If there’s one thing Richmond is known for, it’s food courts.

While Aberdeen Centre and CF Richmond Centre tend to get the most attention, there’s another great food court hiding in plain sight, just minutes from Richmond-Brighouse Station — the Richmond Public Market.

Looking like a distant cousin of Lonsdale Quay, the market’s ground floor offers your standard market fare: grocery store, butcher, bookstore, fishmonger, and so on.

But the real reason people come in droves every weekend is the impressive food court on the second floor.

The large open space is set up in a loop, with a small platform in the middle which features some charming public art.

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The space features upwards of a dozen stalls, serving everything from bubble tea and treats to authentic Chinese and Taiwanese food.

On our visit, we opted for two of the most popular stalls: Wonder Wok, a Chinese buffet spot that shares DNA with Kent’s Kitchen in Vancouver, and Chuan Siang Kitchen, which serves Taiwanese meals in bento form.

Both offer a dizzying amount of choices, ranging from soups and seafood to noodles and pork or beef.

We eventually decided on a plate of sweet and sour pork with pineapple and bone-in barbecue chicken from Wonder Wok and a bento with salt and pepper pork, Taiwanese sausage, steamed cabbage, and a marinated egg from Chuan Siang.

We also couldn’t resist a bubble tea from Peanuts Bubble Tea across the room.

The rice plate from Wonder Wok offered tried and true Chinese cuisine, with tangy chicken bites, rich sweet and sour sauce, and acidic pineapple.

Our bento from Chuan Siang, on the other hand, was complex and unique, with wonderfully deep-fried pork, a surprisingly flavourful bite-sized sausage, and a mildly salted egg.

Both meals were well under $15 and made for an affordable lunch — just make sure to bring cash ahead of time, as none of the three stalls we visited took cards.

While Richmond Public Market doesn’t get as much love as other food courts in the city, diners looking for more famed Richmond cheap eats won’t regret a visit.

Richmond Public Market

Address: 8260 Westminster Highway, Richmond
Phone: 604-821-1888