My friend Mo from Ontario was in town for a few days this past week. Even though she grew up here, the food scene has certainly changed (except for a few old favourites) in the past 10 years and she wanted to try some new restaurants that I have been enjoying lately. This was slightly a challenge since (as you know if you follow this blog) I have been trying some new amazing new eateries around town lately and she was only here for a limited time. I really wanted to show her what Winnipeg had to offer. SO here we go...
Our first stop was at the Oakwood Cafe in South Osborne for breakfast.
Cafe Mocha's
Eggs benedict with a california twist. English muffin topped with goat cheese, guacamole, tomato, egg and hollondaise sauce. It has very rich and creamy textures. It was really good. A little pricey at $15 but well worth it. The side of fruit and potatoes were included in the price.
You will have to forgive the next few pictures coming up. We went to the Grove in River Heights later that night. They have poutine but with meat gravy. The waiter cleverly arranged for me to still have poutine but instead of gravy, they used the butter chicken veggie sauce, but, obviously without the butter chicken. It was really fantastic. My new favourite dish there!
It was quite dimly lit there... hence the darker pictures.
I also had some donuts. They were okay. Nothing too different or unique about them... except they were excellent for breakfast the next morning!
I also snuck in a creme brule.
The next morning, we went off to Boon Burger in the Exchange district. Perfect after a rough night of too much food and spirits.
I enjoyed a cocoa berry milkshake with coconut milk.
I also chose the special of that day which was a curry 'chicken' patty with curry mayo and toppings.
It was a good idea to not get any sides. I was very full after!
Later that night, we made a couple pizzas. The top pizza was made with broccoli, red pepper and feta as toppings.
For this pizza we used pesto, goat cheese and kale and we even made a stuffed cheese crust. Pizza Hut style! Sort of...
If that wasn't enough food for one day, we stopped at BDI and waited in the rain. Yes, there was a line up and we waited for over 20 minutes. I picked a Goog which is a blueberry milkshake topped with bananas and then a hot fudge sundae and of course whipped cream and a cherry on top! Amazing.
The next day we went to Qdoba Mexican Grill for lunch which is an American fast food chain that made its way to Winnipeg. It officially opened last week in the Polo Park area.
I chose a naked burrito which is essentially the innards of a burrito but without the tortilla. This is what it looks like all neat and tidy.
And this is what is looks like once I started digging into it. For $9, you can have a veggie naked burrito with black beans, fire roasted corn, two different salsas, guacamole, sour cream and shredded lettuce! It is expensive (not too much more than Burrito Del Rio) but very good.
The next morning we made our way to Kawaii Crepe in the Osborne Village. As you can tell by the name, their specialty are crepes. They have a variety of crepes that come in savoury or sweet form with options of crepe batters that can also be vegan or gluten- free. They even have savoury options that may come with meat but can easily be substituted with tofu. Gotta love that!
I wanted a sweet option.
I also decided to get a peach apple bubble tea with tapioca pearls (vegetarian). It's not very often I have bubble tea but I really loved the peach and apple combo.
For the crepe, I picked the Third Wheel crepe which has Nutella, peanut butter and banana. It was bananastic!
Later that afternoon, we dived into these truffles that we picked up from Godiva the day before. It was delectable. Always fun to treat oneself... Well, that's all that we've been doing this past week but you get the picture.
Finally, for Mo's last night in town, we went to La Fiesta for dinner which is an El Salvadorian restaurant. La Fiesta used to be located on Ellice before it moved to St. Anne's but it's a place that Mo. and I used to go when she still lived in Winnipeg 10 years ago, and it is still one of our favourite restaurants. Same owners and quality of foods. But, you need to be patient when you come here because they make everything from scratch (even the tortilla's) and so, you will be waiting for your food for awhile.
I started off with a lime margarita.
I then ordered a vegetarian style burrito poderoso and corn tamale. The burrito is AMAZING and at $12 a pop, still one of the best i've ever had. I always order this dish when I come to La Fiesta because every time I decide that I will try something different, I am not disappointed with the food per se but I always wish I ordered this dish instead. The corn tamale is also very good. It tastes like cream corn but with actual fresh corn. Not something that has been sitting in a can for 6 months.
This (final) meal is a sad meal because this is from Stella's at the airport. This is where Mo had to say bye to me and Winnipeg. I chose a simple two poached eggs and toast with their home made strawberry jam since it was quite early. Stella's never disappoints. Hey, did you know that Stella's is going to move into the location (I heard) from Chez Cora's in St. Boniface? Stella's is taking over Winnipeg!
All in all, Mo had a lovely time in Winnipeg (despite the weather) and she loved all of the cool new (and old) restaurants Winnipeg has to offer. Boon burger and La Fiesta are her favourites.
As a quick re-cap, here are the links to all the restaurants we went to:
