Rating / 4 out of 5 stars

Chinatown has long been the bastion of Chinese style barbeque meats. But that crown has been challenged over the years by the city of Richmond’s growing community of restaurants and butcheries. HK BBQ Master — an unsuspecting shop tucked underneath the Superstore of all places — is a pretty serious contender for top BBQ shop.

(Above: Don’t mess with the butcher at HK BBQ Master. He wields a big knife.)

Case and I arrived around the 2:00pm mark to get an early jump on the crowd. What we found was a cramped shop furnished with half a dozen tables for a few souls to dine in. The rest of the operation is set up to quickly and methodically take your order, cut the meat and package the goods for take out.

A full brigade of kitchen and wait staff scramble to fill orders while a lone, stone-faced butcher takes apart your BBQ meat of choice in mere seconds with lightening speed and precision.

(Above: What’s more heavenly than piles of BBQ meat?)

Case and I made our way home with half a BBQ duck: crispy skin, juicy and well portioned. At $11 for half a duck, it’s a bit on the pricier side, but it’s certainly one of the better BBQs in town. As we left, we had to use the door opposite from where we came. The lineup had already spilled out onto the sidewalk and was blocking the entrance.

Perfect for : post-Superstore shopping BBQ Takeout.

The Details

4651 No. 3 Road, Richmond
604.272.6568

Rating / 3 out of 5 stars

Stepho’s Greek Taverna on West End’s Davie Street is a popular Greek restaurant well known for it’s long line ups, large portions and cheap prices.

Normally, big portions means poor quality. In most cases that is true, but not with Stepho’s. They’ve been pretty consistent each time we’ve done take out orders. We phone in 15 minutes ahead and — boom — our order is ready for pick up.

(Above: The roast lamb dinner, fully equipped with rice, greek salad, vegetable briami and roasted potatoes.)

Tre and I have tried almost everything on the menu. But we often share the tavernas specialty, roast lamb served with roast potatoes, rice pilaf, vegetable briami, Greek salad and a pita. The roast lamb is a pretty generous size and the tender, succulent meat that’s been slow roasting all day, falls off the bone.

The accompaniments are equally hearty: the rice pilaf is nice and buttery, scattered with mini cubes of carrots and peas for added texture; the vegetable briami is a roasted mix of green beans, carrots, and onions; and finally, the Greek salad refreshes with cucumber, tomatoes, olives, onions, jalapenos and sprinkled feta cheese. We usually order a side of yummy, garlicky tazaki for dipping with extra pita.

(Top to bottom: 1. Tzaziki. 2. Pita.)

Our bill including taxes comes to just under $17, which is pretty good for two people. We’ve eaten at Stepho’s before, but the service wasn’t all that great. We’d recommend bypassing the hour-long lineup and do take out instead.

Perfect for: No frills, Greek alternative to fast food take out.

The Details

1124 Davie Street
604.683.2555

Rating / 3 out of 5 stars

Sandwiched between a Chinese herbal shop and Asian bakery is Thu Hien Deli, a Vietnamese bakery and delicatessen — purveyors of a rainbow assortment of unnaturally fluorescent treats, baked goods, and homemade traditional Vietnamese dishes for takeout.

We came for their specialty: the Banh Cuon, a crepe-like roll made from a thin, wide sheet of rice flour stuffed with ground pork and minced wood ear mushroom. A short, portly lady with a grim look on her face asked us for our order. We asked for the Vietnamese Crepes. Without so much as raising her head to look up, she remarked in a disinterested tone, “Cheong Fan?” — to which we nodded. Uh, sure. I guess so. Rice rolls it is. We looked at each other and shrugged .

(Clockwise: 1. Banh Cuon aka Vietnamese Rice Crepes aka Rice Rolls? 2. Nothing says upscale like fried garlic chips wrapped in wax paper and rubber bands and fish sauce in a plastic bag. 3. Unidentified colourful treats.)

She reached into the back room and picked up a box from a stack of styrofoam boxes and dropped it into a plastic bag. Methodically, she dropped in a crumpled ball of wax paper wrapped haphazardly with a rubber band and tossed in a see-through plastic bag of curiously golden liquid before handing us the bag over the counter. I was surprised by the weight of the bag when she handed it over, it was surprisingly heavy — it felt like 5 pounds.

When we got home, we unpacked our meal: the wax paper contained chips of fried garlic and the plastic bag contained Nuoc Mam, aka fish sauce — the distinct, pungent aroma was unmistakable. We opened up the styrofoam box to reveal fresh looking, homemade rice rolls. The crepe skin was super thin to the point of transparency, revealing the heavenly mixture of pork and mushroom.

This takeout meal that served 2 people with leftovers for the next day was a mere $6. Okay, if you’re really hungry, one person could probably eat this alone in one sitting — but I wouldn’t recommend trying.

Perfect for: The cheapest takeout meal. Ever.

The Details

1388 Kingsway, Vancouver
604.874.9243

Rating / 3 out of 5 stars

Pho Saigon is a Vietnamese restaurant located on Kingsway in Burnaby. The name is about as generic as you could have for a Vietnamese restaurant, but this family run eatery is a really nice alternative to fast food when you want something to go.

Although we often fall back to the standard beef noodles at Vietnamese restaurants, Bun Cha is a great-take out friendly alternate to Pho. It’s basically vermicelli noodles (cooked and drained) served with fresh, raw vegetables (usually bean sprouts and julienned carrots and cucumber) and topped with a choice of shredded pork, spring rolls or a pork or chicken brochette (or for the meat-a-tarians, you can mix and match). It’s got all the essential components for a complete meal: veggies, starch and protein.

I ordered a pork brochette (skewered pork that’s been marinated in fish sauce and lemongrass and char grilled) and a spring roll over a bed of vermicelli noodles. It’s usually served with a side of the infamous nuoc cham (fish sauce) for dipping. Case had the same minus the pork brochette. It’s really difficult to screw up grilled meat on a stick, or anything deep fried as well, so you’re pretty much guaranteed a good meal, and Pho Saigon doesn’t disappoint. At $15 for the two of us, this meal handily beats a couple of value meals at your typical fast food joint.

Perfect for: A nice alternative to fast food take-out with all the essential food groups: veggies, starch, protein… and fish sauce.

The Details

6322 Kingsway, Burnaby
604.438.1982

Rating / 3 out of 5 stars

Kam Gok Yuen is the traditional Chinese hole-in-the-wall restaurant you’d expect to find in Chinatown. It’s been here forever — well, at least for as long as I can remember coming down to Chinatown. They serve your typical noodle soup and fried rice dishes, but their specialty is the roast/barbeque meats.

Whenever we don’t have the time (or feel like) cooking, Case and I like to pick up half a barbeque duck. The stern yet jovial butcher will yank one of the ducks hanging from the storefront display and proceed to skillfully chop up the bird with a big scary knife before placing it in a styrofoam takeout container.

In an assembly-like manner, the perpetually grumpy looking hostess/server will finish packing the duck, throwing in a couple packets of the famed Wing Kee plum sauce for dipping, and sometimes a small container of duck sauce if she feels like it.

The duck is really tender and juicy on the inside, and the skin is super crispy — some of the best we’ve had in Vancouver. Half a duck is under $10. Fast service, cheap and tasty food, ghetto atmosphere — what more could you ask for?

Perfect for:

Tasty takeout alternative to your run-of-the-mill poultry in a bucket.

The Details

142 East Pender Street, Vancouver
604.683.3822