Brunch is slowly becoming the UK’s favorite meal, with many opting for a mid-morning meal on a Sunday instead of the traditional roast dinner.
If you’re living and studying in London, you might worry that brunch will forever be outside of your student budget but that doesn’t have to be the case.
In fact, we know exactly where you can indulge in a delicious brunch and only have to spend the change in your back pocket. Here are some of our favorite brunches in London for under £10.
Club Burrito at The Breakfast Club
Customers have been lining the streets of London to get a taste of The Breakfast Club’s hearty dishes since it first opened its Soho doors in 2005.
Since this time, they’ve expanded exponentially into almost every corner of London, serving hungry diners in Angel, Canary Wharf, Spitalfields, Hoxton and Hackney Wick, just to name a few.
True to its name, the menu’s emphasis is on breakfast. You’ll find some of the tallest pancake stacks and widest ‘All-American’ breakfasts available this side of the Atlantic here.
Several options will cost you less than a tenner, but if you’re after the best bang for your buck, try the breakfast burrito. Stuffed to the brim with perfectly spiced eggs, refried beans and mountains of cheese, this is the hangover cure you’ve been waiting for.
Bacon naan at Dishoom
Britain’s love affair with Indian food has been blossoming for well over 200 years, so it is no surprise Dishoom has become a popular spot for a delicious, and good value brunch.
Since its inception in 2010, hungry customers have been queuing up to try a bacon naan and a cup of delicately spiced chai. In fact, it’s the success of the bacon naan that put Dishoom on London’s culinary map in the first place.
Filled with Ginger Pig’s smoked bacon, the creamiest of cream cheeses and a tangy chilli jam, it is no surprise this dish has people queuing for tables at 8am. Priced at under a tenner with unlimited chai refills during the week, this truly is a bargain brunch.
Roti canai at Roti King
Although a popular breakfast dish in south-east Asia, roti canai is yet to reach fame in London, so there are relatively few eateries that serve this traditional breakfast. Fortunately, the ones that do serve it with uncompromising authenticity.
For those that haven’t heard of roti canai, it’s essentially a flaky, buttery pancake, cooked on a hot plate and served with dal (chickpea curry) or another curry of your choice.
The folks at Roti King have been cooking this delicacy for years and offer some of the best curry pairings for your roti. At just £5 for the pair, you’ll definitely be asking for extra roti bread to wipe that curry dish clean.
Shakshuka at Honey & Co
Beginning their careers under the guidance of well-known chef Yotam Ottolenghi, the couple behind Honey & Co have been perfecting their brunch dishes for years.
During the week, customers can grab their signature shakshuka (eggs baked in a spicy tomato sauce), with a milk bun on the side for dipping, for less than a tenner.
If you have a few more pounds to spare at the weekend, opt for the Israeli-style mezze platter. Choose your type of eggs – green shakshuka or aubergine-baked – and watch as a myriad of plates appear on your table ranging from almond puff cereal to freshly-made, tahini-fueled hummus.
Brunch pizza at Mare Street Market
Grabbing a cheap brunch in the hipster suburb of Hackney can be difficult. However, if you can muscle your way through the crowds of beards and tattoos and find yourself a seat in Mare Street Market then you’re halfway there.
For a popular east London haunt, the menu is quite reasonably priced here, with the majority of the dishes hovering around the £10 mark.
If you’re looking for the best deal, the brunch pizza is filling, delicious and costs just £7.50, leaving a bit of room for a swan-adorned latte on the side.
Topped with smoked bacon, egg, mushroom and confit tomato, and baked in an alfresco pizza oven, this is one of the most alternative full English breakfast’s you will find in the capital.
Maple bacon pancakes at Balan’s Soho Society Café
Offering customers a selection of brunch dishes every single day of the week, Balan’s Soho Society Café is a great option for those unexpected mid-week hangovers.
Balan’s range of eggs benedict dishes come highly recommended and are also modestly priced at under £10. However, the star of the menu is definitely the maple bacon pancakes. This tower of perfectly fluffy pancakes, streaks of crispy bacon and lashings of maple syrup for just £9 is a truly indulgent steal.
Sweet Maria at Milk
The recently renovated Milk in Balham has made a comeback with even more tables and a new, improved, inexpensive menu.
Offering classical dishes with an interesting twist, expect English crumpets with creamy goat’s curd, truffle-soaked hash browns and helpings of brown-butter hollandaise over your eggs.
However, a crowd-pleasing dish that has remained on their menu since the beginning is the Sweet Maria (which also happens to be the phrase you will utter when you take your first bite).
A vegetarian affair, this dish comprises of sweetcorn fritters, golden halloumi, limey avocado and a spicy tomato sauce.
Just make sure to head down to the café about an hour before you plan on getting hungry, as there is guaranteed to be a queue outside.
