The Hongcouver | Vancouver’s finest dining experience costs C$2.95, and goes easy on the irony

Vancouver’s food scene holds its own among the most vibrant in the world - but one dining experience stands out among the kale-and-bison burgers and urchin-roe savoury flapjacks.

That experience is Bon’s Off Broadway. For my money, it’s the greatest restaurant in the city. In this case, though, my money doesn’t amount to much - C$2.95, plus tip, to be precise.

For that is the unwavering, unbelievable, almost unmatchable price of Bon Wong’s legendary all-day breakfast. Two eggs, a mountain of hash browns, three sausages or bacon rashers, two slices of toast with toppings, for C$2.95. Add C$1 for a coffee.

For this reason alone, Bon’s Off Broadway is a graffiti-covered institution. Located in East Vancouver, one block from the east-west Broadway thoroughfare, the restaurant is usually filled with a clientele that is a comprehensive snapshot of the city. On any given day, there are elderly Hong Kong retirees (hogging the sunny window seats), middle-management types, hipsters, hoboes, students, skaters and stoners. The single-spaced menu is three pages long, but nearly everyone orders breakfast.

Hong Kong-born proprietor Wong says with a laugh that he hasn’t got time for an interview. He demurs cheerily enough, but barely bothers to look up from washing sauce bottles, as if to underline his point.

I can’t argue. Bon’s is packed most days. On weekends, the queue stretches out the door and into the car park.

Bon’s recently retained its title as Vancouver’s Best Restaurant to Cure a Hangover, awarded by readers of the Georgia Straight newspaper, but no hangover is required to appreciate its down-at-heel charm. The décor consists of banquette seating, old movie posters and the odd celebrity endorsement. Among the oddest: A signed photo of 1990s Aussie pop stars Jason Donovan and Peter Andre.