The ginger beef of Calgary

Where Canadian ginger beef was born

In this series of iconic Canadian foods, we travel to Calgary, the birthplace of ginger beef, Caesar cocktail, and mostly meh Canadian chains like Hy’s, Joey, Moxies, and OPA! of Greece.

Elements of Canadian comfort food

Southern USA has fried chicken and hush puppies. Canada has ginger beef and poutine. They are unhealthy, easy to make but difficult to master. There is no set recipe for ginger beef but it’s generally deep-fried beef strips with a ginger sauce. The most apt description I can think of is “beef candy”.

When done well, the exterior is crispy and the meat has a jerky-like quality. The beef is on the lean side, on the verge of dry. But the meat should flake easily. It’s a tricky texture to accomplish. Ginger pieces are incorporated into the batter or during frying. Sweetness, lots of it, comes from the gooey sauce.

Ginger beef is a Western Canadian thing. It rarely appears in Toronto or anywhere east of Winnipeg for that matter. Not sure why because the cooking style is similar to General Tso’s chicken, sweet and sour pork, and other Westernized Chinese dishes.

Silver Inn Restaurant

Any foodie worth their salt has to go to Silver Inn, the restaurant that is widely acknowledged to have invented the dish. This is the benchmark where all other ginger beef are measured against.

A single order was sufficient for 2 to 3 people. The packaging was sensible in separating the sauce from the beef. Soggy deep-fried foods are a big no-no.

The batter remained crispy even after takeout. It was the standard cornflour and egg batter for Westernized Chinese deep-fried meats. Thick ginger strips were interspersed between the beef. It was quite aromatic and lives up to the dish’s name.

The sauce was artificially red and had slices of raw garlic in it. Probably lots of sugar or corn syrup too. If not for the sharp garlic, it would have been a generic Westernized Chinese sauce. It’s a good thing that the sauce was thin because it’s less likely to stick to and mar the crispiness of the batter.

The meat texture was the best I’ve had for ginger beef. Then again, I don’t eat a lot of ginger beef. It was compact like dried meat but was surprisingly tender. Beef cuts were superior, fresh, and pure. This was the classic beef candy bite I was looking for. 8/10.

Silver Inn Restaurant is located in Tuxedo Park, not too far north from downtown Calgary. It’s on the route to the airport and serviced by express buses. The interior is frozen in the 1980s and is depressingly barren and grey. It’s surprisingly small given its large exterior.

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Ho Won Restaurant

I wasn’t able to find a worthy competitor in downtown Calgary so I settled for Ho Won, a stalwart in Chinatown. It’s been serving up Westernized Chinese classics for decades. They are famous for salt and pepper squid but it was a ginger beef mission for me.

Remember what I said earlier about no set recipe for ginger beef? The one at Ho Won was quite different from Silver Inn’s. The batter was more puffy, similar to Westernized Chinese deep-fried shrimp. I preferred this style over Silver Inn’s. In either case, they are both textbook examples of deep-frying styles for Westernized Chinese foods.

The portion was massive. Enough for 3 to 4 people.

The sauce wasn’t packed separately. It was poured over the beef and sat at the bottom of the container. While the pieces at the top stayed crispy, the bottom ones were soggy. The sauce tasted like generic sweet chilli sauce. Although the entire dish smelled strongly of ginger, there weren’t as many discernible ginger pieces as with Silver Inn. No garlic cloves either.

The beef cuts were medium-thick. The quality of meat wasn’t as good as Silver Inn’s. It had some gristle and the texture was just like ordinary stir-fried beef dishes. Still, I appreciated this different take on ginger beef. 7/10.

Ho Won doesn’t win points for decor, save for a mini-stage at the front of the dining area. It’s an old-school and functional restaurant.

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Where to eat ginger beef in Toronto

Ginger beef isn’t well-known in Toronto. I don’t know any place that cooks it in the same style as Silver Inn’s. However, there are some places with dishes in the general category.

Szechuan Szechuan does a semi-saucy version (7/10). It’s not radioactive red though. Closer to Toronto is Danforth Dragon, an Indian-Chinese restaurant with an acclaimed sauce-less version (7.5/10). It’s distinguishes itself with ginger strips smashed against the meat.

Verdict

Silver Inn Restaurant remains the standard-bearer for ginger beef. It’s balance of sauce, batter, and meat has been honed over decades. Its hallmark is its sweet, jerky quality.

Practical information

Silver Inn Restaurant

Rating

8/10

Prices

Ginger beef: $16.80 ($16.00 excluding tax. 5% discount with cash payment)

Address

2702 Centre Street N

Hours

Tuesday to Friday 1100h – 1330h, 1700h – 2220h
Saturday to Sunday 1700h – 2200h

Date of visit

August 2021

Ho Won Restaurant

Rating

7/10

Prices

Ginger beef: $15.70 ($14.95 excluding tax)

Address

115 2 Avenue SE

Hours

Tuesday to Thursday 1630h – 2030h
Friday to Sunday 1100h – 1300h, 1630h – 2030h

Date of visit

August 2021