I love to order jacket potato beans and cheese from the JP stand in Covent Garden, next to the Transport Museum. I recently took my wife out for the day for a Christmas present and took her for a potato. There’s something really romantic about it. Yes, we love Benugos and the Skylon and Canteen and the National Gallery Restaurant but the Covent Garden Jacket Potato stand is like going back in time. It reminds me of when I first moved to London in 1994. I used to sit on the steps of the market and eat it with a plastic fork and watch the tourists. So we did the same a couple of months ago until we got too cold and felt too old to carry on. A JP from the stand comes in at £3ish depending on topping. (Not the meal deal!) There also used to be a cheap jacket potato stand behind Westminster Abbey, nr the College Garden. Don’t know if it’s still there, but when I last visited (10 years ago) I bought one for £1.50.
In honour of my younger self, here’s my list of cheaper places to eat in London. Cheaper, not cheap because (as far as I know) nowhere in London is cheap!
1. Soup and bread upstairs at the transport museum. Around £5.
2. Giant Pretzel from the stand behind Costa at Victoria station. £1.80.
3. Burritos from Ma’s Burritos on St Martin’s Lane (near Charing Cross and Leicester Sq). £5.50.
4. Small salad bowl or soup from the British Library cafe on the first floor. Otherwise expensive. I don’t particularly like eating here. I always seem to end up spending a fortune on lunch and regretting it. But I think you can still get salad or soup for £2 – £3.
5. Meal Deal from Sainsbury’s behind Waterloo station instead of more expensive options inside Waterloo. £5ish.
6. The Pop-Up Food Markets behind the Royal Festival Hall. Slow food, real food, chocolate. Worth checking out. Not cheap if you wander around picking up stuff from every stall (it’s tempting, I know) but you can usually get a bowl of noodles or a burger for under £6.