Travel

North London’s top 10 budget eats

In part four of our guide to the best places to eat well in the capital for less than £10 a head, Tony Naylor chooses 10 north London venues that are light on the wallet but big on taste
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Antepliler, Harringay

The main road that runs through Harringay, Green Lanes, is home to several great Turkish restaurants. Three in particular are regularly namechecked by local authorities on such matters: Yayla (429 Green Lanes), Hala (29 Green Lanes) and this gem. Antepliler is actually three premises: a cafe, the restaurant and a patisserie, whose various pistachio and walnut baklavas, made with good quality floral honeys, are not to be missed. The restaurant – plain and sturdy, a solid traditional Ottoman space – majors on charcoal-grilled kebabs and dishes cooked in the huge wood-fired oven that squats by the entrance. At £1.50 (takeaway), the lahmacun, a kind of thin, crisp Turkish pizza, topped with a hugely tasty, quietly fiery mix of minced lamb, chilli, garlic, onions, fresh herbs and pulped tomato, is exceptional value. It is the kind of food to which a man could easily become addicted.

A main meal portion of six juicy, generously seasoned kofte patties, served over a stock-cooked mix of fat, squat rice and chickpeas, accompanied by salad and a half-loaf of ultra-fresh Turkish bread, is similarly brilliant. That dish is arguably enough to feed two, on its own, and costs just £6.50 (takeaway; eat-in prices are a pound or two more). Throw in some of that baklava and you have not just a bargain feed, but a meal that will live long in the memory.
• Takeaway, snacks/starters, £1.50-£3.75, mains £5.50-£7.90. 46 Grand Parade, Green Lanes, N4 (+44 (0)20-8802 5588)

Market, Camden

Camden's Market – as opposed to Camden Market – is the kind of place that every neighbourhood needs. It's a neat, simply designed restaurant (zinc table tops, open kitchen, exposed brick walls, recycled school chairs at the tables) that specialises in delivering honest, crowd-pleasing food at keen prices. The £10 two-course lunch is particularly good value. The starter, a bowl of lamb broth, is interestingly broken up by tiny blobs of mint sauce. The main is a similarly solid plate of linguine, pork fillet and good mild chorizo. It is lifted by little details: scattered flecks of lemon zest, fresh chilli and parsley; the precise firm but yielding texture of the pasta; the way the pasta isn't drowning in sauce, and the way said tomato sauce has been carefully whizzed and blended to give it a lightly aerated creaminess.

There is nothing about the two courses that would be beyond a skilful, attentive home cook perhaps, but it is good, tasty, unfussy food, patently prepared with pride. Throw in some good (free) bread and unsalted butter, Prince's Purple Rain album on the PA, the notably efficient, friendly service, and Market adds up to a winning proposition.
• Two-course set lunch £10. 43 Parkway, NW1 (+44 (0)20-7267 9700, marketrestaurant.co.uk)

The Hampstead Butcher & Providore, Hampstead

If you are heading to nearby Hampstead Heath, this is a great place to pick up an impromptu picnic. As the name suggests, it is primarily a butcher's shop, but this providore also comprises a kitchen, headed by chef Guy Bossom, that produces myriad foods to eat now or take home. Friends should pool their resources to take advantage of any deals – when I dropped in there was a six-for-five (£10) offer running on Meantime's London Lager – and to make sure that they try the various tortilla, pies, sophisticated quiches and gourmet salad tubs – for instance, puy lentil, butternut squash and tarragon; or French bean, almond and smoked bacon with walnut dressing (by weight, from £1.55 per 100g).

As well as pre-prepared baguettes (£3.50), you can also assemble your own sandwiches mixing and matching various breads and charcuterie from the meat counter. Alternatively, pick up a few hundred grams of Mrs Kirkham's Lancashire or Cornish Yarg in the cheese room. Particularly recommended are the large Scotch eggs (£2.95) and the warm sausage rolls (£2.50). The former are sat in small, promising pools of fat on a rectangular slate and have an almost pork pie density, while the sensational sausage rolls pack expertly seasoned meat into air-light, lavishly buttery puff pastry. The fat cakes and sweet tarts also looked fantastic.
• Snacks from £1.55-£3.50. 56 Rosslyn Hill, NW3 (+44 (0)20-7794 9210, hampsteadbutcher.com)

Kentish Canteen, Kentish Town

Bright, buzzy and a little bland in its design, this canteen is a useful all-day address for the budget traveller. At night, you will find several main dishes available at £8.95-£9.75, such as fish and chips or pork chop with roasted Cox's apple and a white bean cassoulet, while by day it serves an affordable brunch (midday-4pm), smaller "larder" dishes and superior, jazzed-up salads, such as broccoli and cauliflower with sweet black sesame sauce and a good butternut squash and feta. Even a small plate of the latter (£3.95) will fill a lunchtime hunger hole, and it is to Kentish Canteen's credit that if you drop in for just a small plate, there is no pressure to eat or buy more. It is the flexible food station it claims to be.

The sharing platters (for two, £15) and the lunch and supper deals (two courses plus drink, £12, before 7pm Monday-Friday) offer good value. On the downside, a cranberry and pecan cookie from the cake counter was a surprisingly dry disappointment, and, irritatingly, they were out of the local Camden Town Brewery's lager when the Guardian visited for this article.
• Small plates, salads and brunch dishes £2.75-£6.50, mains £8.95-£12. 300 Kentish Town Road, NW5 (+44 (0)20-7485 7331, kentishcanteen.co.uk)

Delhi Grill, Chapel Market, Islington

Delhi Grill styles itself as a kind of dhaba, the workaday, no-frills canteens that proliferate in India. Such dhabas generally offer short menus of key dishes, in this case flavoursome marinated grilled meats (try the unusually light, vibrantly seasoned sheekh kebabs) and delicious slow-cooked standards like channa masala and aloo gobi. Purists may quibble with certain minor details (are tomatoes permissible in a rogan gosht?), but Delhi Grill certainly delivers on taste and price.

It also sees its concept through to its logical conclusion. You can eat in the restaurant – all chunky wood fixtures and walls plastered with Indian newspaper cuttings – but, during the day, it also runs a takeaway street stall, directly outside, on Chapel Market. The stall serves fresh filled roti wraps (£3.50) – say, paneer tikka with salad and beetroot chutney – samosas (two pieces, £1.30) and chicken, lamb and vegetable curries (£4.50).
• Restaurant starters from £1.95, mains with rice from £6.25. 21 Chapel Market, N1 (+44 (0)20-7278 8100, delhigrill.com). Takeaway available in the evenings

Ginger & White, Hampstead

You don't get a lot for £10 a head in Hampstead, so make sure you spend your money wisely. This small, busy cafe, on a pretty mews off the high street, is the kind of place that goes that extra mile. The kitchen even makes its own peanut butter and "smoky" baked beans for the breakfast menu. The baking is a real highlight. The carrot cake, in particular, is a light, moist slice of gingery genius. Meanwhile, Ginger & White's flat white (£2.70, full of winey, dark berry flavours) is possibly the best coffee I've tasted throughout this London series.

Given the inflated prices that come with the NW3 postcode, a salt beef sandwich, featuring a thick layer of outstanding coleslaw, just about justifies the £5.95 price tag, but a breakfast sausage bap is a little sloppy. All the constituent parts are good but the sausages are a touch overdone and they're in danger of drowning in Hawkshead relish. Hit Ginger & White on a Saturday morning, incidentally, and you may well find that you have to queue to get in. After that wait, you may then find yourself slouching on a sofa while you eat, or sharing the large communal table with other people's children. Which won't suit everyone. It's notable, however, that even in the midst of such hustle and bustle, the staff are unflappable. They are personable, eager to please and winningly enthusiastic about the food that they are serving.
• Cakes £2-£4, sandwiches £3.50-£6. 4a-5a Perrin's Court, NW3 (+44 (0)20-7431 9098, gingerandwhite.com)

Nonna's, Regent's Park

Say what you like (or rather dislike) about Gordon Ramsay, but no one would dispute that he can cook. Nor that his venues generally maintain rigorous standards on the plate. Nonna is a deli-cafe attached to the York & Albany restaurant which, until recently, was overseen by Ramsay lieutenant Angela Hartnett. Her influence and love of Italian food is still very much in evidence. The deli-cafe itself is done up as some kind of faux-rustic Tuscan farmhouse, albeit one decked out in rather cheap, lightweight garden furniture.

The food takes in meat and cheese platters, soups, colourful salads, attractive baked goods and pizzas (£9-£12) which, reassuringly, the staff on duty declined to serve to the Guardian before lunch because the pizza oven had not yet got up to the right temperature. The sit-down, eat-in lunch menu is almost deceptively pricey, with, for instance, two of the three listed gourmet sandwiches topping £10. However, I was charged just £4.50 for a delicate, luxuriously creamy slice of quiche and a very creditable, well balanced cappuccino. So don't be put off by the headline prices. And most products are also available to take away, making this a useful place to stock up before exploring Regent's Park.
• Takeaway snacks, sandwiches and salads £2.25-£6, eat-in meals £6-£12.50. 127-129 Parkway, NW1 (+44 (0)20-7388 3344, gordonramsay.com/nonnasdeli)

Little Bay, Kilburn, Farringdon and Croydon

Remarkable value is restaurateur Peter Illic's USP. At the original Kilburn branch of his Little Bay mini-chain, all main dishes are £5.45 before 7pm and £7.25 thereafter. If you are lucky, you may even find Illic during one of his periodic publicity drives, when he asks guests to simply pay what they think their meal was worth. On that basis, I would have certainly paid him £5.45 for my lamb steak main. £7.25, however, might have been pushing it. An unexpected side dish, that included some OK cabbage and an anaemic, unappetising block of potato dauphinoise, was superfluous, and, being picky, the steak tasted predominantly of its char-grilling, not lamb. However, the crushed potatoes, the old school peppercorn sauce and the julienne of peppers and carrots were all accurately rendered.

In the round, it was a perfectly serviceable, tasty plate of food. One which, at no extra cost, came with a basket of decent bread and good unsalted butter. The plates going out to other tables – a delicately arranged soy-marinated duck salad; chicken breast with tarragon mash and mushroom sauce – looked good too, and the Kilburn branch is an appealingly odd, atmospheric place. It looks less like a north London bistro and more like the sort of ancient, elaborate cafe you might stumble across in some labyrinth Istanbul market. The verdict? Don't expect the earth from Little Bay, but go before 7pm and, for the money, it should deliver.
• Starters £2.25/£3.25, mains £5.45/£7.25. 228 Belsize Road, NW6 (+44 (0)20 7372 4699, littlebay.co.uk) Other branches at 171 Farringdon Road, EC1, and 32 Selsdon Rd, South Croydon

Bull & Last, Kentish Town

A handsome Grade II-listed pub, the Bull & Last is increasingly well known for its good food. At lunch, that reputation is no bar to the budget traveller. There are various affordable bar snacks available and several dishes on the daily-changing menu – soup, sandwich and chips, ambitious salads, a pasta dish, small plates like stuffed roasted lamb's heart – that come in at well under £10. The only problem may be finding a seat. On the first sunny Saturday of the year, this place was packed. If you're happy to share, try the superb homemade charcuterie board (pictured) for £10, which includes, among others, a couple of sensational deep-fried brawn balls, a thick slice of properly creamy chicken liver parfait and some beautiful duck prosciutto, served with an impressive array of pickled grapes, salted radishes, caperberries, remoulade, chutneys and toast. It isn't a huge portion, between two, but it is explosively tasty. You will find four real ales at the bar (from £3.60 a pint), and some interesting local drinks on the list too, such as Camden Town Brewery's pale ale. The staff, incidentally, are refreshingly knowledgeable and energetic.
• Snacks £3-£6, select dishes £6.50-£10. 168 Highgate Road, NW5 (+44 (0)20 7267 3641, thebullandlast.co.uk)

Atari-Ya Foods, Golders Green and various locations

Atari-Ya's parent company, T&S Enterprises, is a trade supplier of premium seafood, and aficionados rate Atari-Ya's maki rolls and nigiri as some of the best value sushi in London. This small chain includes, among others, two north London sushi bars (in Hendon and Swiss Cottage) and this supermarket where, as well as shopping for ika no shiokara (fermented squid) and Hello Kitty confectionery, customers can pick up takeaway sushi or, possibly, squeeze in at one of the six seats at the kitchen counter.

You can have your takeaway sushi made to order of course but, due to arriving during the chef's 3-4pm break, I had to sample some of the pre-prepared plates. It was nonetheless quality stuff. A sea bass and spring onion hand roll (£2.70 for six pieces) was as fresh as sea spray, the florid pickled ginger and a rip-snorting dab of wasabi adding further layers of flavour. The inan – exceptionally sticky sushi rice wrapped in sweetened fried bean curd, its flavour halfway between caramel and soy sauce – was surprisingly moreish; while an elaborately marinated little tray of almost luminously green seaweed salad delivered a sensational wallop of umami. Washed down with a can of Yebisu (£2.43), a rich malty beer reminiscent of Breaker or Colt 45, it made for an interesting, filling lunch.
• Takeaway sushi rolls £1.80-£3.90, nigiri £1-£2.40 per piece. Set mixed lunch boxes from £7.50. 15-16 Monkville Parade, Finchley Road, NW11 (+44 (0)20-8458 7626, atariya.co.uk). Other branches in Finchley, Hendon, Swiss Cottage, Ealing Common, West Acton and Kingston

Tony travelled from Manchester to London with Virgin Trains (virgintrains.co.uk)

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