If you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Thanks for visiting!

This is one of the great cheap eats in London and certainly one to try out. I’ve been eating here for a good couple of years, both at lunch and in the evening, and I’ve never been disappointed.

It’s a small cafe tucked in behind Waterloo Station on Lower Marsh. At lunch times you’ll often be lucky to get a table, but once you’re in, I can guarantee you’ll be leaving with a smile.

At lunch you have the choice of a hearty pie and chips from the cafe menu, or as I recommend, you can choose something from the Thai menu. Either way, you will definitely not be left with an empty feeling.

The Thai food is as authentic as you’re likely to get and you can choose anything from Pad Thai, to chicken with sweet basil and cashew nut, or one of the fantastically flavoursome curries - red, green or yellow. If you need an extra kick, which most of you won’t, there’s a powerful home made chilli oil that when applied liberally is likely to blow your head off.

In the evenings, the cafe turns into a BYO Thai restaurant, with a large menu and smiley service. The set meals offer great value and although the portion sizes are smaller than at lunch, there’s also a selection of deserts for you to choose from. I can recommend the coconut sticky rice or some of the delicious banana fritters.

Overall this place deserves a plaque for cheap eating excellence. At lunch you can easily eat for under a fiver (£5 or $10 USD) and in the evening you should have some change from a tenner (£10 or $20 USD).

9.5/10

Before last night, I hadn’t been into a Slug and Lettuce for at least a year. I know this because, according to the friendly barman, it was over a year ago that the chain tried to make its pubs more like wine bars, and the last one I visited certainly wasn’t as ‘upmarket’.

To be honest, I didn’t look at the wine list but there was a reasonable selection of beers available, including Peroni on tap. However, it was a bite to eat we were really after.

We both ordered the same - gammon, egg and chips for around £8. Although we each got a decent sized piece of gammon, mine was slightly overcooked, and one of my eggs sitting on top was missing a yolk; to quote (I believe) Chef Ramsay, “What gives you the right to f*ck with another man’s yolk?!” The accompanying barbeque sauce was also a little artificial - similar to the sort you get in fast food outlets - and the ketchup most certainly wasn’t Heinz, although the bottle tried to suggest otherwise. Having said that, the chips weren’t bad and the salad garnish helped to improve things ‘aesthetically’, if nothing else.

After ordering, we noticed an offer on ‘sharing platters’ available during the week. I’d like to have seen these more obviously promoted, especially as we were looking for a ‘cheap eat’.

Although I was never a huge fan, from what I can remember, I think I preferred the chain how it used to be. And with a move ‘upmarket’, inevitably customer expectations increase. I’m not sure The Slug and Lettuce, Borough lived up to mine.

4.5/10

With a number of locations in and around the City, the Japanese Canteen tends to cater for local office workers looking for an alternative to the usual sandwich (a fact reflected in both busy periods and opening hours). And this one situated in the back streets between St Paul’s and Fleet Street is no exception.

Pick yourself up some sushi from the cold cabinet or choose from a range of hot dishes (including katsu, teriyaki, curry and yaki udon) and wait til they call your number. Then it’s just a case of finding yourself a stool and wolfing it down.

From my experience, the quality can vary from visit to visit (especially the rice, which can be a little on the stodgy side), but then Japanese Canteen serves a purpose – hot, fast food for under a fiver that’s just right for a lunchtime snack.

I’d recommend the chicken katsu curry.

6.5/10

Located on Deptford Broadway, Kaya House prides itself on its reasonably priced, authentic Malaysian food.

Although small (booking is essential, especially at the weekend), the restaurant is big on atmosphere, with husband and wife owners Ambrose and Linda offering superb hospitality to both new and regular customers.

Set meals are offered if you want to ‘play it safe’ but we asked Ambrose for his recommendations. After checking what we liked, and what we didn’t, and making sure the vegetarian in our party was catered for, we enjoyed chicken satay, pork dumplings, wrapped prawns and tofu and vegetable kebabs to start – all of which were excellent.

For mains, we had beef rendang, which was tender and full of flavour, squid samba made with prawn paste and vegetables with cashew nuts in black bean sauce – to name but a few. Everything was expertly cooked and tasted delicious.

We even managed to squeeze in dessert – apple and banana fritters with syrup, fried to perfection, not at all greasy – along with a complimentary liquer of our choice, which we were offered to celebrate our dinner companions’ forthcoming wedding.

The bill came to £85 – not bad for starter, main and dessert for four people, plus a bottle and two glasses of wine and four Tsing Tao beers (apparently it’s hard to get hold of Malaysian beer over here).

Kaya House’s popularity seems to be down to word of mouth. Most of the customers had clearly eaten there before, and after last night, its definitely gained four more regulars.

9.5/10