[YWG] Why you should visit Winnipeg

[prasantrin]

Aside from bringing much needed tourist dollars to the city, Winnipeg is one great place to eat! I've been back for just 6 days and here's a sample of what I've eaten.

My first dinner--at North Garden. $1 chicken (on Mondays, if you order $20+ you can order one of three chicken dishes for only $1), sweet and sour pork, fried rice with chicken and salted fish.

We felt we needed some vegetables so we ordered off the seasonal vegetable menu. This was stir-fried bok choy with garlic. All those white bits aren't bugs, but garlic. I swear they used an entire head of garlic in this dish...

Filipino breakfast from Juvian's! Except we were eating it for dinner...I had the tocino. When it's fresh, it's very good, but my tocino was a mix of fresh and older tocino. Comes with fried rice and two eggs (I had over-easy).

My mother's Filipino breakfast--she had the fried bangus. Juvian's has the best fried bangus in Winnipeg, and it's especially good when you get the fatty part!

Farmer Burger from the St. Norbert Farmer's Market. I've been eating these for breakfast for years! Topped with homemade relish, some chopped onions, mustard and, yes, ketchup! Not the ideal 8 am food (you smell for the rest of the day) but oh so good!

More to come...

[wattacetti]

I go to YWG for the knives, but the montage is providing alternatives to the in-room dining I normally do. Keep it coming.

[Pam R]

Ummm... are we known for our knives?

I can't wait to see where else you eat!!

I still haven't made it to the farmer's market - but I think next weekend is clear for me... so if it doesn't pour I'll try to get there.

Will this include folklorama, or should we start another thread for that? (I think we should)

[jamiemaw]

Aside from bringing much needed tourist dollars to the city, Winnipeg is one great place to eat!  I've been back for just 6 days and here's a sample of what I've eaten.

Filipino breakfast from Juvian's!  Except we were eating it for dinner...I had the tocino.  When it's fresh, it's very good, but my tocino was a mix of fresh and older tocino.  Comes with fried rice and two eggs (I had over-easy).

My mother's Filipino breakfast--she had the fried bangus.  Juvian's has the best fried bangus in Winnipeg, and it's especially good when you get the fatty part!

More to come...

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Terrific tour, prasantrin--I'm looking forward to more. Is there a large Filipino community in YWG?

[Pam R]

In 2001 the Filipino community was 31,210 strong.

[Holly Moore]

I have been trying to remember the name of a long standing Winnipeg burger joint - one one side of the street a walk up counter. Across the street an art gallerie with tables set up. You can either order at the counter and tote your own food or order at the gallery and runners will bring it to you.

Great burgers as I recall.

[Pam R]

I have been trying to remember the name of a long standing Winnipeg burger joint - one one side of the street a walk up counter.  Across the street an art gallerie with tables set up.  You can either order at the counter and tote your own food or order at the gallery and runners will bring it to you.

Great burgers as I recall.

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This place is on my 'to get to this summer' list. The gallery and burger place are owned by the same guy - and I've heard they're great. My friends and I have taken on the 'search for the best burger place' quest. Umm... so far in the last few months we've made it to one place... .

edited to add that though I know exactly which restaurant you're talking about the name escapes me as well...

Edited July 17, 2005 by Pam R (log)

[Holly Moore]

Do you remember the name by any chance?

[wattacetti]

Ummm... are we known for our knives? 

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YWG is the home of DA Neils Kitchenware (on Berry Street), which is the only Canadian retailer I know of that carries Kershaw Shun knives. So, if you're hooked on Japanese blades and don't want MAC and Globals, there aren't that many places to go.

[Pam R]

Ummm... are we known for our knives? 

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YWG is the home of DA Neils Kitchenware (on Berry Street), which is the only Canadian retailer I know of that carries Kershaw Shun knives. So, if you're hooked on Japanese blades and don't want MAC and Globals, there aren't that many places to go.

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Ah.. I know the store (and hopefully will be doing some cooking demos there in the future). It's a fantastic store - I could easily spend hours there (and way too much money)

[Pam R]

Do you remember the name by any chance?

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Just made a phone call - I think it's the Albert St. something ... but the phone book doesn't support this. I'll let you know if I find out.

[prasantrin]

Do you remember the name by any chance?

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I think it's called Albert Street Burgers--in the Exchange District, across from Fleet Art Gallery. I've never been there, but I'm hoping to try it this summer. I love a good burger!

Usually when I'm in the Exchange District, I head over to the Underground Cafe for the best veggie burger I've ever had (I normally dislike veggie burgers, though). It's called a Sun Burger and is messy, but incredibly delicous!

[prasantrin]

Will this include folklorama, or should we start another thread for that? (I think we should) 

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I think Folklorama should be separate, as well. Maybe between the two of us, we can get all the pavilions in! I get dibs on the Hungarian (the one held at the Burton Cummings Community Centre), Serbian, Greek (the one in Tuxedo), Argentinean, Slovenijan, and Croatian Pavilions, though! We get food from those ones every year! I have pictures from Folklorama 2003. Most of them are just of food, since we usually just do take-out and eat at home or in the car.

[Holly Moore]

Yup, that's the place. Thanks.

[Pam R]

Will this include folklorama, or should we start another thread for that? (I think we should) 

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I think Folklorama should be separate, as well. Maybe between the two of us, we can get all the pavilions in! I get dibs on the Hungarian (the one held at the Burton Cummings Community Centre), Serbian, Greek (the one in Tuxedo), Argentinean, Slovenijan, and Croatian Pavilions, though! We get food from those ones every year! I have pictures from Folklorama 2003. Most of them are just of food, since we usually just do take-out and eat at home or in the car.

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Hey! I always do greek (Tuxedo and Confusion Corner) Actually... if we both did the same ones by chance, it would be interesting to see if we ate the same things... it wouldn't be all bad!

We'll work it out

[prasantrin]

More food pics.

First, a gratuitous pet picture. I've missed my kitty (whose name just happens to be Miss Kitty) even more than the food! She also likes her food, unfortunately, and is currently on a diet because at 15 lbs., she can't even lie down on her tummy (she has to lie on her side). She sheds like crazy (as you can see from my sheets), but she's the cutest kitty in the world!

More Filipino food. This was from a Filipino buffet we went to. The restaurant, Pampanga, is relatively new but they've had a grocery store for years. I can't remember the names of everything we ate, but I thought the food was OK, but not great. My mother said they do have some very good dishes, though. The buffet dishes change daily, and on the weekends they have lechon. We went on a weekday, so no lechon for us!

Another Farmer's Market picture. Bottom left is a butter tart from my favourite cookie guy (he makes amazing lemon tarts). I also bought a lemon cookie from him, but I ate it before I could get a picture . The strawberries were a bit expensive ($10), I thought, but much cheaper than in Japan! Also had a Belgian waffle with blueberry sauce and whipped cream. It wasn't a true yeast-dough Belgian waffle, but it was still good!

Next is a hot dog and lobster roll from...I'm almost ashamed to say...Costco! I just thought the lobster roll was a bit of an odd offering from a place like Costco. Next time I'm going to try their Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich.

And finally, for this post, anyway, is my chicken gyros and fries from Junior's. Junior's is a hamburger franchise in Winnipeg, but two of the restaurants are owned by a Palestinian family. They also have very good falafel, and schwarma.

Edited to add: Anyone know why those last two pictures are so small? I'm pretty sure I saved them to the same size/resolution as the other pictures.

Edited again to fix the pictures and to add: Thanks to Daddy-A for solving the mystery of the small pictures!

Edited July 18, 2005 by prasantrin (log)

[prasantrin]

Terrific tour, prasantrin--I'm looking forward to more. Is there a large Filipino community in YWG?

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As Pam mentioned, there are roughly 31 320 Filipinos in Winnipeg, according to the 2001 census. That's a pretty large community given that they are relatively new immigrants. They didn't really start coming to Winnipeg until the mid to late 1960s, and didn't start coming in large numbers until the 1980s (maybe late 70s). According to the same 2001 census, almost 28 000 of the Filipino community claim to be 100% ethnically Filipino. It's a pretty tight community (although there are factions within).

Luckily, with so many Filipinos, we have a lot of Filipino restaurants, grocery stores, and bakeries. My mother can't cook Filipino food very well (her adobo is very different from real Filipino adobo!), so we need to go out to eat it!

[Pam R]

Next time I'm going to try their Montreal Smoked Meat Sandwich.

I've tried it once.... that was enough.

[BCinBC]

Ummm... are we known for our knives? 

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YWG is the home of DA Neils Kitchenware (on Berry Street), which is the only Canadian retailer I know of that carries Kershaw Shun knives. So, if you're hooked on Japanese blades and don't want MAC and Globals, there aren't that many places to go.

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House of Knives at Oakridge in Vancouver also carries Shuns, $200 for the 10" chef's but with a chef's card you get 20% off. I only mention this because I don't know where you're from. House of Knives is all over BC though.

[Mayhaw Man]

Here is a list of a few of the things that I did in Winnipeg last summer. I really like the place, as you can see from my post.

The Red Top Drive Inn, in St Vitae, had a great old fashioned burger, for those of you in search of one. Cool place, as well.

[Pam R]

The Red Top Drive Inn, in St Vitae, had a great old fashioned burger, for those of you in search of one. Cool place, as well.

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Thanks for the recommendation - I just moved closer to that area and will add it to my list of places to hit this summer.

What's not to like about the place?

[prasantrin]

[What's not to like about the place? 

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I have several very itchy mosquito bites which can definitely be added to the "things not to like about Winnipeg" list!

Edited to fix the split infinitive

Edited July 19, 2005 by prasantrin (log)

[prasantrin]

The last of my pictures from the first week.

Siam Thai Cuisine's beef massaman, savoury beef salad (the kind with ground roasted rice) and an empty bowl of tom kha gai. Siam has the best, most "authentic" Thai food in Winnipeg. I should disclose, however, that the owners are family friends. One thing I love about the place is that they'll do special orders for us (and for anyone, I think) if there's a dish we want that's not on the menu! I forgot to take a picture of our dessert--we shared sticky rice with mango, which had a side of baked mung bean and coconut custard/cake. The latter might sound strange, but it was really quite good. Even my friend, who is not the most adventurous food-wise, loved it!

Our appetizers--a pork spring roll, a fried crab thing, and my all-time favourite, krathong thong (Golden Cups). The fried crab thing was new--it has crab, a little bit of cream cheese, and curry. I hate crab rangoon, and though I'd hate this thing, but it was actually quite good. But the golden cup...it was just as good as I remembered! Siam is one of the few restaurants I've been to that has Golden Cups. They don't use the traditional filling (which has chicken) but what they do with it is so much better!

Sweet Stuff--White Chocolate Pistachio terrine from Goodies

Zucotta (not my boobs in the picture, by the way) and Sacripantina from Vivere (which is owned by the same people who own Goodies).

And finally, Sunday brunch at Vivere. I had the Salmone Affumicato and my friend had the frittata special. The eggs were overcooked in both our dishes. I liked the potatoes (which they call hash-browns), even though they were a bit salty.

That's it for the first week. This week we're hoping to get to Bernard Mirlycourtois for lunch. I'm hoping for the best!

[Pam R]

I have several very itchy mosquito bites which can definitely be added to the "things not to like about Winnipeg" list! 

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Shhhhh... you're not supposed to mention this on the "why you should visit Winnipeg thread".

Ummm... I don't think you told us how the stuff from Goodies was... ??

[prasantrin]

Shhhhh... you're not supposed to mention this on the "why you should visit Winnipeg thread".

But the pictures show that the pleasure of the food clearly outweighs the unpleasantness of a few mosquito bites. West Nile Virus? Who cares about that when you can have good food?

Ummm... I don't think you told us how the stuff from Goodies was...  ??

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They were good, but not spectacular. I'm not a big fan of Italian-style cakes. I find them to be coarse and dry (ditto for Austrian, German, Hungarian, etc. cakes). The three cakes pictured had less cake in them and more other stuff (buttercream, for example), which made them better than the average Italian cake. The white chocolate pistachio terrine was my favourite of the three and generally, I dislike white chocolate. It wasn't too sweet, and it didn't have that nasty mouthfeel that white chocolate things often have. The dark chocolate thing at the bottom of the terrine, though, was not very good, and both my mother and I peeled it off our halves.

I think we may end up with a cake or two from Goodies for my mother's party. I brought her my left-over sacripatina and she quite liked it. If I have to go Italian, i would prefer a cake from Piazza di Nardi (their cakes are less coarse, and less dry) but the party isn't for me!