Fakeaway recipes in London

London has the most diverse fakeaway scene in the UK — pretty much every chain and cuisine in this guide is over-represented here. Brick Lane for proper beigels at 6am; Brick Lane again, two hours later, for Bengali restaurants that have been serving Balti since the 1970s. Brick Lane once more for the bagel shops that have set up around the original Beigel Bake. (Yes, Brick Lane is doing a lot of heavy lifting.)

The curry houses of Tooting, Wembley and Southall deserve their own paragraph — Chicken Tikka Masala was almost certainly invented in Glasgow, but London perfected the form. Rice and three curries at any of these places will set you back about a fiver and a half-hour wait. Madurai, Dindigul, Gymkhana, Dishoom — these are the names that get whispered by people who know. All reproducible at home from this site.

For chains, McDonald's dominates Oxford Street (because of course), but you'll find KFC, Five Guys, Nando's, Pizza Hut and German Doner Kebab on every high street. Most Londoners have a default order at each. Mine's a Big Mac meal, large fries, no pickle. Hers is a Zinger tower with a Diet Coke.

London also has the best Turkish and Lebanese food in the country — Green Lanes in Enfield, Edgware Road in Wembley, Kingsland Road in Dalston. Shawarma, falafel, manakish, kunefe, lahmacun — all here, all on this site. The kebab is a London invention as much as it is a Berlin one, and we make a strong case for that here.

For chains with a real London claim: German Doner Kebab opened its first UK site on Tottenham Court Road in 2016 and now has over 80 nationwide. Pizza Hut's first UK restaurant was in Islington in 1973. Five Guys' first UK site was in Covent Garden in 2008. All reproducible at home.