Penticton Asian fusion restaurant delayed by pandemic finally opens its doors

Photo: Casey Richardson

After more than a year's delay due to the pandemic, Penticton's newest Asian restaurant is up and running on Main Street.

Wild Ginger is located at the spot that previously housed the historic Elite Restaurant in the 300 block of Main Street. The spot changed hands in November 2018, briefly becoming "Block 300 Steakhouse," before that folded in early 2020.

The new owner, Darcy Wong, had plans to renovate and open quickly in the spring of 2020. Then came the pandemic.

"It was just too unpredictable to navigate," Wong said, of his decision to defer opening. "Plus I have older parents. We just wanted to have an abundance of caution, we figured it wasn't a good time ... restaurants are challenging at the best of times, never mind in the middle of a pandemic."

Now that vaccines are rolling out and restrictions are lifting, Wong decided to get started, quietly opening on Wednesday, June 9 to gauge reaction, which has so far been positive.

They will now be open 11:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. for lunch on weekdays then 4 p.m. to 8:30 p.m. for supper, and a little later on Fridays and Saturdays until 9 p.m.

Wong is excited to share Wild Ginger's culinary vision with Penticton, a fusion of many different Asian-background dishes.

"It's basically Asian comfort food, you know, we've got a lot of popular dishes from China, a lot of popular dishes from Thailand and Vietnam," Wong explained.

"Come celebrate the beginning of the end of the pandemic with us!"

Wild Ginger has takeout and delivery options, as well as dine-in. Find their website and menu here.