London is a place where money comes and goes quickly. However, a well prepared visitor wishing to keep 'quids-in' , is is easy to eat (well) on a budget. There is plenty of choice from Brazilian, Indian, Mediterranean or Asian fare , to the English favorites of Fish and Chips , fried eggs and chips and lots more.
Brasil by Kilo on Oxford Street offers an innovative way for diners to get their eat on. Load your plate up with goodies (to either eat-in or take-away) and you'll only get charged 99p for each 100g. Get on the tube and get off at Tottenham Court Road to fill up on all the things that Ronaldinho and Ronaldo might eat (although probably not before a match).17 Oxford St, W1C 2JS (020 7636 7222). Don't miss the rice & black beans (arroz e feijao). It is the only way to have a complete meal for £5 in London! Just a bit hard to find: you must enter an electronic store (cameras, computers, etc) and go up the staircase to the restaurant. It is not well marked.
Rub elbows with the business-types at Club Mangia at the Punch Tavern for next-to-nothing. Just £7.50 (15 $ US)gets you an all-you-can-eat smorgasbord of international fare (beef goulash, dhal, pumpkin curry, and so on). There's a healthy selection of salads, too, to keep you from feeling like you've completely blown your diet ( who cares about vacation calories? ). 99 Fleet St, EC4Y 1DE (020 7353 6658) Blackfriars tube/rail.
You can't come to London and not nosh on a pie or two - but we're not talking about pastry pies here. Meat pies are the lunch of choice for many workers in London. Square Pie Company offers a whole variety of pies to satiate even the hungriest of travelers. Old Spitalfields Market, E1 6AA (020 7377 1114/ www.squarepie.com) Liverpool St tube/rail.
Hummus Bros offers a unique quick and tasty experience. You get a bowlof creamy smooth hummus with a topping of your choice on top. Warm pitta bread is included and you scoop away. Service is fast and extremely friendly. Choose from a variety of vegan/vegetarian (mushroom, fava beans) and also meaty toppings (meatballs, chunky beef, chicken, and accompanied by quirky drinks such as Aloe vera juice or fresh mint and ginger lemonade. You are guaranteed to be full in under £10, virtually unheard of in this part of town. 88 Wardour street, W1F 0TH, 0207 734 1311 www.hbros.co.uk, (Tottenham Court Road/Oxford Circus tube)
Lennie's is an odd-duck sort of place because it offers Thai and East Asian dishes alongside an authentic English fry-up on Sundays. Hey, whatever works. The fry-ups are only about £4, including tea and coffee, which is a steal for any traveler on a budget. 6 Calvert Avenue, E2 7JP (020 7739 3628) Liverpool St or Old St tube/rail.
Wagamama, which has locations all over London, features a huge array of noodle dishes from chilli chicken ramen to yasai itame all priced between £5 and £10. It is extremely popular with Londoners, so don't be shocked if you encounter a line at the entrance. The line moves quickly and the wait is well worth it. Check out www.wagamama.com for locations.
New Culture Revolution - Locations in Chelsea, Notting Hill and Angel Islington ( www.newculturerevolution.co.uk), this well known noodle and dumpling bar serves London's most authentic chinese dumplings/jiaozhi and also home made egg free noodles. The menu is varied and always popular with locals popping in for a quick bite or informal dinner. Must try are the dumplings and marinated shin beef. You can eat well for around £7 per person.
Royal China Chinese Restaurant - In Swiss Cottage, Queenway, Baker Street. expensive for dinner, but pop in for quality Dim Sum 12:00 - 17:00. Stick to their main menu and you can have around 7 standard dim sum baskets, drink tea all for just over £20 including service.
Gourmet Burger Kitchen "GBK" - Big organic burgers with chips and drink all for around £11 per person. Restaurants all around London.
Meraz Cafe - Brick Lane hot spot serving fabulous home cooked Indian food. 5 minute walk from Liverpool St station with most main dishes under £5.00. A perfect find right off the beaten path of Brick Lane Curry Houses. 56 Hanbury St, London E1 5JL
Masala Zone - Delicious Indian dishes in a stylish setting on Earl's Court Road one block from the tube station with entrees for under £7.00. Two additional locations around town.
Spicy Food Plus - Fabulous cheap Indian food. Don't let the cafeteria-like setting throw you off; the food is great. Dirt cheap delicious Indian food. Tel.0207-834-8068. 83 Wilton Road London Swividl.
South Indian Vegetarian - Sagar Restaurant, 157 King Street, Hammersmith. Great vegetarian food at good prices.
Quick Eats - You can find Pret a Manger or Cafe Nero locations all over London. Great prepared sandwiches, snacks, drinks, and coffee. Yo Sushi is an inexpensive choice and a fun place to take the kids!
Grocery Stores and Ready-To-Eat Food
Grocery stores are an excellent way of feeding yourself. They have plenty of ready-to-eat type of mini-grocery stores that have packaged sandwiches, single portion veggies and desserts, fruit shakes etc, etc. This can be a life-saver on the wallet. There is plenty of competition which in turn means that you are probably never more than 4 blocks away from one of these stores, both in touristy areas as well as more residential areas.
- The Simply Foods (Marks & Spencer) stores are visually appealing and do not really offer groceries, they just focus on ready to eat products.
- The Sainbury stores are more like mini-grocery stores, offering ready to eat as well, for slightly lower prices.
- The Tesco Express and Tesco Metro stores, a spin-off the larger Tesco grocery stores, are similar to Sainsbury and also cheaper slightly than Simply Foods.
- Boots (The chemist) also sell sandwiches and their "Meal Deal" of sandwich/salad, drink and crisps/desert for £3.30 is very good value.
For all of these stores, ensure you review the "made on" and "best before" dates. Tesco's and Sainsbury's have sections where food on its' sell-by date is sold for half price. Handy for real budget travelers.
In addition to those major stores above, it seems that every small convenience store also offers some ready-to-eat packaged foods, primarily being sandwiches. No doubt these stores would be fine to purchase food from, however, the large chains have flooded London with so many locations that if you want to find one of the above stores, it's not that hard to find.
London of course has many attractions 'outside' of London . Take for example , Hampton Court There is nearby Kingston with a range of High Street chain as well as private label names offering a vast choice of foods. In particular, after a travel weary day plodding your way through Hampton Court , Bombay By Night at 87 - 89 Station Road is always well worth the visit. One stuffed alloo-nan with a couple of papa-doms , a plate of onion-salad and a beer, topped off with a karahi chicken delight is enough tittilation for the taste buds and plenty of food for under a tenner. Hampton BR is a mere 5 minute walk for the trip into London with time to muse over the days wanderings . For a cheap crepe Hampstead is the place to go. Authentic french crepes are served (both sweet and savory) at 77 Hampstead High Street outside the King William IV pub. You pick up your crepe from the 'van' and then need to find a bench to eat it on. Prices range from £3-£5. It is open daily from 11.45am to 11pm (11.30pm Friday, Saturday and Sunday). http://www.hampsteadcreperie.com/inde...
There is more ....will fill you in as time permits !