I hate saying “the best”, but you, the majority of the world looking stuff up on the internet, love it! @#$%! It bothers me so much. How can I say it’s “the best” when I haven’t tried every single one in the world, let alone city?! It doesn’t make sense!!! Food and taste is also subjective and personal and relative to what one has tried, so it’s garbage saying it’s “the best”.
Okay, excuse the rant, I’ll relax. After all, I’m talking about one of the most celebrated items in Vancouver, BC – Chinese style barbeque meats. I’ll wait for you to wipe your drool.
So, you’re looking for “the best Chinese BBQ in Vancouver, BC”, well change your city because it’s in Richmond. No surprise if you’re familiar with Metro Vancouver, but Richmond is the home of world-class Chinese cuisine. It’s what the city prides itself on; and what you thought it was seafood and fish n’ chips? Those are good too, but the Chinese food here is top notch and arguably “the best outside of China”. There I go again with “the best”, but you get what I’m saying.
My friend Jeffrey of FoodieHubTV.com came to visit and I decided to take him on a Chinese barbeque meat mission. I always rave about the barbeque pork and suckling pig at HK B.B.Q. Master, so he had to see what the fuss was about.
Funny thing is that the fuss is at very non-fussy places. Both cater to take-out business, although HK B.B.Q. Master has about 15 seats for quick dine-in customers. Each have their loyal cult-like following and have constant line ups. They are arguably the most beloved Chinese barbeque shops in Metro Vancouver, and almost across the street from each other, so it’s easy to do them back to back… which obviously is what we did, and it was actually second time for me.
Parker Place Meat & B.B.Q. vs. HK B.B.Q. Master
Mission: BBQ Pork 🐖
Left: Parker Place Meat & B.B.Q.
Price: $6.99/lb
Right: HK B.B.Q. Master
Price: $8.80/lb
Winner: HK B.B.Q. Master 👍👍
Why: The pork is more succulent, moist (😝 hate that word) and flavourful. At both shops I requested extra char and medium fat pieces.
Parker Place Meat & B.B.Q. vs. HK B.B.Q. Master
Mission: Suckling Pig/Roast Pig 🐖
Left: Parker Place Meat & B.B.Q.
Price: $9.99/lb (Whole pig available $215)
Right: HK B.B.Q. Master
Price: $11.50/lb (Whole pig not available)
Winner: HK B.B.Q. Master 👍👍
Why: HK B.B.Q. Master serves slabs of pork belly for their roast pig. It is obviously more succulent and juicy even just by looks, and the crackling is much better. The crackling (skin) is puffy, crisp and moist. Parker’s was actually a bit dry and the skin not as flavourful, juicy or crisp, although still easy to eat. You can request for leaner or fattier roast pork at both shops. I requested medium at both.
Parker Place Meat & B.B.Q. vs. HK B.B.Q. Master
Mission: Soy sauce chicken 🐔
Left: Parker Place Meat & B.B.Q.
Price: $11.50/whole $5.75/half
Right: HK B.B.Q. Master
Price: $16/whole $8/half
Winner: Parker Place Meat & B.B.Q. 👍👍
Why: HK B.B.Q. Master may win with the pork, but Parker comes back with the birds! The soy sauce chicken is noticeably more tender and moist. The meat was almost silky. I think there are better places for soy sauce chicken, but this is still solid and I wouldn’t turn it down.
Parker Place Meat & B.B.Q. vs. HK B.B.Q. Master
Mission: Roast Duck
Top: Parker Place Meat & B.B.Q.
Price: $20/whole $10/half
Bottom: HK B.B.Q. Master
Price: $25.80/whole $13/half
Winner: Parker Place Meat & B.B.Q. 👍👍
Why: Duck hunt!! Again, HK B.B.Q. Master may win with the pork, but you go to Parker Place Meat & B.B.Q. for the birds. The duck from Parker was more moist and flavourful.
My favourite roast “duck”, is actually not duck, but goose. Roast goose is more common in Hong Kong, and the one from Yat Lok has me ruined. See #FMFYatLok in #FMFinHK on my Instagram (@followmefoodie)for the most amazing roast goose.
OMG I should never have read this article on an empty stomach (not that on a full stomach would have helped ….). So, on pork matters HKBBQM is your winner, while on poultry, PPM&BBQ clucks the victory song eh ? HKBBM also has quite a price premium over PPM&BBQ on the chicken and duck, did that affect your ruling in any way ?
Maybe I should strategize and shop the best of each. But that would require parking at both establishments and we all know how fun *that* could be :-O 😉
any chance you can do a comparison between HK BBQ Master and Cantonese BBQ Restaurant?
@marcopolo – yes! I would only compare the suckling pig though because HK BBQ Master will win with roast pork and other categories.
@LOTUSRAPPER – hahah! Yes, parking SUCKS at both… but what we do for food.
And you got it! Pork at HK BBQ Master and birds at Parker. I didn’t factor cost into it, decision was made purely on taste! So glad you enjoyed!!
I agree on the pork and the chicken! The skin on the Parker Place duck is also noticeably crispier. As for seating, the food court at Parker Place is a great spot to devour their BBQ!
Funny I’ve always found Parker so much better for roast pork, and bbq master always gets the win for bbq pork. But the most important thing missing here is the scallion sauce (way, way better at bbq master!)
On my trip I tried both. Parker Place BBQ pork was extremely moist, and they actually placed quite a bit of liquid in the container. It did leak, although that was kept in with the heavy duty bag they used. I was asked if I wanted lean or fat, and I ended up with a mix.
I might have gone to HK B.B.Q. Master on the wrong night. The worker there said maybe it was a little bit too lean that day. It was actually a bit drier, but tasted fine.
The fun part was trying to bring all this stuff across the border on two separate day trips. One CBP agent questioned why I needed to go to BC for Chinese food. Another didn’t even blink when I said I had duck tongues.