House of Chan

Toronto doesn't have many restaurants that have outlasted three ownership groups and a subway expropriation, but House of Chan has — a steakhouse-meets-Chinese-restaurant institution that's been feeding the city since 1957.

The concept sounds like a contradiction until you sit down: USDA Prime steaks and East Coast lobster from the tank, alongside Cantonese and Szechuan classics like chow mein, General Tso chicken, and spare ribs — all on the same menu, all treated with equal seriousness. The plum sauce alone has its own local reputation.

The history

Founded by Irv Howard in 1957 near Bathurst and Eglinton, House of Chan moved to its current Eglinton Avenue West address after its original site was expropriated for subway construction. In 1978, regular customer and insurance broker Donny Lyons organized a group of investors to buy the restaurant from Howard; after Lyons's death in 2009, his wife Penny Lyons took over as owner, keeping the operation in the same family for nearly five decades.

The room

Red leather banquettes, laminate menus in a font that hasn't changed with the times, and photos of the original owners lining the entrance — House of Chan preserves the same décor and colour palette from its earlier location. It's the kind of clubby, nostalgic room that's drawn politicians, lawyers, and the occasional touring rock band over the decades, and it still runs on the same regulars-first hospitality that's kept it open this long.