When it comes to restaurant eating, fear not, you can still find a meal for less than $20 for a main dish. Here are our critic’s picks.
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Affordability is oft uttered these days, usually in grumpy tones. When it comes to restaurant eating, fear not, you can still find a meal for less than $20 for a main dish. These humble spots add loads of diversity and depth to our food culture. And they matter. This is my occasional roundup of the affordables I’ve visited recently.
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Many such meals are at family operations and, sometimes, it’s a second generation building on the sacrifices of the first, like at Chau Mami. Sometimes, three generations rule the restaurant, like at Triple Coconut Tree.
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Sometimes, it’s more than just a business, like at Kozak Ukrainian restaurant. Upon arriving from Ukraine, owner Irina Karpenko, with her master’s degree in restaurant management, began selling her baking at farmers markets. She now runs four, going on five, successful restaurants. Since Russia invaded her home country in 2022, Karpenko has hired more than 100 Ukrainian refugees and immigrants and donated to medical services for children and injured front-line soldiers. The name Kozak refers to Ukrainian Cossacks.
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West Coast Table
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“They’re the symbol of Ukraine, fighters for independence,” Karpenko said in a previous interview. “It is in our spirit. They were also known for good appetites and feasting.”
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At these places, a restaurant is often more than a restaurant.
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Aiyaohno Cafe
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425 Carrall St., Vancouver | aiyaohno.com
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Huh? Miso sablefish atop rice with salad and veg for $18.50? Are you kidding me? This hole-in-the-wall run by a young couple in the lobby of the B.C. Electric Railway building offers healthy Japanese dishes inspired by Japan’s countryside cafés. Half of the rice bowl, noodle, dumpling, poke, and sando offerings are vegan. Others are vegetarian or from the sea. They boast that their matcha tea is from Kyoto, where they grow the best.
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Chao Mami / Chao Mami Express
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4088 Hastings St., Burnaby / 678 Dunsmuir St., Vancouver | chaomami.com
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When the popular Broken Rice Vietnamese restaurant closed due to redevelopment, the second generation stepped up to continue their mother’s legacy, rebranding as Chao Mami (hello mom). Some of her dishes live on, including Mami’s real crab tomato noodle soup, house vermicelli, pho and her “famous” spring rolls. During Happy Hour, the pho price dives down to $10! The related, quick-service version, Chao Mami Express, in downtown Vancouver, offers pho, noodle salad bowls, salad rolls, and warm baos for incredibly decent prices.
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DD Mau
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145 East Pender St., Vancouver | ddmau.ca
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The atmospheric room in Chinatown feels straight outta Hanoi. A meal at DD Mau, which means “go quickly,” need not be rushed. There’s plenty on the menu to hold your attention. You’ll find unique Vietnamese dishes like short rib beef dip banh mi, smashing rice paper (layer rice sheets, minced pork, shrimp, herbs, fermented pineapple anchovy sauce). And with dish names like “damn good chicken and rice,” you know the owners are young and spirited, and that’s the vibe. Nose-to-tail use of free-range chicken for meat and broth, inspired by Hoi An cuisine.
