Calgary Chinatown food guide: dim sum, Vietnamese subs and bakeries

Calgary's Chinatown sits at the northern edge of downtown, close to the Bow River, around Centre Street and 3rd Avenue SW. It is smaller than the Chinatowns in Vancouver or Toronto, but it has a long history and some of the city's best-loved places for dim sum, Vietnamese subs, bakeries and noodles. For many Calgarians, a weekend dim sum lunch here is a family tradition.

What is the history of Calgary's Chinatown?

Calgary's first Chinese residents arrived in the 1880s, many of them railway workers who stayed after the Canadian Pacific Railway was completed. The Chinese community moved several times in the city's early years, including after a fire in 1886. The current Chinatown was established around 1910, when the Canton Block was built on Centre Street, and the neighbourhood has been there ever since. Today it includes cultural centres, shops, restaurants and a large Chinese cultural centre with a distinctive temple-style dome.

What should you eat in Calgary's Chinatown?

What	Why
Dim sum	Weekend family meals with dumplings, buns and rolls
Vietnamese subs (banh mi)	Calgary's Chinatown has long-running sub shops, famous for value
Pho	Vietnamese noodle soup at several restaurants
Cantonese dishes	Roast meats, seafood, noodles and rice plates
Bakery buns and egg tarts	From Chinese bakeries
Bubble tea	At several shops

Calgary has a large Vietnamese community, and Chinatown is one of the places where Vietnamese food is easiest to find.

When is the best time for dim sum in Calgary's Chinatown?

Dim sum is traditionally a morning and lunchtime meal. Weekend mornings, from around 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., are the busiest, with families filling the large dining rooms. Arrive soon after opening to get a table quickly and the widest choice. Weekdays are quieter. Some restaurants serve dim sum from carts, while others use order sheets; either way, order a few dishes at a time and add more as you go.

What are Vietnamese subs in Calgary?

A Vietnamese sub, or banh mi, is a crisp baguette filled with grilled or cold cut meats, pâté, pickled carrot and daikon, cucumber, cilantro and chili. Calgary's Chinatown has sub shops that have been serving them for decades, popular with office workers from downtown for a quick, cheap and filling lunch. Expect a short line at noon.

Is Calgary's Chinatown open late?

Some restaurants in Chinatown stay open later than most of downtown, and a few have been known for very late hours, which makes Chinatown a useful stop after a night out. Hours change, so check before you go.

How do you order dim sum in Calgary?

At a cart-style restaurant, servers push trolleys of steamed and fried dishes around the room, and you point at what you want; each dish is marked on a card at your table. At an order-sheet restaurant, you tick the dishes you want on a paper menu and hand it to a server. Classic first orders include har gow (shrimp dumplings), siu mai (pork and shrimp dumplings), char siu bao (barbecue pork buns), rice noodle rolls and egg tarts. Tea is poured as soon as you sit down; leave the lid of the teapot ajar when you want a refill.

How do you get to Chinatown in Calgary?

Chinatown is a short walk from the downtown core and the CTrain stations along 7th Avenue. It is close to the Bow River pathway and Prince's Island Park, so it combines well with a riverside walk. Parking is limited at busy times.

What else is in Calgary's Chinatown?

• The Chinese Cultural Centre, with its dome modelled on a temple in Beijing.
• Grocery stores and herbal shops.
• Sien Lok Park, by the river.
• Lunar New Year celebrations in late January or February, when the neighbourhood is at its liveliest.

How much does food cost in Chinatown and do you tip?

Chinatown is one of the most affordable places to eat in downtown Calgary, especially for subs, pho and dim sum. Alberta has no provincial sales tax, so only the 5 percent GST is added. Tip 15 to 20 percent of the pre-tax amount at table service, including dim sum; tipping at counters and sub shops is optional.

What is ginger beef, and is it from Calgary?

Ginger beef, crisp strips of battered beef tossed in a sweet, sticky ginger and chili sauce, is widely credited to Calgary. It is generally traced to a Chinese restaurant in the city in the 1970s, and it spread from there across Canada's Chinese-Canadian restaurants.

It is not a traditional dish from China. It belongs to the tradition of Chinese-Canadian cooking, built by restaurant families who adapted their food for local tastes, often in small Prairie towns as well as cities. You will find it in Chinatown and across Calgary, from takeout counters to sit-down restaurants. Order it with rice and a vegetable dish to balance the sweetness, and eat it quickly, because the crisp coating softens as it sits.

How can you support Calgary's Chinatown?

Like many Chinatowns, Calgary's has faced pressure from development and changing downtown traffic. The simplest way to support it is to eat and shop there, and to tell people about the places you love. On Mosey you can rate the places you ate at and the dishes you ordered, with photos, and share a list of Chinatown favourites with friends.

More guides to read next:

• A food day trip from Calgary to Canmore and Banff
• Coffee shops and bakeries in Calgary: where to look and what to order
• Calgary craft breweries: the Barley Belt, Brewery Flats and where to eat

More in the Canadian food guides and the ranked lists of places.