The Silver Inn was the first to introduce Calgary to the taste of authentic Chinese Cuisine. (Patti Edgar/CBC)
Tourists wanting to taste the mainstay of Calgary's Chinese restaurants head to the Silver Inn.
"A lot of people credit us with coming up with ginger beef, but we are modest about it and say we didn't invent it, but we were the first to use the current recipe in Calgary, if not Canada," said owner Kwong Cheung.
Calgary didn't have an authentic Chinese restaurant in 1975, so Cheung's enterprising family took over a "dumpy little place" called the Silver Inn and created a menu of Peking-style dishes.
Owner Kwong Cheung is especially proud of introducing Calgarians to Silver Inn's unique recipe for ginger beef.
Dumplings and cashew chicken may be staples today, but they were unheard of then, and Cheung remembers selling more burgers in the first few weeks.
His brother-in-law, George Wong, contributed a dish that had been popular when he was a cook in England. For the Calgary palate, he coated the beef in batter and "deep fried shredded beef in chili sauce" was born. Customers shortened it to ginger beef.
"It's crunchy, it's a little spicy. It just fits North American tastes, so it took off from there," said Cheung.
The Silver Inn moved to its current northeast location in 1978. Unfortunately, during Calgary's "Peking explosion" in the 1980s other restaurants added a version of the dish to their menus that will never come close to the Silver Inn's, said Cheung.
Silver Inn Restaurant, Centre Street NE., Calgary, AB
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