Skip to content

Fusing flavours in Burnaby

Indian food and Chinese food are quite distinct types of cuisine, but to Sophia and Ian Chung, it was only natural to combine them.
Indian Wok
Sophia and Ian Chung have been fusing Indian and Chinese flavours for decades, but they've only recently brought their unique dishes to Burnaby. The couple run Indian Wok on Kingsway and Royal Oak.

Indian food and Chinese food are quite distinct types of cuisine, but to Sophia and Ian Chung, it was only natural to combine them.

The Burnaby couple – both of Chinese backgrounds, but born and raised in India – have been dishing out their blend of the foreign flavours at the appropriately named Indian Wok on the corner of Kingsway and Royal Oak for almost a year. Their unique menu include a wide variety of plates, ranging from Mumbai style sweet ‘n’ sour vegetables to hot paneer and spicy eggplant.

For Ian, getting into the restaurant industry was a great work opportunity as a young man in India, but for Sophia, the restaurant business was just part of growing up in the 1980s.

“My parents, they have a restaurant in India, so I grew up in the restaurant atmosphere,” she recalled. “Then I married my husband, who’s also a restaurant entrepreneur.

“We still have a restaurant over there – my uncle is taking care of that place.”

Starting off in South Asia, the young couple migrated to Austria with their recipes and opened an Indian/Chinese fusion restaurant in the European country. While they stayed there for the better part of 30 years, they were drawn to the beauty of Burnaby and made the trek over a few years ago.

“It’s a nice place, beautiful place, we fell in love with it,” said Sophia. “When we came to Canada, we said, ‘Let’s do one here.’”

The Chung’s opened Indian Wok in Burnaby last November, and since then, they’ve gained a dedicated local following, mostly from word of mouth.

“The aim of opening a restaurant is to make the customer happy,” said Ian. “My main priority in living is to be healthy and happy. When you’re healthy and happy, money is something but not everything.”

And while they’ve travelled nearly 12,000 kilometres from where their one-of-a-kind cuisine was born, Indian Wok is still a family affair.

“My mom is in the kitchen checking things, putting their heads down to create something,” said Sophia. “My brother takes care of most of the marketing and I take care of the front end here.”

The Chungs are somewhat surprised that hardly anyone else in the area is blending Indian and Chinese food together.

“It’s like the tastes of nearly half the world,” pointed out Ian with a chuckle.

But the two agreed that Burnaby is an ideal place to set up a restaurant boasting such diverse flavours as theirs.

“Canada, it’s a multicultural place here,” said Sophia. “People here are so adventurous, they love to try different food, so it’s a really good opportunity for us to bring something new.”

Indian Wok is open from 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. from Monday to Friday, and from 5 to 10 p.m. everyday. For more information, check indianwok.ca.

@jacobzinn