I couldn’t believe that King’s Restaurant—famous for its wor won ton soup—has been in the same location for 30 years and that I’d never been there. Even The Man had been there. Clearly, I was way past due.
So, on a sunny Saturday lunch hour, we presented ourselves to the end of the line inside King’s. The line wasn’t quite out the door, but it was working on that. Then we realized people were being seated very quickly. It was not a long wait at all, and that was at 12:30-ish. We noted that by 1:35, the line had disappeared. And, since King’s has extended its Saturday afternoon hours to 4 p.m., you could probably avoid a lineup altogether later in the day.
In any case, once we were seated, service was quick and pleasant. We’d checked the website to have a look at the menu and decided, since King’s is a breakfast and lunch place, we’d do both. Wrong. The site doesn’t tell you that breakfast starts early and ends early, at 10:30. Oh, pooh! There’s a Big Breakfast that features ham, sausages, bacon, eggs, toast and hash browns for $7.59. We wanted one of those, but it was not to be, and we’re nothing if not flexible.
The Man decided, instead, on a clubhouse sandwich, beautifully constructed with really fresh ingredients—turkey, ham, bacon (cooked to crisp perfection), cheese, lettuce and tomatoes— piled three storeys high, with fries and a side salad ($9.29). It was a perfect club, “a BLT with ambition,” The Man said.
The monthly special was shrimp gyoza, succulent pan-fried Japanese dumplings, three for $2.49, served with a tangy vinaigrette for dipping. We quickly hoovered up two orders.
A plate of barbecue pork chow mein took me back to one of the first meals I ever ate at a Chinese and Western restaurant in Calgary. Back then (this was a very long time ago), that was the only Chinese food we could get. Chow mein is still relevant as a comfort-food dish of skinny egg noodles tarted up with lots of flavour bits, like barbecued pork, carrots, onions and bean sprouts. Our charming server convinced me to add on six crispy won tons for a total of $10.79. Tender noodles, crunchy won tons—it worked for me.
Most of our fellow diners were digging deep into large bowls of wor won ton soup. We took this home ($9.49), along with an order of won ton soup ($7.99) for dinner. The Man was the wor won ton fan—lots of vegetables, noodles and won tons in a mild broth. My won tons were loners—no veg to crowd them in the bowl. We laced our broth with King’s Heavenly Hot Sauce. Buy it when you leave. With leftovers, we got five meals for just over 40 bucks. Sure suits the weather and the wallet.
If, like me, you haven’t paid your dues at King’s, what are you waiting for? As the sign out front says, “Make Your Taste Buds Smile.” I won’t wait another 30 years, maybe 30 days … 30 minutes?
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A King With a Common Touch
If you don’t live near King’s, you can find its wor won ton and much of the rest of its menu at three Wonton King locations: Foothills Industrial Park, Deerfoot Meadows and McCall Lake. Visit wontonking.com for details.
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104 Meridian Rd. N.E. (Centre Avenue and Barlow Trail), 403-272-2332, kingsrestaurant.net.
Dee Conklin (Waldorf)
8:49 AM
Hi Kathy, you and I met many years ago with AnneMarie LeGault. I have followed your career all these years. I am now living in Radium Hot Springs and have become the mayor (2nd term) and have recently opened a wine bar called CasaVino. The reason I am contacting you other than saying hello after all these years, is to say how wonderful your article was on King’s. We drove in to Calgary on Friday and although we were going to be fashionably late for a function we had to stop at King’s for wor won ton! We also chose to eat a little later so we missed the crowd.
Dee