rye bread, caraway seeds, pickle, sauerkraut, and mustard, for under £10. It’s a deli in the old-fashioned sense, doing one thing very well rather than a large menu adequately, though chicken schnitzel and latkes are on offer if salt beef isn’t your thing. It’s best eaten quickly at one of the few tables rather than treated as a sit-down meal.
Address: 24-26 Leather Lane, EC1N 7SU.
Adoh!, Covent Garden
Sri Lankan street food dropped into one of the most tourist-heavy corners of London, which is rarer than it should be given how few options exist nearby that aren’t chains. The mutton rolls and crab kothu are the dishes to order, and a full meal runs to around £20 a head, a touch over this list’s usual ceiling but genuinely worth it for the chilli heat and the change of pace from Covent Garden’s usual offering. Go hungry, since portions are generous and shared plates work well here.
Address: 36 Maiden Lane, WC2E 7LJ.
North London
ICCO Pizza, Camden
A short walk from Mornington Crescent, and the natural stop before or after a gig at KOKO or the Roundhouse, or a wander through Camden Market. Same menu and prices as the other two branches, 100% halal throughout, fresh dough made daily: Margherita £6.50, Pepperoni £7.50. It stays open until 2am on Fridays and Saturdays, later than most food options on this stretch of the high street, which makes it a genuinely useful post-gig stop rather than just another pizza place.
Address: 21a Camden High Street, NW1 7JE.
Roti King, Euston
A basement restaurant that built a genuine cult following on roti canai alone: soft, flaky flatbread served with a bowl of curry. Roti Canai with Dhal Kari is the cheapest order at £6.00, while the Chicken, Mutton, or Fish Kari versions are £7.50 each, and regulars tend to order the mutton. It’s BYOB, which keeps the overall bill low even with drinks factored in, and there’s usually a queue at peak times, a fair trade-off for food this good at this price.
Address: 40 Doric Way, NW1 1LH.
Indian Veg, Islington
An all-you-can-eat vegetarian buffet for just over £12, a Chapel Market fixture for years and popular with students and locals alike. Expect creamy pea and paneer curry, vegetable biryani, and a rotating spread of other dishes, all served canteen-style so you can go back for more. It’s BYOB, and worth knowing that the restaurant feeds homeless people for free, which says something about the place beyond the price on the menu.
Address: 92-93 Chapel Market, N1 9EX.
Durak Tantuni, Harringay
A no-frills Turkish canteen that does exactly one thing: tantuni, chopped and fried beef laden with sumac and parsley, wrapped in dürüm or stuffed into bread. The wrap version runs around £4, the bread version closer to £8, and two wraps make a satisfying meal for well under a tenner. It’s cash-only and open until 2am every night, which makes it a reliable option for anyone eating late in this part of north London.
Address: 390 West Green Road, N15 3PX.
East London
Beigel Bake, Brick Lane
A genuine London institution, baking since 1974 and turning out around 20,000 bagels a day, open 24 hours so there’s no wrong time to turn up. Prices start around £1 for a plain buttered bagel, rising to roughly £2.50 for hummus or peanut butter, and about £4.50 for cream cheese and salmon. The salt beef bagel is the one people queue round the block for, and it’s worth joining them, since the queue moves fast and the bagels are made fresh throughout the night.
Address: 159 Brick Lane, E1 6SB.
Bánh, Dalston
Widely considered one of London’s best bánh mì, with most sandwiches landing around £10. The kitchen and bread oven take up more of the space here than the seating does, which tells you where the focus sits: flaky baguettes, pork-heavy fillings, and proper layering of pickle, herbs, and chilli rather than a token garnish. It leans towards takeaway, so don’t expect a long, leisurely sit-down meal.
Address: 592 Kingsland Road, E2.
Atush Uyghur Cuisine, Farringdon
A quietly excellent Uyghur restaurant that runs on handmade noodles and warm, family-run hospitality. The leghman, hand-pulled noodles in a rich sauce, is around £12 and easily a full meal on its own, while the golden samsa (spiced meat pastries) are about £3 each and worth ordering as a starter. It’s BYOB with no corkage fee, which keeps even a big group order affordable, and portions are generous enough that sharing plates works well.
Address: 20 Rosebery Avenue, EC1R 4SX.
E. Pellicci, Bethnal Green
An Italian-run caff that’s been open since 1900, a genuine slice of East End history that’s stayed unpretentious despite the reputation. The Classic Set, a full fry-up with sausage, egg, bacon, mushrooms, beans, tomatoes, and toast, is £13.25, while the Veggie Breakfast comes in at £7.20. It’s cash-only, so bring notes rather than a card, and go early if you want a table without a wait, since it fills up fast on weekend mornings.
Address: 332 Bethnal Green Road, E2 0AG.
Shalamar Kebab House, Whitechapel
A straightforward, canteen-style Pakistani restaurant with a short menu done well: samosas, chicken tikka, curries, daal, biryani, and naan. Chicken tikka on a plate or in a roll is £3.50 and genuinely excellent, curries run £4 to £6, and the meat biryani, a proper mountain of rice and tender lamb, is £6 (chicken version £5). It works just as well for a solo dinner as it does for a group, and the portions are generous enough that you won’t leave hungry at these prices.
Address: 95 New Road, E1 1HH.
South London
Guacamoles, Peckham
Tucked inside Rye Lane Indoor Market, this taqueria does hand-pressed corn tacos from around £11 for three, filled generously with pulled chicken, al pastor, beef birria, or carnitas. Every order comes with a side of guacamole, a nice touch at this price point that most taquerias would charge extra for. The market setting means it gets loud and busy, part of the appeal if you like eating somewhere with atmosphere.
Address: 48 Rye Lane Indoor Market, SE15 5BY.
JB’s Soul Food, Peckham
Jerk pork with a genuine local following, built entirely on word of mouth rather than any marketing push. Around £10 gets you a proper portion of pork belly chunks and jerk-infused crackling, and there are only a couple of small tables inside, so most people take theirs straight out to the pavement. It’s earned its reputation as one of Peckham’s better-known food stops the honest way, through consistency rather than hype.
Address: 27A Peckham High Street, SE15 5EB.
Lebo Lebanese Grill, Elephant and Castle
The late-night hero of New Kent Road, glowing until 2am and drawing midnight crowds with one shared objective: chicken and chips. The boneless grilled chicken, charred and juicy, drenched in spicy mayo, is the dish to order, and splitting it with a friend along with fries and rice gets you eating well for under a tenner each. There’s shish and shawarma too if chicken isn’t your thing, and a bit of pavement outside doubles as the dining room on a busy night.
Address: 173 New Kent Road, SE1 4AG.
Silk Road, Camberwell
One of London’s better-known Xinjiang restaurants, known for cumin-rubbed lamb skewers at around £2 each, irresistible both in flavour and in how easy it is to keep ordering more. Bowls of hand-pulled noodles waiting for a spoonful of chilli oil run to about a tenner. The dining room is simple and unfussy, which suits the food, big flavours without any of the trimmings you’d pay extra for elsewhere.
Address: 49 Camberwell Church Street, SE5 8TR.
West London
Mr Falafel, Shepherd’s Bush
Crispy falafel wraps with hummus and pickled vegetables, served fast from a proper market stall setup rather than a sit-down restaurant. A classic falafel wrap runs around a tenner for a full sit-down meal, and the deluxe version with cumin-seasoned cauliflower and crispy potato is worth the extra coins if you want to double up on carbs. It’s quick enough to eat and be gone within half an hour, useful if you’re squeezing lunch between errands at Shepherd’s Bush Market.
Address: T4-T5 New Shepherd’s Bush Market, W12 8LH.
The Wei, Fulham
Hand-pulled biang biang noodles in a one-bowl Xi’anese feast for under £15, each noodle bouncing and chewy in the way only proper hand-pulling achieves. The room looks smarter than the price suggests, cream booths and a clean showroom feel rather than the canteen setup you might expect, which makes it a solid pick for a midweek catch-up that doesn’t feel like a compromise on either food or atmosphere.
Address: 461-465 North End Road, SW6 1NZ.
Damascene Bakery, Shepherd’s Bush
A tiny Syrian bakery turning out mana’eesh flatbreads fresh from the oven, topped with minced meat, cheese, za’atar, or halloumi, most around £4 each. There are only a handful of tables, so it’s best shared between two people or taken away and eaten on the go. If you’re after a bigger sit-down setting with the same flatbreads, Ayam Zaman further down the road offers a roomier alternative.
Address: 264 Uxbridge Road, W12 7JA.
