21 Places In London You Can Eat Lunch For Under A Tenner

    Soggy sandwiches not welcome.

    Emma Cooke
    by Emma Cooke

    BuzzFeed Staff, UK

    1. J+A Cafe

    2. Craft London

    3. Kastner & Ovens

    4. Bunny Chow

    Bunny Chow

    Sandwiches are so passé. You deserve better than two slices of flimsy bread. You deserve a goddamn loaf stuffed with pulled pork. Or pulled chicken. Or BBQ meatballs. So go to Bunny Chow and get one of theirs, bring it back to your office and prepare to gain everyone's respect. "Oh they eat stuffed loaves for lunch? They must be a big deal." Damn straight.

    Price: £6

    Location: Soho

    5. Hook Camden

    Martina O'shea / Via hookrestaurants.com

    Quite possibly the best fish and chips you will ever have. I mean, don't get me wrong, I love my local chippie, but come on. Look at the crispy coating on that piece of fish. The golden hue of the wedges. It's poetry in fishy motion. And ok, yeah, its £10 for fish and chips here which is a bit more than average, but it's still an upgraded Friday treat that won't break the bank.

    Price: £10

    Location: Camden

    6. Nusa Kitchen

    Facebook / Via Facebook: NusaKitchen

    Soup is the fuel of winter. And Nusa has some of the best in London. Inspired by the owner's childhood in Singapore and the soups she used to have in her school tuck shop (my tuck shop never had soup and I feel cheated), you'll find Jamaican jerk chicken soup, Thai chilli tofu broth, Catalan chickpea and chorizo soup, and more here.

    Price: Soups range from £3.95 to £6.95

    Location: Old Street, Cannon Street and Liverpool Street

    7. Bamboula Kitchen

    bamboulakitchen.co.uk

    If you're looking for Caribbean fare, Bamboula is hard to beat. The little green and yellow building looks unassuming, but the food is tasty and oh-so-reasonably-priced. You can get soup of the day or a plate of callaloo for just £2.70, while a quarter jerk chicken will cost you just £3.95. Bargain. If you're feeling naughty, a £3.90 portion of the bread and butter pudding is worth it – mainly because there's a lot of rum in it.

    Price: from £2.70

    Location: Brixton

    8. Brindisa's Chorizo Grill

    Facebook / Via Facebook: Brindisa

    Go to Borough Market and ignore all the exotic, overpriced burgers. Instead, make your way straight to Brindisa (don't be distracted by Bread Ahead, you can go back for doughnuts later) and find the little chorizo grill just outside the shop. Then, order a chorizo burger. I last had one of these stood on a rainy street corner, dying of a hangover. By the time i'd got the last of the grease off my chin and fingers, I felt alive again.

    Price: £4.95

    Location: Borough

    9. Koshari Street

    10. Velo

    Facebook / Via Facebook: velorestaurant

    When I worked in London Bridge, I pretty much only ever ate at Velo. It's SO high-tech (they had touch screen ordering before it was a thing), and also SO good. The fried spring rolls are crispy bites of pure joy (order more than you think you need, trust me on this), and the lemongrass chicken is insanely tasty. All of it's pretty amazing to be honest – I worked my way through the whole menu across the space of a summer, I should know.

    Price: £4.30 - 8.80 for a main dish.

    Location: London Bridge

    11. Homeslice

    12. Melt Room

    Facebook / Via Facebook: MeltRoomLDN

    Cheese toasties are always a good call for lunch (if you want a full run down of the best in London, go here). Melt Room is in a league of its own though, partly because they do a regular cheese toastie that doesn't make you feel sick by the end of it, and partly because they now do the best cheese fries I have ever had in my life. Please go order the fries, because the thought that there's people who haven't experienced them makes me really sad.

    Price: £4

    Location: Soho

    13. Battersea Pie Station

    Tripadvisor / Via tripadvisor.co.uk

    Don't worry, this pie shop isn't actually all the way out in Battersea. It's smack bang in central London, so if you work central, hurrah, you've won the jackpot and are close to the best pies in London (in my opinion, but my opinion is gold, so there). All the pies are ridiculously good, but if you're starting out, order the steak and Meantime stout pie. It's a corker.

    Price: £4 - £5.50

    Location: Covent Garden

    14. The Kati Roll Company

    15. Shoryu Go

    Facebook / Via Facebook: ShoryuRamen

    Ok, I'm going to level with you. I have eaten a hell of a lot of ramen. Frankly, an unhealthy amount. And I can confirm the top spot is a toss up between Shoryu and Tonkotsu. Tonkotsu probably JUST wins because their Soho ramen is like noodles in the tears of angels, *but* Shoryu has a takeaway service, and that means I get to have lunch ramen and lunch ramen is the best gift you can give someone.

    Price: £9.90

    Location: Soho

    16. The Potato Project

    Facebook / Via Facebook: thepotatoprojectsoho

    Affectionately known within Buzzfeed HQ as "the potato palace", because this is where you go to get ALL THE POTATO. What they serve here are baked potatoes, but the best baked potatoes ever because they're topped with things like raclette and roast artichoke, and shepherd’s pie ragu and salted ricotta, and ACTUAL ALL DAY BREAKFAST. Three guesses which one I'm most excited about.

    Price: £3.75 - £5.25

    Location: Soho

    17. The Begging Bowl

    Packard Stevens / Via Facebook: TheBeggingBowl

    This is kind of like a Thai version of Yo Sushi, but 1000x better. I mean, they have coloured plates that are different prices, but this is a gorgeous, independent restaurant. So it's kind of like the best of both worlds. Highly recommend both the green papaya salad, and the fish cakes.

    Price: dishes start from £6.25

    Location: Peckham

    18. Ethos

    https://www.facebook.com/ethosfoods/photos_stream
    https://www.facebook.com/ethosfoods/photos_stream

    A vegetarian restaurant where you won't miss meat (sounds impossible, but they manage it). The lunch menu is a range of different treats you can eat in or takeaway, and it's priced in a really innovative way – by the gram. So you can order as much or as little as your budget allows.

    Price: £2.60 per 100g

    Location: Tottenham Court Road

    19. Snackistan at Persepolis

    Persepolis

    This cafe is kind of mad, and also kind of brilliant. It's doesn't take itself too seriously, and I can get on board with that, as I too like to use my "sense of humour" liberally too (puns. Just so many puns). They serve really tasty, well-priced Persian food – you can get a mezze for one for just £2.75 – and a number of really quite thrilling things, like Persian tea with cardamom and turkish delight sundaes.

    Price: From £2.75

    Location: Peckham

    20. K-10

    K-10

    The ultimate conundrum. You like sushi. But you have no money. Cheap sushi doesn't taste good. Good sushi makes your wallet want to curl up into a ball and weep. The answer is K-10, who do properly decent sushi for properly decent prices. Go grab one of their takeaway sushi sets, or if you want to treat yourself, sit inside the restaurant and feel very fancy indeed.

    Price: hot dishes from £6.50, sushi and sashimi sets from £4.50

    Location: Broadgate, Fenchurch Street and Liverpool Street

    21. Arancini Brothers