Peking & CantoneseNorthwest Calgary

松鶴樓 Hawkwood Palace

Sōng Hè LóuPine Crane Pavilion

Pine and crane, together, are the Chinese emblem of long life. That is what the name on the sign means. People have been coming to this door for more than thirty years.

Open from 4 pm  ·  closed Tuesdays

Order pickup 403 241 1888

A red Chinese seal containing the three characters 松鶴樓.
The lit white fascia at night, lettered in red: three Chinese characters, then HAWKWOOD PALACE, PEKING AND CANTONESE CUISINE, RESTAURANT. A light pole and a bare tree cross in front of it.
The fascia on Hawkwood Boulevard, at night.

the name

Pine and crane
prolong the years

The three red characters on the front of the building are 松鶴樓 — Sōng Hè Lóu. Pine Crane Pavilion.

The green roundel beside them is a pine tree, which makes the sign a quiet pun on its own first character, 松, pine.

And 松鶴 — pine and crane — is the old Chinese emblem of long life, from the phrase 松鶴延年: pine and crane prolong the years.

So a restaurant whose customers measure their visits in decades carries a name that means exactly that. It is not written down anywhere. It is written on the building.

“Truly, we’ve gone here for take out for 35 years.”

Google review
An empty dining room: long rows of tables under white cloths with folded peach napkins, pale wood chairs, teal-blue wainscoting, framed Chinese brush paintings on the walls and a backlit stained-glass ceiling panel.
The room, set and empty, before four o’clock.

the room

Still white linen
on the tables

Pale maple chairs, teal wainscoting, folded peach napkins, framed brush paintings, and a backlit panel in the ceiling.

It was repainted not long ago, and it is still — affectionately, and in its own customers’ words — a room from another decade. That is a large part of why people like it.

Licensed. Wheelchair accessible. High chairs. Reservations are taken by telephone; there is no booking system to click.

“This is a little neighborhood gem.”

TripAdvisor, 2012

what people order

The five dishes
people name

★ 3.9  ·  322 Google reviews

Two independent counts — the keywords attached to 322 Google reviews, and a reading of 266 written ones — agree on the first three, and in the same order. These are the five most named across both.

“The portions are absolutely HUGE, it could have fed 12 people instead of 6.”

Yelp, 2026
Five pan-fried dumplings, browned on one side, close together on a red-and-floral china plate.
Pan-fried dumplings on the house china.
Four round plastic takeout containers on a steel counter, holding fried rice, mixed vegetables and two glazed dishes.
Four containers, on the counter, going home.

  1. Ginger Fried BeefP4217.95

    Named about three times as often as anything else on the menu. Ginger beef was invented in Calgary — so the dish this kitchen is known for is the city’s own. The kitchen marks it hot.

  2. Sweet & Sour PorkP5416.95

    Second, and not close. With pineapple.

  3. Salt & Pepper SquidP7118.95

    Third on both counts. Six of the eight dishes on the Peking seafood page are marked hot, and this is one of them.

  4. Grilled Pork DumplingsP1315.50

    Ten pieces, with chili oil and vinegar. There is a chicken version at P14.

  5. Special Chow MeinL16.95

    BBQ pork, shrimp and chicken with egg noodles. Six more versions of it are lettered off the same L.

Then, in order: wonton soup (C01), spring rolls (P05), prawns in black bean sauce (C45), breaded lemon soo gai (C17), shredded pork with pancakes (P51), Shanghai noodles (P91, P93, P94) and the sizzling rice plates (P24–P30).

dinner for a table

One to eight,
on both sides

Both kitchens run their own group dinner, and both run the whole ladder — one, two, three, four, six, eight — at the same six prices. Every course is listed out in the menu below.

It is the best thing on the menu that nobody finds, because you only ever see it if somebody hands you the paper one.

  • Combo plate for one18.95
  • Dinner for two35.95
  • Dinner for three51.95
  • Dinner for four67.95
  • Dinner for six98.95
  • Dinner for eight118.95

Prices in Canadian dollars, from the restaurant’s own ordering menu.

the busiest night

The busiest door
in Hawkwood

Six different people have written about the same evening: about fifty of them in the entryway on Christmas Eve, coats still on, waiting for takeout. It is the best night of the year and the hardest one to run.

Takeout is the single most common thing people mention about this restaurant — more often than any dish, more often than the room, more often than the price. An order placed at hawkwoodpalace.com reaches the kitchen written down, priced, and in the order it arrived.

Start an order Or telephone

  • Pickup
  • $10 minimum
  • About 25 minutes
  • 403 241 1888 for everything else

“Best Chinese food in town and you can’t beat the price!”

Google review

visit

Where it is,
and when

松鶴樓Hawkwood Palace Restaurant
#63, 555 Hawkwood Blvd NW
Calgary, Alberta  T3G 3K2
403 241 1888
Directions

The end unit of the Hawkwood Village plaza, facing Hawkwood School across the parking lot. The lot is free, and there is a great deal of it.

  • Dine-in and pickup
  • Licensed
  • Wheelchair accessible
  • High chairs
  • Free parking
  • Reservations by telephone
Hours
Monday4:00 pm – 10:30 pm
TuesdayClosed
Wednesday4:00 pm – 10:30 pm
Thursday4:00 pm – 10:30 pm
Friday4:00 pm – 10:30 pm
Saturday4:00 pm – 10:30 pm
Sunday4:00 pm – 9:30 pm

The kitchen opens at four in the afternoon, and never earlier.

The storefront at night under the plaza’s covered walkway: the long lit fascia lettered in red above dark windows, and a warm-lit doorway at the end.
The door, at night, under the colonnade.