Resto Review Mash-Up Pt. 2

I've been to so many new restos in the last month that I now have to write YET ANOTHER wonderful review mash up (two in one weekend, GO ME!).  In a way it's good - it's concentrated information to your brains.  When I look at my stats, it is clear that most of my traffic is coming from UrbanSpoon and I'm sure UrbanSpoonites don't really care about my insane personal life.  So without further adieu...

Kenko Sushi

I'm a sushi lover, I'll admit it.  So whenever friends want to go out for sushi, I am there. It doesn't matter how broke I am. Don't even care. Om nom nom nom nom etc.  Kenko Sushi is located on trendy Corydon (the cool part, where there are a lot of restos and bars etc... Little Italy and a little further towards Stafford) amid many other sushi restaurants.  With diners having this much choice, sushi places really have to stand out in some way or another in order to survive.  Kenko Sushi stands out from the rest of the sushi joints because it is a separate building all together.  Aside from that, it is painted fuchsia. You can't miss it.  The restaurant inside was beautifully decorated with a lot of interesting details (the flooring, for instance, looks like typical "fake wood" vinyl flooring, but it has little flowers creeping out of it here and there).  The seating was the most interesting part and it felt like you were sitting on little loveseats.  They were very comfortable, but I had never seen this type of set up before.

As a party of two, we decided to order the maki combo since we were indecisive on what rolls to get.  That's when the wait started (in the end I'm pretty sure we waited up to an hour for our food).  Luckily this was noted by the serving staff who offered us edamame on the house so we didn't starve to death (although it was served cold - I prefer it warm, but I wasn't going to argue about freebies).

When the sushi finally did come, it was superb.  The small maki combo filled us both up for a pretty decent price (around the $30 mark).  It came with a mix of traditional rolls and fusion rolls (deep fryed, spicy sauces, the whole bit).  To me, the rolls were very fresh and well constructed. The wait was worth it... somewhat.  Although the rolls were good, I have had good rolls elsewhere too. I understand having a one-off time issue with service, but looking at Yelp/TA/US this seems to be an issue overall for the restaurant.

7/10

Market Burger

I was so excited to try Market Burger, a new addition to the slew of restaurants on Corydon.  I'm such a huge fan of Unburger that anything with a similar concept totally intrigues me.  Upon entering the restaurant, you can already tell the vibe that the owner(s?) were going for, which is completely opposite the Unburger concept.  It has a rustic flair to it - none of the chairs match, there is a chalkboard menu, but the bar looks lovely and new.  The concept is eclectic and I like it very much.

Given that it is a brand new restaurant, it was extremely busy.  We wanted to sit on the patio, but unfortunately it was full.  We decided to sit inside, but the table we got was very claustrophobic - My ponytail kept touching the ponytail of the woman sitting behind me, which was probably an uncomfortable situation for us both.  After about 5 minutes, we noticed another table came up in a corner, so we alerted the server and switched tables.  It was much more comfortable.

The menu is extremely different to Unburger, which is nice (you can frequent both and not get sick of anything).  The concept is local, not necessarily health.  They had some unique options like the mac n' cheese burger, a Vietnamese style burger or a butter chicken burger.  I had the butter chicken burger (done skinny style - they offer this on most burgers... it comes with a smaller patty and a smaller bun for a buck cheaper if you don't have the world's largest stomach... such a nice feature!). My dining companion (there has got to be a better word for this) had the mac n' cheese burger (he added fried onions, the server warned us that the mac n' cheese burger was devoid of any vegetables).  We also decided to share an order of half fries/half onion rings (after I embarrassingly asked the waiter if the onion rings were made in house, which, of course, they are). A neat feature - all of their buns are from Stella's. Nice!

The food took a while to come.  We watched the table next to us eat and pay their bill all in the time we were just waiting for our food.  I chalk a lot of this up to the follies of a new restaurant.  There are going to be some problems with service.  When we got our burgers, we weren't disappointed.  The butter chicken burger I had was delicious - just the right combination of sweet and savoury since it had chutney on it (yum yum).  I had a bite of the Mac n' Cheese burger which was also delicious (and the beef was very high quality, you could tell), but was in some ways really bland and needed more cheese.  The onion rings didn't disappoint - they reminded me of A&W rings but done better (I believe they were breaded with panko).  The fries, however, were extremely soggy and unpalatable.  They served the rings and fries with house made ketchup, which although a cute feature on maintaining an "everything local" flair, I didn't really get.  There wasn't enough ketchup for all of the items.  They serve everything on wooden cutting boards which, although a really cute idea, does not make it easy for tables to order multiple items since not everything will fit.

I see lots of potential here once the restaurant works out some of its kinks.  I'll come back at the end of summer and see how it goes.

7.5/10

The Nook

The Nook diner is located on the cusp of the West Broadway and Wolseley neighbourhoods and has been on my radar since I moved to Winnipeg.  UrbanSpooners and Yelpers alike proclaim this spot as one of their favourite greasy spoons in the city and a fantastic place to have breakfast.  Before a long (lol) trip up to Winnipeg Beach/Gimli, my friend and I decided to have a late breakfast at 'The Nook' since we had both been meaning to try it. (As a complete aside - apparently this place is "trendy" and "hipster"y?)

We were seated right away since we came between meal times (around 11:45) and noticed how eclectic the restaurant was.  There were booths, some chairs, and a little dining room attached to the main restaurant.  They also have a patio that looks onto Sherbrook.

I ended up having just a regular ol' breakfast (and for once, not pancakes or french toast!).  Scrambled eggs, rye toast, bacon, hashbrowns.  Food was fairly quick given that it is a busy little joint.  My eggs were done well, which is how I prefer them, but watch out if you like them a little on the soft side.  Bacon was crispy and delicious.  Toast was buttery and awesome. I did have some complaints about the hashbrowns; I'm a big fan of breakfast potatoes and these felt like potato mush that was undercooked (indeed, my friend had a crunchy undercooked potato in his).  Mine were also cold - such a let down.

Service was mediocre - I ordered a tea, she brought me coffee.  However, she quickly corrected this error.  I asked for ketchup and it was only when I was staring at her long enough while she was bussing tables did she notice we didn't have ketchup on our table and promptly brought it over.  Afterwards, I had about three different people ask me if I wanted more hot water for my tea. The bill was slightly below average for breakfast.

To me, The Nook is nothing special - just one of those fandangled Winnipeg institutions.

6.5/10

On a completely different note:

Kelowna, BC (my home town) now has the highest crime rate in Canada.  I'm surprised it took this long.  Anyone who has lived in Kelowna for any good length of time will tell you how seedy and horrific this place is.  I rarely go to visit (and my parents still live there).  My folks have really encouraged me not to and in fact, they prefer to come see me in Winnipeg.  There's something wrong with that statement, isn't there?  Smoke and mirrors, that's what Kelowna is.

Resto Review Mash-Up

Dang, dang, dang. I keep aiming to get this one done while these restaurants are still fresh on my palette, but since I eat out fairly frequently this has been coming extremely difficult.  For this post, I'm not going to talk about ANYTHANG besides restaurants.  Let's get started, shall we?

Deer + Almond

Perhaps the funniest thing about this resto is how I keep calling it "Deer plus almond".  Apparently it's "deer AND almond", but I like my version better. Anyway, my review is for their summer menu.  As is the case with a lot of independent restaurants, Deer + Almond has a seasonal menu that is appropriate for both ingredients and the weather.  At first glance the menu seemed very disjointed; it would be impossible to classify this resto into any category.  In a way, you could feel both the passion and eccentric nature of the owner/head chef just by reading the menu.

My order consisted of noodles with Thai vinaigrette,  marinated beef skewers, and "The Wedge" which is a speciality item of the resto consisting of pork belly, watermelon, romaine lettuce with a creamy dill sauce.  The latter was by far the best of the three dishes.  The smokiness and tenderness of the pork belly paired delightfully with the watermelon and dill.  The romaine served as a nice change in texture and added a much needed crunch to the dish.  The other two dishes were pleasantly mediocre.  I found the noodles to be over-sauced and a bit too sweet for my palette.  The beef skewers were tender and delicious, but lacking in creativity compared to "The Wedge".

The one thing I will point out was that the service was absolutely delightful and I could not have been happier with that aspect.  She took the time to explain the menu, was polite and courteous and always seemed to be there when needed.  I actually liked the decor of this restaurant.  It was modern, fresh, and just insane enough to pique my interest.

Overall, I'd come back in the winter out of sheer curiosity on how the menu differs and to see what creative concoctions the chef has created.  I did have high expectations for this place, and although a lot of these expectations weren't realized, it was still a solid meal for the price.

7.5/10

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Spicy Noodle House 

I need to preface my review with some pertinent information before this all sounds too harsh:  In Montreal, I used to frequent a resto called "Cuisine Schezuan" which specialized in Northern Chinese cuisine.  This place was absolutely phenomenal and my friends and I made a habit of going generally twice a month.  From how my friends talked about it (many who have lived in China/were Chinese), the food served was very traditional (aside from a few dishes I'm sure are intended for country-bumpkin white people such as "lemon chicken").  I was excited to try Spicy Noodle House because I've not only heard such great things, but because their menu seemed to have a lot of Northern deliciousness attached to it.

I went with my roommates on a Tuesday night, so it was not busy, but there were still some restaurant patrons (we also went late; probably around 7).  We decided to split the spicy honey chicken, spicy beef with cabbage and mixed vegetables and a large bowl of rice.  None of the dishes were particularly spicy even though there were warnings about their spiciness.  I would say the only dish with even a mild kick was the honey spicy chicken.  I was also disappointed to see that there were no chilis floating around on the plates and no chili oil staring at me.  It was fairly Westernized.  However, all of the dishes were delicious and fresh in their own right.  My personal favourite was the spicy honey chicken (although it was breaded; sort of a pet peeve).  The leftovers have been delicious as well!

As an FYI, there were three of us and a large rice barely covered all of us.  For 2 people, it would be the perfect amount.  Service was exceptional for a Chinese restaurant and food came out fast.  We never once had to ask for water.

7/10

Tea Story

I've been to Tea Story on multiple occasions now and have yet to review it.  In theory, this should be the place that I love the most: I'm a huge tea drinker and I'm a fan of waffles.  I have also purchased loose leaf tea from them (Mango Tango) which is a fantastic Pom Tango substitute if anyone reading this is angry about the DavidsTea Pom Tango fiasco. 

The most memorable thing I have had at Tea Story (and I have been to both the Osborne and Corydon locations) is the bubble tea.  I had the real fruit peach bubble tea and it was absolutely phenomenal.  The tapioca was cooked perfectly and the peach was actually peach so it wasn't overly sweet. Delish! I prefer this leaps and bounds over the bubble tea I had at Kawaii Crepe.

I also highly praise their waffles. I ended up getting the "half-half" which is essentially sweet deliciousness incarnate.  It has nutella, strawberries and bananas with a bit of whipped cream served on a toasty waffle.  The waffle itself was the star - it was light, buttery and sweet; all the good signs of a good waffle in my opinion. However, this could be my bias as well coming from a Dutch family and waffles being, well, important.  I should have taken a picture! It was beautifully presented.  But I was hungry and it looked too appealing.

Note that while the Osborne location is a full service cafe with seats, the Corydon location is really to pick up things and walk - there is no seating.  This is fair as this location doesn't serve waffles, only tea and pastries.  The macarons they have at this location are just "okay"; the flavours are there, but they are a bit mealy for my taste.  I had the green tea one and in hindsight, I probably should have chosen one of the fruit flavours.

The cafe on Osborne has a very cute atmosphere and the staff are very friendly.  Overall, it was a very positive experience at both locations.  Will return.

8/10

Golden Loong

I'm so excited to report that at long last I have found Winnipeg's "Cuisine Schezuan"! Golden Loong is a bit out of the way (it is close to the University of Manitoba on Pembina), but is completely worth the drive.  It is in a very strangely shaped strip mall and is really easy to miss! It is in the same mall as a gas station and an Asian market.  Before you leave, make sure to look up the location on Google Maps to ensure you don't miss it. 

Golden Loong had a tidier appearance and was cleaner than many of the Chinese restaurants I've been to.  This could be due to differing standards (after all, this is white-bread Winnipeg) or that the restaurant is very new.  I was excited to look at the specials they had on the table - this resto specializes not in Schezuan but in cuisine from the Xi'an province which prior to my experience here, I was completely unfamiliar with.  We ordered the cold noodle special, sliced beef in chili oil and the deep fried green beans.  The hardest part about ordering was that I was trying to decipher which dish was which in comparison to my past Chinese resto experiences.  Luckily for me, my dinner companion spoke Mandarin and I could discern easily what my favourite dishes were by his descriptions of the menu items.

Don't be intimidated by what I'm saying here - I just have some favourites that you could translate into English in many different ways.  If you've never had authentic northern Chinese before, just order whatever sounds good to your palate!  

The star of our meal was the Xi'an cold noodle dish.  Deliciously sweet and sour in a very traditional way, the noodles are served with cucumber and other delicious vegetables. The beef in chili oil was to be expected, except that this one is served with sprouts at the bottom of the bowl (I'm used to excessive cabbage).  I was glad that there was still some cabbage in the dish.  The beans were a little bit different than what I was used to (they were cooked with some type of basil seasoning that I had not had before) but still extremely delicious.

Service was mediocre.  Food came quickly, but we often had to flag a waitress down to ask for things.  I understand that not all Chinese restaurants have five star service, but since I've be to a few in the city that have, I figure this is worth noting. Additionally, I'm not sure if the kitchen will prepare your dish without MSG - I didn't ask because MSG doesn't bother me.

Oh man, I'm so happy I found this place. Finally, my comfort food in Winnipeg!

Half eaten deliciousness

9/10

The Great Gelati War

Hi friends!

It's been a while since I've posted. My apologies! I've been really busy with work and attempting to make new friends.  I guess these things happen...

However, I was thinking of a topic that I couldn't wait to write about, so I'm giving myself 45 minutes before work to do it! That should be enough.  If it's not, well, I'll come back to this post and edit it so it's better.

I wanted to talk about Gelati in Winnipeg.  Apparently this is a thing.  A lot of people don't know that Winnipeg has a "Little Italy" that takes up about 6-8 blocks of Corydon.  Within Little Italy there are restaurants, bars, cafes and of course gelati hotspots.  Between UrbanSpoon and word of mouth, I deduced that there are two great places to get a gelato in Little Italy: G.G. Gelati and Nucci's Gelati.  I'm going to offer a review of both locations and then tell you my preference. HOW EXCITING!

G.G. Gelati

I first went to G.G. Gelati after going into Nucci's, looking at the line, looking at the top flavour list and went "meh" (I was with a friend and clearly we didn't look too hard).  So we decided to go to G.G.'s instead which is about a block over.  The interior of the gelati parlor was very clean, and it was clear that it had gone under renovation some time ago.  I found the prices to be in line with what I was expecting for a quality gelato product.  However, once we were served, I found the portions to be quite small ($4 for one little scoop of one flavour).  I had the lemon sorbetto (usually the citrus sorbets are my favourite) and my friend had the chocolate. The sorbetto was smooth; almost too smooth in a way.  For my taste, it was far too sweet and tasted similarly to commercially produced sorbet. My friend had no complaints about the chocolate gelato.  It appeared to be quite smooth, but I didn't get any raving reviews.  It was nothing special.

From the reviews I see on UrbanSpoon/TripAdvisor/Yelp,  G.G. Gelati is no longer owned by an Italian family.  This isn't necessarily a bad thing, but in this instance it kind of is.  When you're in the business of making gelati, recipes handed down from generation to generation tend to allow the business to remain a fixture in the community.  When the gelati changes, people are less inclined to go (worse quality and there are plenty of good ice cream/gelati places in Winnipeg).

6/10

Nucci's Gelati

I went to Nucci's on a whim last night.  I had received my first paycheque and with that, my corresponding outrage of how little my take home pay is due to tax deductions (I'm still low income dammit!).  However, I came home to a cheque waiting for me from MPI for a whole $23.00 due to my Drivers re-assessment.  The idiot woman who handled my insurance registered me as a new driver and I had to go back and provide evidence of the contrary.  Luckily my insurance payments are now in line with what I had originally budgeted.

ANYWAYS, that's not my point.  The point is that I wanted some gelati to make my tears stop, so I decided to try Nucci's since it was later and I figured there would be very little line.  Luckily I was right about that! Nucci's has a ton of flavours (arguably more than G.G., but many of them aren't displayed).  Once you go up to the counter, there is a list of "new" flavours which are all almost exclusively in the back.  I decided on a strange combination I got lime sorbetto on the bottom and black cherry gelato on top.  I got a small for $5 and it was considerably more gelati than I received at G.G.  I also love how Nucci's is still owned by the family and their gelati hasn't changed much in the past few decades.

The black cherry was my favourite part.  It was smooth and had a real-tasting cherry flavour unlike many "cherry" ice creams you find at the grocery store or ice cream booths.  The lime sorbetto's texture was interesting.  I found that until it melted a bit, it had a tough time coagulating therefore making it difficult to eat. However the flavour was spot on from what I'd expect from a good home-made sorbet.  The lime was tart and it was not overly sweet.  Absolutely perfect flavour.

9/10

Clearly I prefer Nucci's.  That would be my recommendation between the two.  However, in this same post I'd like to address my other dessert experience: BDI!

Bridge Drive-In

Nestled down by the river on Jubilee Ave., BDI (Bridge Drive In) has been serving ice cream and shakes to Winnipeggers for decades.  When I first decided to move to Winnipeg, I had many people tell me that BDI was an absolute must for when summer hit and it was warm enough for ice cream.  

I can't really comment on the service since I went when it was fairly slow.  However, the kids running it seemed to know what they were doing and I received my peach milkshake quite promptly. It was pretty good, better than Dairy Queen.  I'm going to get a bit of flack for this, but I didn't find it to be anything special.  My milkshake wasn't very "peachy" and tasted more like vanilla to be completely honest.  However, I'm always up for trying it again.  I want to see what this "Goog" thing is all about.  

It's at a beautiful location with a bridge and walking trails to wander and stroll around with your ice cream-y treats!

7/10