Vancouver is often described as one of the most expensive cities in Canada, and anyone who has paid nearly $60 for lunch lately would have a hard time arguing with that. Still, affordable food hasn’t disappeared. You just need to know where to look. Here are my favourite cheap eats near or on the SkyTrain line.
Some of the best meals in Metro Vancouver are found in small bakeries, family-run restaurants and unassuming counters near transit stations. These are places where recipes have travelled across borders and survived changing neighbourhoods, rising rents and generations of customers.
That gave me an idea: could I eat food from five different countries, visit five transit-friendly locations, and keep the food bill under $50?
The answer is yes. You can actually do it for considerably less.
This self-guided food crawl begins in Surrey, follows the Expo Line into Vancouver and ends in Gastown. It takes you through El Salvador, China, the Philippines, Malaysia and Ukraine without requiring a passport, a car or a reservation.
Prices may change, so check the restaurant menus before heading out.
Stop One: A Salvadoran Tamal at Guacamole Mexican Grill
Closest SkyTrain station: Gateway Station
Address: 10671A King George Boulevard, Surrey
What to order: Salvadoran chicken tamal
Approximate price: $5
Despite its name, Guacamole Mexican Grill has a Salvadoran side that deserves just as much attention as its tacos and burritos.
Start with one of its Salvadoran chicken tamales. Unlike many Mexican tamales, Salvadoran tamales are generally wrapped in banana leaves rather than corn husks. The masa is softer and more delicate, with chicken and seasonings tucked inside.
This isn’t food created to become a trend. It is practical, comforting food with deep roots, made from ingredients that stretch and feed people well. Unwrapping the banana leaf feels a little like opening a package that someone prepared specifically for you.
Guacamole also serves pupusas, including the classic combination of cheese, beans and chicharrón. An order of three is currently listed at approximately $14.99, making it a good alternative if you arrive hungry or want to share.
Before leaving, this is the place to ask the question at the heart of the entire crawl:
What dish tastes most like home to you?
The answer will tell you more than any menu description can.
Stop Two: A Chinese-Filipino Classic at New Town Bakery
Closest SkyTrain station: Surrey Central Station
Address: Unit 7, 10302 City Parkway, Surrey
What to order: Steamed bun or apple tart
Estimated price: Approximately $4 to $6
A few minutes away is New Town Bakery’s Surrey location, a family-run business that has been serving Chinese and Filipino baked goods since 1980.
New Town is best known for its large steamed buns, including barbecue pork asado and chicken deluxe bola-bola. The bakery’s story reflects the overlap between Chinese and Filipino food traditions, where a steamed bun can feel familiar to people from both cultures.
The bola-bola is especially substantial, filled with a combination that can include chicken, pork, ham and salted egg yolk. It is the kind of portable meal that makes sense beside a SkyTrain station: warm, filling and easy to carry.
There is also something refreshingly timeless about New Town. Long before social media began declaring foods “viral,” people were already lining up for its steamed buns and apple tarts. The bakery’s Chinatown location remains a Vancouver institution, but the Surrey shop makes this stop especially convenient for anyone beginning the trip south of the Fraser.
Stop Three: Filipino Comfort Food at Bao Bakery
Closest SkyTrain station: Joyce–Collingwood Station
Address: 5115 Joyce Street, Vancouver
What to order: Ube steamed bun
Approximate price: $3.75
Ride the Expo Line to Joyce–Collingwood Station and walk to Bao Bakery, where the menu brings Chinese bakery techniques together with Filipino flavours.
For this challenge, order the ube steamed bun. Ube is a purple yam used in Filipino desserts, prized for its colour as much as its gently sweet, nutty flavour. It has become enormously popular online, but for Filipino families it is not a new discovery or a passing food trend. It is a familiar ingredient associated with celebrations, cakes, and childhood treats.
The bun is simple and inexpensive, but it represents something much bigger: the way food changes as communities move, settle and build new lives. Recipes adapt, ingredients meet one another and eventually something that once felt foreign becomes part of the city.
Bao Bakery is also close to Filipino Plaza, created by members of Vancouver’s Filipino community in the 1980s. If you have time, take a short walk through the area before returning to the train.
Stop Four: Malaysian Roti at Hawker’s Delight
Transit connection: Bus from Broadway–City Hall or Main Street–Science World
Address: 4127 Main Street, Vancouver
What to order: Roti prata
Approximate price: $4.95
This stop requires a short bus ride, but Hawker’s Delight belongs on any affordable international food crawl through Vancouver.
The small Main Street restaurant specializes in Malaysian and Singaporean food inspired by the hawker stalls of Southeast Asia. Its full noodle and rice dishes are known for generous portions, but the roti prata keeps this particular challenge comfortably under budget.
Roti prata is a layered flatbread served with curry for dipping. Pulling it apart is part of the experience. The edges offer a little chew, the centre absorbs the sauce, and it becomes increasingly difficult to pretend you are only going to have one bite.
The dining room is modest, and the focus is firmly on the food. That is part of its charm. Vancouver has plenty of restaurants designed to look impressive in photographs. Hawker’s Delight feels like a place built to feed people.
Stop Five: Ukrainian Honey Cake at Kozak
Closest SkyTrain station: Waterfront Station
Address: 1 West Cordova Street, Vancouver
What to order: Medovyk honey cake
Approximate price: $9.75
Finish the day at the Gastown location of Kozak Ukrainian Restaurant and Bakery, a short walk from Waterfront Station.
Kozak has been making Ukrainian food in Metro Vancouver since 2012, including varenyky, cabbage rolls, borsch, sourdough bread and an impressive selection of pastries.
For the final stop, order a slice of medovyk. The traditional Ukrainian honey cake is built from thin layers of honey-infused cake and cream. It is rich without being aggressively sweet and substantial enough to share, although you may decide against that once you taste it.
Food from home takes on a different weight when home is far away or facing hardship. A bowl of borsch or a slice of honey cake can become more than a recipe. It can preserve language, memory and a sense of belonging. At Kozak, those traditions have found an audience far beyond the Ukrainian community.
The Final Cost
| Stop | Country or culture represented | Item | Approximate price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guacamole Mexican Grill | El Salvador | Chicken tamal | $5.00 |
| New Town Bakery | China | Steamed bun or tart | $5.00 |
| Bao Bakery | Philippines | Ube steamed bun | $3.75 |
| Hawker’s Delight | Malaysia | Roti prata | $4.95 |
| Kozak | Ukraine | Medovyk honey cake | $9.75 |
| Estimated total | Five stops | $28.45 before tax |
Even after tax, the food portion of this trip comes in well below $50. That leaves some room if prices have changed, you want a drink or one steamed bun mysteriously becomes three.
Transit fare is separate.
What This Food Crawl Really Reveals About Vancouver
The challenge may begin with a budget, but the most interesting part isn’t the final total.
Metro Vancouver’s food culture was built by people who carried recipes with them. Some opened restaurants because they missed the food they grew up eating. Others saw a way to support their families, introduce their culture to new neighbours or create a gathering place for people who understood the flavours without needing an explanation.
A tamal, a steamed bun or a slice of honey cake may seem like a small thing. It can also contain someone’s childhood, their grandmother’s kitchen, their first years in Canada and the food they still make when they need to feel closer to home.
That is the part worth travelling for.
You don’t need a plane ticket to eat your way around the world. In Metro Vancouver, sometimes all you need is a Compass Card, an empty stomach and enough curiosity to ask the person behind the counter what home tastes like to them.
Practical Information
Allow approximately five to six hours for the entire route, including travel and time at each restaurant. Check business hours before leaving because independent restaurants and bakeries may close early or operate on reduced days.
The trip is easiest with a TransLink DayPass if you expect to take several trains and buses. Current fare information and trip planning are available on the TransLink website.
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