Vancouver is really expensive. Its affordability and cost of living issues have been well documented. So it’s important that you know where to go to get the best bang for your buck when you go out to eat. Especially if you’re taking someone out.
Let me introduce you to a small place, quaintly named, Chinatown BBQ.
It’s a hole in the wall restaurant in Chinatown that you might not even notice if you’re not looking for it.
It’s a relatively small place with only about 10 tables inside the building. But this small place hides a massive secret. It’s like the Tardis from Doctor Who but for food in Chinatown.
Being a broke college kid, I’m not exactly willing to spend the big buck when I go out to eat. So we settled on the BBQ pork. Looks good, and only thirteen bucks.
It comes out on this big plate on a huge bed of rice. Yea, that’s great, I hear you say, but the taste is kind of the most important part when it comes to food. For what it is, a simple and inexpensive dish, it was freaking phenomenal.
After demolishing that, something else on the menu caught my eye. Something you might not see in very many other places.
Jellyfish
Yes, jellyfish. Now, I have never had a jellyfish before. I was expecting something like a soup with a couple of the tiny one’s floating around in the broth.
Boy, could I have not been more wrong. It looked like glass noodles, but cold and kind of crunchy. The only seasoning it had was a little bit of chili oil. Safe to say, I was a little underwhelmed. Although, it’s still a cool story to tell, only cost me like $20 altogether, and at least I can say I’ve eaten jellyfish. Since then, I’ve actually made it my own side quest to try unique and weird foods whenever I had a chance, including the mentioned jellyfish, gochujang, and sea cucumber.
Wow, I went on a tangent. Let’s get back on track. My point was, its like a cheat code at life to know where the best places to eat ona budget is. You don’t want to be eating instant ramen noodles in your dorm every night. Chinatown BBQ absolutely makes that list. If you want to discover a secret part of food culture in Vancouver, this is the place to do it.