This is everything a restaurant in London should be: good value, busy, and consistent. Bleecker also has a market kiosk in Fun buns in Chinatown might make you think of Taiwanese bao, but these beauties are of the Cantonese variety – closed-up, then stamped with their identity. Outlets in The folks at Xi’an Biang Biang know a thing or two about pulling and twirling strands of starchy goodness, so drop by for some excellent hand-pulled ‘thin’ noodles or their hot-ticket biang biang ‘belt’ versions – bowls of chilli oil-slicked ribbons slathered with any number of delicious sauces and toppings from ‘special’ spicy beef to ‘big plate’ on-the-bone chicken. Thanks for subscribing!

Borough Market

This tiny spot down the end of Homerton High Street is serving some of the best gyros in the city. A bricks-and-mortar spin-off from the legendary Cheese Truck, this handy Camden pitstop peddles its wares in a bar-like space beneath a burlesque club.Oozing cheese sandwiches and messy riffs on raclette are the main contenders in the food stakes,but don’t miss bigger plates such as five-cheese macaroni or the flavour-bomb sundae (X-rated food porninvolving blue cheese lusciously laced with quince, honey and shards of honeycomb). A pioneer of regional Chinese cuisine in London, this Camberwell cutie puts the focus on dishes from the north-west frontier province of Xinjiang. Where To Eat Out When Your Bank Balance Says Eat In Mediterranean

Order them on rice if you want to stay within budget, although it’s also worth investing in the equally generous noodle dishes (either stir-fried or in soup). Five-spiced beef bao £5.20; chicken dan bing £7.40.Now happily embedded in Peckham Rye, this former street food outfit serves up fail-safe Vietnamese dishes in a modest, neutrally decorated, plywood-clad setting. Try another? Covent Garden Squiggly cartoon colours and rough-hewn ‘Flintstones’-style furniture set the scene at Yugoslav chef Peter Ilic’s health-promoting venture a short stroll from King’s Cross station. In addition to the usual battered suspects, local foodies are rewarded with crab on toast, grilled mackerel and moules marinière, while vegans have a full menu of plant-based imitations involving everything from banana blossom to tofu.

The reason: this is some of the best vegan food in London.

All material is strictly copyright and all rights are reserved. The game-changing KFC (Korean Fried Chicken) and the K-Pop sandwich are standouts but any of their free-range buttermilk-marinated goodies will set you right for under a tenner.

Alternatively put a couple more quid in each and go for their TSB (tenderstem broccoli, manchego, pine nuts). You can BYOB, and there’s a handy off-licence next door. Eat for under £10 by ordering the buttery pau buns with various fillings, the stuffed roomali (roti) rolls and other small plates, or dip carefully into the line-up of grills and salads.

There’s an offshoot on Tottenham Court Road.Tacos and torta buns from £7.15; burritos from £7.70.

Also don’t forget to bring some cash – they don’t accept cards. Hit it for a casual weekend lunch.The easiest dumpling fix in Chinatown is at Jen Cafe, where a plate of seven Beijing-style dumplings with minced pork is only £5 a pop. All prices and data are correct at the time of publication.

You can’t quite bring yourself to give it up though, which is why trendy wine bar Sager & Wilde’s pasta is an excellent choice. All-you-can-eat buffets are the main attractions at lunch and dinner, while BYOB adds to the overall value. No need to thank us.You’ve promised to meet your poshest friend for dinner, but there’s a nagging voice at the back of your mind that tells you Nando’s just isn’t going to cut it.