Ask a bunch of students what they look for in a restaurant, and you'll likely hear a chorus of "cheap", "cheap", "cheap". In fact, ask any group of people that question these days, and you'll probably get the same bird song. But if cheap were enough to satisfy us, we'd all be enthusiastically scarfing 99-cent fast-food value meals. We also want good. And for many students, filling is a close third.

Rice Bar delivers on all counts, and throws in a bit of atmosphere to boot. It's not a stylin', hang-out-with-your-friends-on-a-Friday-night kind of place, but not every meal out is an occasion. Sometimes you just want to eat—a quick lunch before class, a dinner break with the newspaper—and that's what this restaurant does best.

Located on the outskirts of UBC, Rice Bar is located in the Richie Rich West 10th Avenue shopping strip, near a 99 B-Line bus stop. But according to manager Monica Tse, "Most students don't know about us." Instead, the restaurant gets a "very random" mix of people from the neighbourhood.

Tse runs Rice Bar with her sister Maria, and calls the fare "authentic Hong Kong–style food". Customers order at the counter from four main categories: Chinese barbecued meat on rice; curry with rice; deep-fried-to-order items, and noodle bowls.

Originally from Hong Kong, the Tse sisters grew up in Vancouver and learned how to cook from their father, Kenny. "He taught me everything," said Monica in a phone interview, explaining that Rice Bar serves mostly comfort food, made using the recipes she grew up on. The sisters cook almost everything from scratch. Semiretired Kenny pitches in, marinating and barbecuing the pork, chicken, and ribs in-house. (When the family lived in Hong Kong, Kenny ran a barbecued-meat market stall in Kowloon.)

There are no glistening, burgundy-hued sides of meat hanging in Rice Bar's windows, though. The restaurant is a leap up from a hole-in-the-wall Chinese fast-food joint. High ceilings give it a spacious feel, and crimson paint provides some personality. Solo diners can gaze out at the street from a counter bar with red, manta ray–like undulating seats. Another row of stools faces a counter backed by, somewhat oddly, a wall of empty cubbyholes. There are also plenty of basic tables, and Rice Bar feels like somewhere you could comfortably linger.

It's also a place you can get in and out of lickety-split. The curries, made daily, are ready to go from a steam tray. Everything else is prepared to order, but the Tses are so time-conscious that the menu notes a 13-minute wait on the crispy chicken leg.

On my first visit, I ordered a curry simply because of the wonderful smell I encountered when I walked in the door. Varieties include beef brisket, chicken, veggie, and tofu, and you can have them mixed with homemade chicken broth and transformed into a soup with wheat or rice noodles.

My beef-brisket curry soup ($6.50) arrived at the table in a massive bowl, steaming hot and with large chunks of unusually lean brisket, onion, cauliflower, cabbage, and red pepper to dig up. Hot, hearty, and fragrant with coriander, dried shrimp, lemongrass, and curry powder, it was hugely satisfying.

My companion enjoyed the red roasted chicken (marinated chicken with hot-oil crisped skin) and barbecued pork ($6.95), which came with so much juicy meat neatly arranged in rows that it dwarfed the rice. Sneaking a glance at the next table, I coveted my neighbour's pork cutlet on rice, a sizable portion that looked deliciously crunchy.

As much as I wanted to order that on my next visit, I went the healthier route instead. The vegetarian buckwheat-noodle soup ($6.50) was excellent. Made with a deep, rich, mushroom-based broth, the soup had generous amounts of bok choy, broccoli, and corn, as well as tofu. My companion wasn't as pleased with the Hainanese chicken rice ($6.50) because the chicken leg was served cold, not hot as he was used to.

All of the dishes were aesthetically pleasing as well as belly-satisfying. The Tses present everything with care—and the price is right too. Dishes range from $5.50 to $7.95. With the current "autumn special", if you order a rice plate you can choose a complimentary hot and sour soup, green salad, or pudding. (The house-made mango pudding was unusually flavourful, with a natural mango colour.) Help-yourself water and Chinese tea, as well as $1 cans of pop, keep the budget in check.

Oh, and did I mention that Rice Bar is licensed? Ordered with a rice plate, a bottle of Stella Artois costs $3.50. Perfect excuse for a study break.