Delicately crispy hunks of cod and spiral-cut chips are packaged in takeout boxes emblazoned with the Union Jack before they’re passed through the window at this Vancouver food truck. The British-style chippy was founded by Darren McGrady, former chef to Queen Elizabeth II and Princess Diana. To dine like royalty, order the menu-encompassing Royal Feast, which supplements fish and chips with saucy chicken wings, mushy peas, curry sauce, and smoked fish chowder.

The team behind this St. Johns Korean restaurant has both a creativity and tenderness to its approach to the food served, plating everything carefully on a tray with little bowls of doenjang soup on the side. The quality of the ingredients is apparent in each dish — for example, a flavorful cold-smoked culotte, served with a dish of ganjang jus for dunking. A gochugaru-rubbed salmon is another favorite, with the spice complementing (not overpowering) the fish’s buttery flavor. The corn cheese, finished with a surprising drizzle of mint butter, is a fun twist on a classic.

This Northeast Portland pop-up has settled into its own space, once inhabited by Seastar Bakery and Handsome Pizza. Those are big shoes to fill, but Gabriella Casabianca and Anthony Siccardi are clearly up for the task. At tables with mismatched chairs, plates of kale leaves hidden under a pile of snowy Parmesan precede gorgeous, wood-fired pizzas. Forgoing gimmicks and cliches, these pies come topped with creative combinations of flavors: things like n’duja and anchovy, pepperoncini and hot honey, changing on a week-to-week basis. It takes a lot to open a Portland pizzeria that stands out anymore. This one stands out.

Chef Luna Contreras and Sweet Creature’s Gabriella Martinez take over the kitchen at Killingsworth’s cerulean-toned, wine-centric restaurant and collaborative culinary collective Mondays through Wednesdays, serving dishes like braised short rib tamalitos and albacore aguachile. For those who have been to past Chelo pop-ups, Contreras stays true-to-form with produce-laden, multifaceted Mexican fare reliant on deliberate layers of flavor: A rich, sweet mole blankets a super tender duck leg, which diners pick and load into fluffy tortillas. A mound of Brussels sprouts and crispy sunchokes balance on super-comforting chicken enchiladas, drenched in a delicate mole amarillo. And for dessert, Martinez delivers impeccably executed desserts, like churros with scoops of silky dulce de leche ice cream and salty-sweet-savory bone marrow caramel.

The team behind this light-filled, Northwest Portland restaurant wants to capture the multiculturalism of Tel Aviv with its food, incorporating Northern African, Palestinian, and Greek culinary traditions. Meals here should begin with tahini-dressed, fire-roasted eggplant and a silken, za’atar-dusted hummus, served warm and topped with a mound of stewed chickpeas — the labneh, made in-house, is another stunner. From there, the restaurant’s salmon skewer is a must, arriving over a bright, energetically spiced stewed tomato. Desserts here range from goat cheese cheesecake with Turkish coffee-tahini sauce to olive oil ice cream with toasted sesame seeds.

One of the new carts within the talent-packed Lil’ America pod, this Korean American chicken cart began frying impeccably executed, gargantuan wings on day one — in the middle of a snowstorm. The cart shows no signs of slowing down. Wings here are craggy and astoundingly crispy, the result of a rice, potato, and tapioca flour batter with vodka and makgeolli; the vodka helps keep the skin crunchy and creates those massive crags. That skin gives way to meat that is so juicy it drips on each bite. Chicken comes in a variety of glazes or dusts, including a sweet snow cheese and soy garlic, and sides are a fun culinary mashup of Kentucky and Korea, from kimchi mac and cheese to mashed potatoes with curry gravy.

Another Lil’ America talent, this Filipino American cart pulls inspiration from both the Philippines and fast food Americana. Its tasty “chicky bites” — essentially chicken nuggets — use a blend of tapioca and rice flour, as well as corn starch, which helps keep the bites crispy; a mustard brine permeates and adds depth of flavor to each nugget. The vinegary, garlicky sinamak serves as a dipping sauce, bringing out the tang of the mustard brine outside the typical ketchup-mustard canon. Dishes like adobo poutine, lumpia, and longganisa burgers round out the menu, with silken tofu taho for dessert.

This strip mall Vietnamese restaurant, from the owners of a similarly named bubble tea shop in Foster-Powell, is packed with families on weekday nights, children munching on skewers of grilled meat while parents inhale bowls of mi quang or hu tieu. Start with the pickle-y, sweet lotus salad, topped with skewers of plump grilled shrimp, followed by celebratory, meticulously arranged plates of bun dau Hanoi and broken rice. The bun dau Hanoi — also known as bun dau mam tom or Hanoi noodles — arrives with little savory, crispy cakes of fried ground pork and green sticky rice, as well as thick slices of pork and fluffy tofu. On the side, a cup of a shrimp paste sauce adds a satisfying funk to each bite, if you choose to dunk (you should). The broken rice here is an event, accompanied by a lacquered slice of pork and medallions of sausage, a pile of salty seasoned pork skin, a fried egg, and a nice version of chả trứng hấp, a sort of frittata-esque egg pie with pork and noodles. Those looking for something a little less involved should head straight for the tender bo luc lac.

This Sellwood-Moreland food cart specializes in the cuisine of the Kachin people of Northeastern Myanmar, using herbs like shalap leaf and culantro to make distinctive, complex braises, curries, and stir fries. The Village Cooking is a particular standout, balancing an earthy foundation of turmeric, paprika, and Sichuan peppercorn with fresh herbs and bamboo shoots — a mound of coconut rice adds a lovely sweetness to the overall dish. On a rainy day, opt for a cup of ginger tea, as well.

In a little glass-lined space on 13th Avenue in Sellwood, this small sushi counter is sparsely adorned but low-lit and intimate. Chefs Izumi and Shinji Uehara have spent time at sushi restaurants around the world — from Amsterdam to Fukuoka, Japan — and impart their experience on pieces of fish flown in from the famed Toyosu fish market, with specials rotating frequently. Even so, the restaurant’s non-sushi dishes are exquisite, like a custardy-in-the-center agedashi tofu with a golden fry not unlike a perfect marshmallow. Another winner: Thinly sliced roasted duck breast, rich with just a slight, silky ribbon of fat, comes with a beautiful, piquant yuzu-kosho.