Lingnan's egg rolls have anchored Edmonton family dining for over 70 years

Nancy Nickolson's family has been dining at Lingnan for so long that the restaurant has become the family's official gathering place. Her grandparents ate there while dating in 1947. When Nickolson and her brother were born, her father and his sisters brought them along—and Lingnan's handmade egg rolls became the family's non-negotiable order.

"It's the family place to have our gatherings. And you can't find a better food to pick than the egg rolls," Nickolson says. The restaurant has made the rolls the same way for more than 70 years, using local bean sprouts. It's a consistency that matters to families like hers.

Nickolson, an artist whose work draws on her Ukrainian heritage, says she's always been attuned to how spaces—particularly the interiors of the places she frequents—combine colour, pattern and atmosphere. Lingnan's design made an impression on her from childhood. "As a kid I was always looking at the space and how all the elements fit together," she says. That attention surfaces in her own work, which features bold colours, plants and animals inspired by nature.

"It's always amazing when you don't have to travel far to be inspired," Nickolson says. For her, that inspiration lives in a historic downtown restaurant that has fed her family for four generations. As long as Lingnan keeps making its egg rolls the old way, her family will keep ordering them.

Lingnan sits at 104 Street, steps from Rogers Place. The restaurant offers a buffet Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays, and during all Oilers home games, from 5 to 8 p.m., featuring dry spicy chicken, Szechuan beef, green onion cakes, wonton soup and Chinese mini doughnuts, plus vegetarian and gluten-sensitive options.