Hello, it’s Kate Krader, your food editor at Bloomberg Pursuits.

It’s been full-on sunny springtime in my current hometown of London, an unexpected great weather moment in which the words “rooftop bar” and “outdoor dining space” are destinations and not just ironic concepts you snicker at as you look for an umbrella. 

Traditionally the jump into warm weather is a time when diners obsess about the produce that’s sprouting up—bright green asparagus, vibrant pink rhubarb. But it also, unofficially, seems to be Cheap Eats Season.

I get the “What restaurant should I eat at?” question a dozen times a day. (To help answer London queries, I just started a column, “Five Top Tables,” whose name tells you what the content is.)

A spread at Fallow, which features in my latest “Five Top Tables” column. Photographer: Steven Joyce/Fallow

For whatever reason—perhaps all the economic uncertainty and nonstop references to tariffs, or people taking a break from their YOLO lifestyles—everyone is obsessed with finding a good-deal meal right now. I appreciate that. I’m instantly in a fight with a restaurant that makes me feel like I’m getting ripped off, one that means we won’t see each other again.

Of course, there are varying levels of “value.” I’ve called the £38 ($50) whole rotisserie chicken at the new Knave of Clubs pub in Shoreditch a top “cheap eats” option.

It’s a designation that got, I’d politely say, pushback from more than one reader. But I stand by it. For that amount of money—basically the cost of two sad desk salads in the City of London or New York—you get a glorious brined-then-roasted bird with equally bronzed chicken-fat-fried potatoes and baguette toasts with a little salad, to serve two or three people. (You can see how good-looking it is in the photo, above.) That price seems especially reasonable when you compare it with what diners have been willing to pay for premium birds in the capital, including ones that can cost as much as £140 at Bouchon Racine—they promptly sell out when chef Henry Harris is able to source them. 

If a £38 whole chicken meal still feels like a lot, consider how much you probably forked over for a recent forgettable meal—I’d bet it’s double that, or around $100. For what it’s worth, Michelin unofficially characterizes its Bib Gourmand, or a cheap meal comprising three courses, at $40 in US cities, But take that with several grains of salt: the math doesn’t always work if you crunch the numbers.  

A serving of fragrant biryani at Roti Chai, a value feature in my latest “Five Top Tables” column. Photographer: Brian Dandridge/Roti Chai

But the interaction has made me more mindful of value and what you can get if your dinner budget is £15. Recently, I was tipped off to Roti Chai, a modern Indian restaurant down the block from the extravagant Selfridges. After you’ve spent all your money at the latter, you can feast on such dishes as the spicy bun samosa for £8.80. The pillowy bun filled with a sizable fried and smashed vegetable-filled samosa, with chutneys and melted cheese spilling over the sides, is more than enough of a main course. 

So, will Cheap Eats Season extend beyond the spring? Even top economists have had a hard time predicting what’s coming. But if I had to guess, I think I’ll be getting that question for a while.

Last week, I took a trip to Paris (you can read more about it in the coming issue of Bloomberg Businessweek). On my previous visit there, in January, I had what might have been my best restaurant experience ever, at the LVMH-owned Plénitude in the Cheval Blanc hotel. It was fantastical. And very expensive, around €550 ($621) per person when the bill arrived.

As a sign of how quickly things can change, on last week’s trip one of my best meals wasn’t at a restaurant—it was a supermarket picnic. And it cost less than my glass of wine at Plénitude. 

Six Other Great Cheap Eats (£15) Options in London

Dream Xi’an hand-pulled noodles, a steal at £13.50. Photographer: Kate Krader

Dream Xi’an: Guirong Wei, whom you can see in action in the Netflix series Chef’s Table: Noodles, is an expert on hand-pulled noodles; the version with sautéed chicken with peppers is fabulous (£13.50).

The Lenny at Lenny’s Apizza: Half cheese, half tomato.  Photographer: Kate Krader

Lenny’s Apizza: Revel in Max Lewis’ obsession with New Haven, Connecticut, at the Bedford Tavern in Finsbury Park. The intensely flavored tomato pie is laced with pecorino and garlic, and amazing at £10.50. The Lenny—half cheese, half tomato—lets you have the best of two worlds.

Hoppers: High-energy Hoppers has a handful of locations in London, including a sizable one at King’s Cross. The Sri Lankan chicken kari, or curry, has spicy rich coconut flavor for £14. Vegetarian options, like squash and spinach dal, go for £11.50.

Blacklock: The meat-loving mini-chain specializes in affordable cuts of beef. At all the outposts, including the original Soho one, there’s a substantial double-patty cheeseburger topped with vermouth-infused caramelized onions for £14.

Padella: The pastas at Padella are known for a reason: The pici cacio e pepe would be worth ordering even if it cost twice as much as its £13.50 price tag. Fettuccine with ’nduja and mascarpone, for £14, is also a strong buy.

Elliot’s zucchini flour and wild garlic pizza is a strong recommend at £15. Photographer: Kate Krader

Elliot’s: Around the corner from Padella, in Borough Market, Elliot’s serves stellar Italian-British fare. Although most of the menu is priced a little north of the budget, the £15 airy sourdough pizza (I know, second pizza on the list, but no apologies) is topped with a gourmet mix of zucchini flowers, wild garlic and ricotta salata.

One person famously unconcerned with price was my beloved former colleague Richard Vines, Bloomberg’s long-running chief food critic, who heartbreakingly passed away earlier this week.

If you’re involved in the food scene, and not just in London, you knew Richard. But just in case you aren’t: He was a larger-than-life character straight out of Dickens. Walk into a London restaurant with him, and the Champagne corks would start popping almost of their own accord. He was such a regular at Bob Bob Ricard, the Soho restaurant marked by the “Press for Champagne” buttons at every table, that his portrait hangs on the wall of the City outpost.

Just another night out for me and Vines, back in the day. Source: Kate Krader

He’d champion chefs and dining rooms rather than tear them down. (After his death, another great London chef, Asma Kahn, posted that Richard often quietly sent visiting chefs to her restaurant, Darjeeling Express, in the early days to help spread the word. He also promoted her dal recipe in a “Lunch Break” column when she needed support during the pandemic lockdown.)

He was a mentor to everyone, a fun and happily gossipy dining companion, the person who always had the right order at a restaurant and would share it with you, rather than compete. There’s a huge hole in London without him. 

GIVING: Rosa UK. Recently a friend shared intel about a terrific charity, Rosa, which supports women—and, importantly, girls—by funneling funding to various other charities all around Britain. It promotes groups big and small, across industries. Among them: Good Night Out, which works to end sexual harassment at clubs and bars, and the Women’s Refugee Association, which operates to assist and empower migrants and asylum-seekers. 

READING: Bread and War by Felicity Spector. For her day job, Spector is a longtime news reporter at the British network ITN. But over the past few years she’s spent a lot of time in Ukraine, baking and delivering bread via a mobile bakery she funded (“flour power,” she calls it). Her brand-new book highlights the incredible stories she’s found among bakers, soldiers and cooks, and it couldn’t be more timely.  

Happy Sky Bakery’s honey toast. Photographer: Kate Krader

INDULGING: Honey toast from Happy Sky Bakery. Speaking of bread, last December this adorable, microscopic Japanese bakery arrived in central London, just off Oxford Street and Tottenham Court Road. The window showcases about two dozen pastries with seasonal specialties, such as a cube-shaped strawberry petal croissant. My new favorite is the Tokyo honey toast, a gorgeously caramelized, puffy-on-the-inside indulgence (£4.60) that they hand to you warm. 

DRINKING: Olive oil martini at One Club Row. As much as I appreciate an ice-cold drink in an important-looking glass, I’ve never been a martini girl. I’ll always gravitate toward a more fruity-tangy drink, namely a Last Word. But One Club Row, my new favorite London restaurant, makes a martini that I’ll order over and over again: Tanqueray 10, crisp dry vermouth and, compellingly, a splash of the sweet Greek liqueur mastiha, plus a few drops of the promised olive oil, so it’s silky-smooth.

ENVYING: When the Going Was Good by Graydon Carter. I had every intention of reading the autobiography of one of the more legendary and entertaining editors in the world, in an especially high-flying era. But learning some specific details—maybe especially that he had a passport photo taken by Annie Leibovitz—has made me pick it up even faster.

And if you read just one thing ...

Working at Pursuits, I’ve come to know that there’s a universe of watch fanatics who obsess about every detail of a valuable timepiece, including who wears which one on whatever notable occasion. I’m not one of those people.

The famously private Rolex let us peek behind the emerald curtain. Photographer: Chris Rovzar/Bloomberg

But if I were ever going to be enthralled by a watch, it would be because of Chris Rovzar and his exclusive deep dive into the new Rolex Land-Dweller. Not because I have a much better sense of what a bezel is or the appeal of the Cosmograph Daytona. But because I now can imagine what it’s like to be invited behind the tightly drawn curtain at the headquarters of the v