The Best Affordable Restaurants in London

Quirky, friendly, unpretentious and delicious Thai food made with great produce.Love what they have created here - quirky, friendly, unpretentious and delicious Thai food using the same great suppliers we use at The Clove Club. Located in Shoreditch.

Arguably the best Cantonese cooking in LondonSome serious lunchtime gorging at Dim Sum Duck in King’s Cross, what the UK restaurant critic Fay Maschler (of the Evening Standard and Tatler) has called “arguably the best Cantonese cooking in London” (the peerless Marina O'Loughlin lauds it too). Please excuse the low-quality photos, but dim sum baskets were steaming and arrived thick and fast - and I was ravenous. Plus, who has the patience for a Vogue-style photoshoot - this is food to be eaten, not stage designed. A whopper won ton soup with noodles was plentiful and would have been sufficient, but on we went… piping hot xiao long bao with a deliciously soupy mixture and shredded ginger, then prawn dim sum with chopped chives, crystal shrimp dumplings, pork & shrimp siu mai, shao mai and a couple of fluffy char siu bao. And breathe.

Great place for dim sum.Everything is freshly made on site.All dumplings, baos and wontons are delicious. Cheap and cheerful place for dinner with friends in the heart of Covent Garden.

Tasty Thai food in the heart of Soho! Make sure to be on time and ask for a table at the kitchen counter and enjoy the ride.

A true East London institution. 24/7 hot salt beef bagels with pickles and mustard. The bagel bakeries on Brick Lane are part of East London’s Jewish food tradition. Beigel Bake has been around since 1974 and is open 24 hours every day of the week. Churning out an impressive amount of fresh bagels in the bakery in the back of the building, the must try is the hot salt beef (corned beef brisket) in a bagel with pickles and mustard. The pro tip is to wait for a new tray of salt beef arriving to the window where it’s sliced for the bagels. Also try the salmon and cream cheese, strudel and cheese cake.

Authentic food and flavours. Crispy and spicy sambal chicken. Amazing if you can handle a bit of heat. This place is super busy. Expect to queue. Sometimes waiting time can be up to an hour. Just shows how good the food is that people are willing to wait in line for it. They have an app system that tells you how long in line you wait, so you can go off and do something else and come back. I was a single diner and was lucky to wait just 10 mins. Table was in the corner but I didn't mind.Very small dining room and open kitchen where you see the chef make all the delicious roti by hand.Lots of Asian customers dining here at the time which is always a good indication that the food and flavours are authentic.I ordered the sambal chicken which was crispy, juicy & spicy. Amazing if you can handle a bit of heat. Then mutton curry with roti. Delicious and eating with your hands is so satisfying.

Seasonal ramen with bags of flavourTiny ramen joint, with interesting soups making use of local and seasonal ingredients. Look out for the tofu whip and noodle ice cream too, which are worth the visit alone. They've opened a second spot in South London but it's not as good so stick to the Dalston original. They finally take bookings now too.

Tasty Tel Aviv street food stall in Borough Market famous for stuffed pitas and warm hearty salads.Best known for their stuffed-to-burst pita sandwiches (the sabich and the fish tagine are personal favourites), Shuk; serves up the tastiest Tel Aviv street food in London. Great place to grab a sandwich or salad for lunch, but personally I prefer grabbing a seat in the evening when a selection of mouthwatering small plates are available to order. The hummus platters are standouts and perfectly accompanied by zingy, wholesome salads and delicious raw and cured meats dishes.

Having gone through a list of London’s burgers, including the well-known and obscure ones, Bleecker’s juice-dripping burger is the one I yearn for while being back in Malaysia.

The best Bao restaurant in LondonBao is a casual Taiwanese streetfood restaurant, widely popular and rightly so. One of the best cheap eats in London, Bao certainly ticks all the right boxes. This Bao specifically is the best (in my humble opinion) as it has their star dish- the 40 day aged beef on buttered rice (under 10£) This was hands down the best dish I had in London on this trip. Such intense flavours & the buttery rice really complimented the beef. Bao menu varies all over London; original concept & bite size dishes - a great lunch option

Quick, casual, warm and tasty - the most perfect combo for a noodle spotNear Brick Lane, in London, you’ll find this hand-pulled chinese place that serves some very tasty specialties from the wheat filled region of Shaanxi, in northwestern China.Slurp your cares away with ultra savoury broths (almost always on the spicy side of life) with several combinations of beef, pork and vegetables. Choose between belt, thin or rice noodles and don’t skip instant classics like the hand-pulled noodles with braised beef and broth or the handmade traditional pork burgers. It’s not exactly the best place for a first date or for a fancy business meeting - the whole spot has a fast-food vibe in its decor and it’s very hard to avoid pesky stains - but it’s definitely a must.

The first - and still the best - Taiwanese bao outpost of its kind in London. Having originally started as a street food stall in a small East London market, Bao now has six outposts (slightly differing in menu and offering) across London. The OG Soho restaurant still commands a queue on most days at both lunch and dinner times. Go for the pillowy soft bao buns stuffed with an array of unctuous fillings (pork, daikon and fried chicken to name a few) and stay for the delectable Xiao Chi menu of punchy, finger lickin good small plates. Firm favourites include the blood cake and cured egg yolk, Guinea fowl rice and the fried chicken.

Tasty, authentic Southern Thai food in central London. Lukie Farrell’s flagship restaurant in JKS’ Arcade Foodhall serves up super tasty and probably one of the most authentic renditions of Southern Thai cooking in London. Think fiery, fragrant kua-gling, wok fried prawns with curry paste and sato beans, and sour and spicy seafood gang som (orange curry) that will make you sweat as though you’re sitting at a real road-side “Khao gaeng” shop in Phuket. Small-ish portions mean you can try lots of different dishes - the way it should be! - even just between two. Dont forget to order a jug of Cha-Yen (Thai milk tea) which is deliciously fragrant, refreshing and not so easy to find outside of Thailand.

Cantonese fast food with queues around the block. Simple menu - roasted meats including peking duck & dumplings. Three uncles is Cantonese fast food done well - no greasy plastic containers. A hipster small menu chinese, great flavours. Their stars of the menu are the roasted meats (can be done as a combo) with either noodles or rice. Very tight on space to sit inside so be prepared to collect your food and walk to a nearby bench.

Genuine East London greasy spoon atmosphere and a great place for Full English breakfast.My favourite greasy spoon cafe in East London for Full English Breakfast. Pelliccis on Bethnal Green Road opened in 1900 and is now run by the third generation of the same family. Mostly Italian menu and Full English Breakfast. Friendly staff (as long as you finish your plate) and great place for East Londoner spotting.