‘It was arduous to get a nasty meal there’: Lack of Lang’s a blow to Regina’s meals scene

There is one less choice for hungry Reginans looking to grab a bite after Lang’s Cafe, a downtown staple for 30 years, burned down Wednesday.

The restaurant, which was on the 1700 block of Broad Street, served Chinese, Vietnamese and Thai dishes, among other choices on the menu.

“It was good. It was cheap. It was everything you need when you’re 19-years-old,” said Aidan Morgan, a food columnist for Prairie Dog Magazine in Regina, as he recalled the time he moved to Regina back in 1989.

Morgan recalled entering the restaurant through a rear entrance and walking through the kitchen, akin to movies where people roll up to clubs and enter through an entrance not open to the common folk.

“This was the low rent but very delicious version of that.”

Morgan’s favourite dish was the noodle bowl with spring rolls and barbecue pork. He was also quite partial to some of the options for pho.

“It was hard to get a bad meal there,” he said.

Lang’s Cafe had been in an old building on the 1700 block of Broad Street. (Heritage Regina)

It was a devastating loss for the neighbourhood as well, according to Shayna Stock, executive director of the Heritage Community Association.

“Lang’s has been a longstanding business and kind of cultural icon in our neighbourhood,” she said.

Another historic building, the Travellers Building, burned down last year.