no money, no problems pt 1: north london
your guide to being full and frugal (that is, eating for under £15) in n1 and beyond
too often i find myself out and about in this city and settling for something that is average or worse, bad, and then resenting that i’m full of bad food. it’s less than i deserve - and less than you deserve too, reader!
you’ve probably eaten a wet sandwich from boots out of despair, or bought waitrose sushi that looked fine and then tasted like damp fridge. and i know it feels impossible not to settle in this day and age when shrinkflation is rife and it feels impossible to step out of your house without pissing £30 in to the window. but! good food for under fifteen quid still exists - you just have to know where to look.
enter no money, no problems! this is part one of a multi-part series on tennish places in each zone 1-3 region to eat good for under £15 in london. i’ll be rounding up some of the best (or at the very least, favourites in my community) spots across the city where you can eat properly for under £15. some of them are real meals. some of them are cheat codes. some involve light rule-breaking (e.g., you might need to take your food to a park or save half for later to achieve optimum price per meal. these are my greatest hits. i contain multitudes).
we’re starting in north london - if you’re further west, south, east, or deep in the central zone, don’t worry! your turn is coming.
indian veg
92–93 chapel market, n1 9ex
my dad was the first person in my life to discover this place. i remember the first time he brought me there in 2016 when he was doing some work in the city and we had lunch together and he kept a completely straight face the whole time. i had never found him more impressive.
i’ve said it before and i’ll say it again: indian veg is the best first date spot of all time. i have never actually had a first date there, because i’ve always been inconveniently partnered, but the theory holds. £9.99 gets you a buffet of daal, puri, rice, salad (the beetroot one is elite), and other rotating bits - my favourite is the coconut muttar paneer. the food is all vegan or vegetarian, and you can byob for no corkage fee or pick one of the many, many soft drinks they have available. you can also get a takeaway box for £5 (medium) or £7 (large).
they don’t play any music in here, so you can actually hear the people you’re with really well. but don’t worry about awkward silences, because the decor is straight-up health propaganda! all the walls are covered in posters of pseudo-health tips about vegetables and hot water - my favourite is a sign that says ‘did you know vegetarianism makes you orgasmic?’ with a picture of a cucumber next to it. they also sell this in mug form (along with a mug with a pic of tomatoes on it that hilariously says ‘give peas a chance’) and i do own it. they still have them stashed away but don’t advertise anymore - you have to ask to get the merch. it’s secret.
trampoline
27 camden passage, n1 8ea
trampoline is a sleeper hit tucked above camden passage. it’s a café and social enterprise hiring and supporting refugees; they serve thali-style lunch plates for £8 (3 curries + rice) or £11 (5 curries + rice). their food is mostly veggie (one chicken option that i am not that big on), but the mushroom curry is honestly banging. everything tastes super fresh and well-spiced, and it’s a lovely place to sit if you want to feel like a good person and eat well.
pho deli
247 goswell road, ec1v 7jd
pho deli has quietly been holding it down on goswell road for a couple of years now, run by one very efficient man who occasionally takes a well-earned holiday (he puts up a handwritten sign telling you exactly when he’ll be back, which feels very old-school and sweet). this is the kind of spot where you can trust the whole menu: the banh mi is only £8 and tastes like it should cost more: crisp baguette, salty pork, light pickles, aromatic coriander. the fried rice is great too, and the soups are more of a sit-down affair at around £11-12. grab a spring roll and rice combo if you’re broke and hungry, or get a banh mi and take it to a park with a shop-bought drink (a perfect solo lunch).
sushi show
5 camden passage, n1 8ed
it feels rude to call sushi show a hidden gem when it’s directly off upper street and it’s verging on being a small chain, but it still somehow manages to feel like a secret. the sushi here is fresh, generously cut, and very affordable. you can get a salmon don for around £12.50, a curry for £8-10 or a sushi plate for around £6.50. it feels super calm: a couple of stools, quiet chatter, and some truly excellent fish. the prawn tempura avocado roll (£8.50) is the thing to get if you want to feel like you’re treating yourself without actually going broke.
holy pitta
74d upper street, london n1 0ny
okay yes, they’ve shrinkflated things a little post-2022, but the gyros are still a good deal at around £8. i like the pork one with honey mustard - it’s charred just right and hits the meat/sauce/salad ratio perfectly, and you can pick out the fries and eat them like a side. their skepasti (basically a pressed sandwich-wrap hybrid) and club sandwich (like the skepasti’s bigger, eviler twin) are £15-17, which is not cheap and does go over £15, but if you want to do the toxic frugal girl thing of eating one massive sandwich over 3 meals, it totally works and means that you’re averaging £4 for four meals with chips. i used to do this until my stomach weirdly decided it no longer accepts reheated pork. go to holy pitta. get justice for past me.
roti joupa
unit 5, the junction market, 95 seven sisters road, n7 7qp
a little trinidadian spot with big flavours and proper portions. meat or fish roti for £8.50, or £9.50 if you want lamb or goat. don’t get the goat unless you’re a gambler - it can be a bit of a texture roulette, some people get lucky and get tender meat but some find it too tough (i’ve been lucky). they’ve even opened a second branch in shepherd’s bush – clearly doing something right.
baban’s naan
51a blackstock road, n4 2jw
baban’s is a proper local institution. imagine: a queue of people out the door at lunchtime, wads of dough going in and out of the tandoor so you can watch them bake (very quickly!) in real time. the cheese naan is £3 and is essentially a sloppy kurdish grilled cheese, soft and crispy and greasy and perfect. if you want something more balanced, the kubbe and falafel wraps are both around a fiver and extremely filling. no frills. huge flavour. all killer, no filler.
thenga café
120 cromer street, london wc1h 8bs
vegan south indian food that feels genuinely nutritious and good, not just sadness in a brown box. dosa, a great selection of breakfast pakoras, rice and daal – all done beautifully. big plates go for £10–11 but you can eat substantially for less, and the atmosphere is calm and friendly. thenga has a sort of community-centre feel to this (i mean this positively!) and eating there feels like you’re doing your bit. plus you’re really close to the kings cross ymca, which has some fun dance classes to work it off!
indian ymca
41 fitzroy square, london w1t 6aq
this place holds a lot emotional weight to me. if you’re south asian and ever needed a cheap place to stay in london, you probably know someone who’s stayed here (if not you do now: me). the food is canteen-style, £13 for a daily set menu of two curries, rice, chapati, and usually something tangy and pickled on the side. it’s so homey and filling. the ghee rice is a really rare and welcome find. i haven’t been able to find it anywhere else!
drummond villa
118 drummond street, london nw1 2hn
drummond street is a tiny strip of magic behind euston with some of the best indian food in the city. it’s been that way for decades - my parents used to go on dates down there when they first moved to the uk in the eighties, and still rate the falooda down at diwana bhelpoori house (an honourable mention, since i feel bad about linking two places on literally the same road - diwana is the non-veg great and reasonable counterpart to this listing).
drummond villa is my non-veg pick of the lot. lunch sets are under £10. you can get a full-on meal with tandoori chicken, rice, curry, salad, and bread and still have change left. it’s been around for decades and doesn’t try too hard. it just tastes good.
icco pizza
21a camden high street, nw1 7je
46 goodge street, w1t 4lu
icco is a student stalwart in london. when i went to uni at kcl, we would often make the 30 minute pilgrimage up to ucl’s campus to get a cheap pizza. you’re never far from an icco if you’re in north-central. big, decent pizzas start around £6 (unless you hate cheese in which case they start at £3), and even fully loaded ones rarely go above £9. it’s technically fast food, but everything is made fresh and served hot. you could do much worse for under a tenner. you can eat in, or you can take away and eat with your friends in bedford square gardens for peak student nostalgia.
marathon ethiopian
193a caledonian road, n1 0sl
a family-run ethiopian restaurant (with friday night music, last time i was there a guy with a triple layer of keyboards was playing!) offering giant portions of injera with various stews. it’s usually pretty quiet until 9pm, so don’t feel perturbed if you have the place to yourself. the vegetarian combo is £11 and comes with a variety of flavorful lentil and vegetable dishes - my fave is the kik alicha, and when i lived next door i would very frequently pop in and get a takeaway order of that with 4-5 injera rolls for £7.
most meat dishes come solo or give you the option to split and are around 12 for a very hearty portion. however, marathon is best attended as a party of friends. if you’re a party of 3-4, order the mahberawi - a massive combination of lentil dishes, chicken (doro wat), lamb tibs, and kitfo all on one big platter. you’ll leave full and happy and you’ll spend £35 (less than £9 a head!) between you. marathon also do a lovely honey wine that comes in a fun little potions-esque bottle.
mario’s café
6 kelly street, nw1 8ph
a classic british-italian caff that’s been serving locals since the late eighties. full english breakfasts, pasta bakes, and tray bakes with chicken and beans are all under £10. the vibe is warm and homey, the menu is chalkboard-written in true caff style, and mario himself is often there to greet you. simple but delicious.
hawkers kitchen
60 caledonian road, n1 9dp
tucked just behind king’s cross station is hawkers kitchen, where the menu leans south indian and malaysian, with bold, fiery flavours and incredibly generous prices.
the masala dosa comes in at £8 or less and is properly crisp and satisfying, with a solid helping of sambar and a kind of pungent coconut chutney. there’s also a smaller dosa combo for £6 if you want something lighter (or are saving room for a biryani - which is just £9, and genuinely spicy, not pretend spicy). this place kind of gives me stomach issues, but that is the marker of a good malaysian spot for me personally. roti and curry also run you under £8. it’s the good stuff - flaky bread, slow-cooked sauce, depth of flavour.
xi’an impression
117 benwell road, n7 7bw
this tiny, blink-and-you’ll-miss-it spot near the emirates stadium might just serve some of the most satisfying noodles in north london. the menu is small and hyper-focused on xi’an-style cooking; that means chewy, hand-pulled biang biang noodles in a small pool of chili oil (£9), cold skin noodles with slivered cucumber and a tangy black vinegar sauce, and potstickers that are juicy, delicate and under £9. they also do a range of smaller bites including some street food options for under £5 if you’re only feeling snacky. if you can, go just before or after peak times because it’s tiny and fills up fast.
cafe terrace
241 caledonian road, n1 1ed
one thing you will learn about me through this food series is that colombian food is a major, major weakness of mine. an empanada in this city costs about £1.50 on average and two or three are a really good lunch (doubly so if you pair with this place’s almojabanas, which are a cheesy, sweet bread roll that is incredibly addictive served warm). i used to live dangerously close to this place and the owner would call me ‘sweetheart’ - just to say they’ve got style and community flair in spades, not just substance (though the substance is also good). they also do nice sandwiches - so if you get there and they’re all out of the good stuff, you’re not totally out of luck.
that’s it for north! who knows which orientation will come next?! stay tuned, eat well, spend less. why get a meal deal when you can do one better?
a lifestyle note: i’m using ai in this series to cross check the addresses and table the cheapest options at each spot. i just cannot take another spreadsheet in my life right now, i’m organisationally swamped. writing and recommendations are very much my own though; thanks for bearing with me.
other articles in this series:
This is excellent, you are excellent. I need to go to Indian Veg asap
What an amazing list!! Thanks for this. Have tried a few, but oh so many more delicious meals here. You already have south Indian and Ethiopian on here but 2 faves of mine are Jai Krishna on Stroud Green road & Andu kitchen in Dalston for byob affordable big group bookings that don’t make you want to cry when people ask to split the bill!