Written and photographed by: Courtney Miller
Graphics by: Krystal Shiu
Wakwak Burger
Location: Granville Street at West Pender Street
Walking time from SFU Harbour Centre: Four minutes
The food: I couldn’t not try the infamous $2.85 burger, and it was actually really good. It’s pretty basic, with just a patty, mayo, lettuce, and onion on a bun, but the onion was shredded really thin, and it was sweet as opposed to overwhelming, which was a great plot twist. The overall package is a bit smaller than your average burger, but for its price, it’s hard to beat. Plus, you can put some cheese on it for an extra $1.
Le Tigre 
Location: Tuesday: Burrard Street at West Pender Street; Thursday: Alberni Street at Bute Street
Walking time from SFU Harbour Centre: Eight minutes on Tuesday; 18 minutes (or a 13-minute ride on the 005 bus) on Thursday
The food: Full disclosure: this is honestly not very close to campus, but completely worth the walk. The best deal is the Kick-Ass Rice. It comes automatically with pork, but do yourself a favour and order it with the chicken instead. This meal clocks in at $12, but it will keep you full and satisfied for your entire four-hour lecture. The chicken is crispy but juicy and tender inside, the bird’s eye chilis they use add a nice amount of kick, and the egg is always so softly poached you know that it’s meant to be mixed into the seasoned rice.
Fat Duck Mobile Eatery
Location: West Cordova Street at Howe Street
Walking time from SFU Harbour Centre: Four minutes
The food: First of all, you have to like duck to eat here. It comes in sandwich form unless you get their rice bowl, so pictured is the Duck Banh Mi (see featured image). It hit most of the notes for a classic Vietnamese sub sandwich, but they overdid it on the spiciness. I’m all for a good amount of spice, but it was hard to discern the taste of duck through the spice-fog. The spicy pickled vegetables were good, and the fresh cucumber sliced through that level of kick pretty easily, but it was the extra squirt of sriracha all over the sandwich that does it in. Without the hot sauce, it was tasty, albeit a bit expensive for the amount you get, costing a cool $10.50.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 chili peppers
Japadog
Location: West Cordova Street at Granville Street
Walking time from SFU Harbour Centre: Three minutes
The food: Almost never in my life have I looked at a hot dog and thought, “Yeah, I’d pay $7.50 for that.” However, I’d also never been to Japadog before this, so forgive me. Their special Kurobuta pork sausages are a game changer in terms of the classic hot dog. They’re flavourful, tender, juicy, and look like they’re made from real meat. They also have a good selection of specialty hot dogs. The Terimayo is their best seller, adding teriyaki sauce, mayonnaise, and dried seaweed to the sausage in a toasted bun, which was actually a very balanced mouthful. Their second-best seller is the Okonomi, which has the plain Japadog topped with mayo and bonito flakes. This one is definitely more of an umami flavour, although it’s also more monotonous than the Terimayo.
