12 great budget restaurants in London

Other ethnic

Busaba Eathai
22 Store Street, London WC1. Tel: 020 7299 7900
Alan Yau's two ground-breaking Thai eateries (the other is at 106 Wardour Street in Soho) serve up fashionable food in equally fashionable designer surroundings. Nahm's David Thompson originally set up the kitchen and menu, and the food is a far cry from 'High Street' Thai. Try the Pad Thai noodles, Masaman duck curry and Thai calamari. Seating is communal and you can't book, but some things are worth waiting for. Around £45 for two.

Song Que
134 Kingsland Road, London E2. Tel: 020 7613 3222
There is quite a cluster of Vietnamese restaurants along this stretch of Kingsland Road, but none have created quite the stir that Song Que managed when it opened in 2002. After a glowing review in Time Out magazine, praising its 170-dish menu and bright, friendly manner, locals and critics alike came swarming. While much of the menu is devoted to basic Chinese dishes, it's the Vietnamese specialities that are really worth the visit, including around 20 variations of pho noodle soup, plump fresh rice paper rolls, and delicious banh xeo pancakes filled with chicken and beanshoots. Around £50 for two.

Royal China
13 Queensway, London W2. Tel: 020 7221 2535
By night this is a very good, very swish Cantonese restaurant, with equally swish prices. By day, however, it devotes itself to serving one of London's best dim sum lunches for pretty much the same as you would pay for dim sum in Chinatown. The cheung faan rice rolls with prawns are silky bliss, the siu mai prawn and pork dumplings are sweet and juicy, and the deep fried woo gok taro dumplings are a crisp, crumbly delight. There are no bookings at lunch and, at weekends, you could wait up to an hour for a table. Around £45 for two.

Daquise
12 Thurloe Street, London SW7. Tel: 020 7589 6117
For food that hits the spot, sticks to the ribs and offers great value, this delightfully old-fashioned restaurant is worth a visit. Come with an appetite, and prepare yourself for some honest Polish home cooking from chlodnik (cold beetroot and yoghurt soup) to the thickly accented schnitzel and the huge marinated pork knuckle. Around £40 for two.

For more information on London's - and Britain's - cuisine scene, see VisitBritain's new website, www.visitbritain.com/taste. Features include the country's regional specialities, new food developments and a facility to search 1,200 restaurants in 30 cities.