Kau Kau

the. best. bbq pork.

Also, great roast chicken.

You know how most Chinese BBQ pork can be a bit dry and flavorless without the seeds and mustard? And how it’s generally packed all neatly sliced with its gray centers and pinkish red edges? Go to Kau Kau once for the real thing, warm from the oven and chopped to your order and you will die a little every time you see that typical stuff ever after.

Kau Kau has a restaurant which is entered through the magical take-away BBQ portal. The front of the store has a huge aquarium housing a single pacu fish and a window hung with long strips of hot bbq pork, crisp brown ducks and chickens, and lovely strips of roasted side pork, all sold by the pound and chopped efficiently by the proprietor after you order. For a carnivorously decadent treat, get a pound or so of bbq pork and 1/2 a duck. Don’t forget the seeds, sinus-clearing mustard, and plum sauce.

As with most of the International District, parking can be problematic. Have someone else drive and circle the block while you wait inside for your feast-to-go.