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.

Music thumps from a DJ booth, kids tap fingers on pinball machine buttons, and bartenders shake drinks behind the purple-hued bar at this Concordia ramen shop-meets-cocktail bar-meets-arcade. From pop-up rising star Isaac Ocejo and restaurateurs David Sigal and Blake Foster, Toyshop transitions from family-friendly restaurant to late-night hangout throughout the evening: Children gnawing on gargantuan katsu corn dogs populate the space before 9 p.m., when a larger batch of 20- and 30somethings appear, ordering neon green-hued cocktails spiked with Ancho Reyes and peanut butter whiskey. The highlight of the ramen here is the noodle, made for the restaurant using Ocejo’s recipe; they hide in the depths of miso paitans and shoyu chintans sweetened with Oregon-grown apples, fragrant with alliums. Order an extra ajitama egg for any bowl; it’s a standout.

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 range from goat cheese cheesecake with Turkish coffee-tahini sauce to olive oil ice cream with toasted sesame seeds.

There’s a casual, cool shrug to this sparse combination taproom and restaurant in Kerns — the entire staff consists of its four owners, some of them taking orders while others tend to omelets or arrange conchas on plates. But as anyone who has visited Duality or Astral’s pop-ups knows, the food and beer here is some of the most exciting in town, despite its laissez-faire trappings. Chef John Boisse’s pea tendril salads attain a light smokiness that doesn’t overpower the peas’ delicate sweetness, while ono ceviche gets a verdant zippiness from a sorrel leche de tigre. But at brunch, the breakfast sandwich is a must: A satisfyingly squishy, maple sugar-encrusted concha from pastry maven Lauren Breneman, filled with a soft omelet, green chorizo, and gooey quesillo with the browned lace of a sear.

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 crisp; 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.

At this breezy, open-air seafood bar, tucked behind food cart pod Lil’ America, couples share bottles of Muscadet while swiping radishes through seaweed butter and dunking juicy shrimp in Mama Lil’s cocktail sauce. The real draw here is Cache Cache’s lobster roll: Chef John Denison, also the chef de cuisine at St. Jack, hollows out a hunk of browned brioche and fills it with lobster meat coated in tarragon-scented aioli, with just a murmur of brown butter. The finishing touch is genius: a frosty layer of sweet cream buttermilk powder, giving the sandwich a touch of acidity without weighing down the fish.

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. The bun dau Hanoi — also known as bun dau mam tom or Hanoi noodles — arrives with little savory 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 shrimp paste sauce adds a satisfying funk to each bite. 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.

Originally a Beaverton Farmers Market favorite for pizzas topped with pan-Asian ingredients, Hapa Pizza now has its own sliver of a pizzeria in central Beaverton, with some of the most inventive pies you’ll see in greater Portland. The pho pizza boggles the mind with its balance of silky, intricately spiced beef reduction and mounting jalapeño heat, finished with the fresh crunch of bean sprouts. The massaman is shockingly light and bright with a judicious layer of roasted peanut-rich curry, bell peppers, and petals of fried onion. And the banh mi pizza benefits from flavorfully marinated pork, with the cutting acidity of pickled daikon and carrot.

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.