Osborne Village Cafe - Spunky Brunch

The main benefits of spring and summer for me is the awakening of the summer restaurant scene. Like a bear arising from a long hibernation, the energy and excitement surrounding new and established restaurants around town is palpable. And for me it builds up a renewed vigor to try newer places I might have overlooked on my first perusal. Such was the story of the Osborne Village Cafe, a contemporary spunky diner located minutes from my home. Thus when a fellow resident asked for a bite (and a pleasant meet and greet), how could I say no?

The Osborne Village Cafe is the preemptive dining experience of the Osborne Village Inn, a local motel/hotel in the heart of Osborne Street.  In truth, the exteriors are downright drab and do little to uncover the exciting local secret underneath. Thankfully the interiors are less of an eyesore with a spunky diner feel to the brick lain interior. The wait staff are of an eclectic flair each with a quirky but fun personality that makes one feel instantly comfortable.

The menu is appropriately fun and quirky. While the basis of the menu surrounds standard diner breakfast, lunch and brunch fare, the chefs do a nice job of adding their own flare and uniqueness in each dish. Case in point are their omelettes featuring fun quirky names like The Hipster or the Pegger and combining peculiar ingredients like wild rice and mushrooms or curried chickpeas and eggs.

Dining in a larger group affords you the opportunity to try a multitude of dishes. The Hipster is a two egg omelette chock full of cheddar, avocado, mushrooms and curried chickpeas. The star here are the chickpeas with a nice earthy aroma and strong curry flavour contrasting well with the soft delicate egg exterior

My main for the day was the Duck Burger. A ground patty of duck breast is topped with a tangy orange marmalade all housed in a large brioche bun. Since the chefs decided to ground up the duck meat, it was missing the usual fattiness found with a whole duck breast, but instead had a slightly slimey greasy consistency. With that said, it was incredibly tender and went well with the sweet and slightly bitter marmalade. The accompanying side of Curry Lentil Soup had a nice fiery kick to the typical proteinacous lentil soup.

Overall the Osborne Village Cafe delivered solid brunch fare at affordable prices and while some of their experimentation did not work, they have to be applauded for even attempting to innovate classic brunch fare. Definitely worth a visit for anyone in the Osborne area hankering for brunch.

Spicy Noodle House - Aveage Northern Chinese

Going through a relatively busier time of residency affords me less time to dine out and even less time to update this blog. Seeing the lack of posts over the last month is troubling and something I want to change as soon as possible. Given the undulating ups and downs of residency, I do want to maintain an even keel with respects to the blog as it is one of my major non-medical releases. Therefore I vow to maintain a standard of 15 new blog posts per month going on forward.

When stressed or busy with work I always go back to the classics, the tried and true cuisines that I know will offer me a solid meal at affordable prices and are reasonably authentic tasting. Spicy Noodle House fits that bill perfectly. It caught my eye on one of my first trips down Osborne Village when I first arrived here and even with the large number of underwhelming reviews and mediocre pictures on Urbanspoon/Zomato, it nevertheless piqued enough of an interest.

The bright flourescent green sign stands out in the clout of busy Osborne Village. Importantly so because the restaurant itself is in the basement of a three story building with little to no exterior window spacing. The drab exterior though is contrasted nicely with the spacious, albeit minimalistic, interiors. One does wish the lighting improved especially with the ambient sort at short supply.

The helpful waitresses immediately provided the spacious and sprawling menu. Akin to their namesake, Spicy Noodle House offers a nice collection of traditional Northern Chinese noodle soups ... and all at less than $10 a bowl. On top of the soups are a bevy dim sum items and main dishes categorized by the main protein of choice. This area of the menu more resembles a westernized Chinese restaurant with every permutation of meat with vegetable available. More exciting are the Chefs Suggestions which approximate authentic Chinese again with various Hot Pot and fried noodle dishes.
 

Ground Pork with Peanut Noodle Soup is a Northern Chinese classic featuring a creamy peanut soup stir fried in a nice mix of crunchy vegetables and ground pork all served on top of chewy flour noodles. This large bowl had a nice contrast between the silken noodles and the creamy soup with the crunch of celery.

Ordering a hot pot dish is a standard measuring stick for Chinese restaurants and so I went with the Chicken with Chinese Sausage Hot Pot this time. Chock full of fatty Chinese Sausage, the initial impressions impressed more than the actual taste and flavour. While I liked the dichotomy of sausage and Chinese mushroom, the aroma and sharpness of the large pieces of mostly raw onion took away from the dish.

Comfort food always comes to reign when I am stressed or tired and so I gravitated towards the Dim Sum Combo. I found it curious that a Northern Chinese restaurant would offer dim sum, something known more in the Cantonese regions. And while this should have set off alarm bells, I unfortunately had to sit through this mess of a dish.

Clearly originating from a frozen variety, the Sticky Rice with Meat had a laughingly tiny amount of tasteless ground pork enveloped around a mound of also tasteless sticky rice. And to top it off, the portion size is one that leaves much to be desired.

These Yu Tee Gow Dumplings are a close approximation of Shark's Fin Dumplings in most dim sum restaurants. Unfortunately these dense dumplings were filled with fatty and bland meat that was tough and sinewy to chew through and were covered with a thin and friable wrapper that was prone to ripping open.

And to end up the trifecta of poor dim sum showing, these Haa Gow Dumplings take the tiniest shrimp and covers them with the seemingly thickest wrapper available. Needless to say the overall taste was an outcry to proper shrimp dumplings.

Spicy Noodle House offers average Northern Chinese cuisine and below average dim sum fare. For those wanting an affordable meal on Osborne should look to their noodle soups and ignore everything else on their sprawling but overall disappointing menu.

Bangkok Thai - Enjoyable Thai

Finding the time to meet with friends and family gets more and more difficult as you get older, with new and increasing responsibilities, commitments and expectations piled on you from any and all angles. Thus I always treasure those opportunities when I find time to meet with old and new friends alike. This was the chance I had when a few fellow residents were hankering for some good Thai food at Bangkok Thai.

I had previously blogged about Bangkok Thai previously, but a nine month wait-time (or gestation) warrants a revisit. The restaurant during that time continues to promise to deliver realized top quality Thai food and is easily on the first recommendations by Winnipegers when inquiring about good Thai restaurants in town. The location itself is prime, the corner of Osborne and River Avenue, in the second floor of an business building. A few large signs handsomely adorn the exterior while some further, albeit confusing, signs take you into the building and up to the restaurant. Despite the effort, the eatery itself is beautiful with large wooden tables and a combination of booth and chair seating, all adorned with classic Thai artwork and paintings. We arrived just after a large group had placed their orders and while I admire the waitresses for trying to keep the entire large dining room happy, there were long looks as the service and food turnaround time lacked under the burden of this massive table.

Nevertheless, this is about the food! And the menu at Bangkok Thai is unchanged from previously. Featuring a large list of classic Thai cuisine, ranging from the ever delicious Crab Rangoon appetizers, to Tom Yum Soup, to the ever popular curries (in your range of different colours and spice levels), stir fries, and the national dish, Pad Thai. There is something here to delight all diners and represents enough options and variety to give anyone looking for a good smattering of Thai cuisine.

This Papaya salad was a delicious combination of fresh green papaya, carrot, tomato, green beans and peanuts all tossed in a fish sauce based vinaigrette. I was impressed by the balance of flavours here with the crunch and freshness of the papaya counterplayed by the sweetness and saltiness of the fish sauce, nuttiness from the peanuts, and spice in the vinaigrette. A light and tasty first dish that whets your appetite for the upcoming meal.

Massaman Curry takes your choice of meat (beef here) with vegetables and envelops it in a spicy and creamy panang curry. This was marvelous! Creamy, sweet, salty and spicy all interplay in your mouth with each bite of the robust curry while the soft and tender vegetables give a needed starchy sweetness, all accentuated by the tender slices of beef. Marvelous and utterly delicious.

Something was off with their Pad Thai today as the usually tasty noodle dish had an overwhelmingly salty soy sauce based flavour as opposed to the usual savoury tomato based tamarind sauce. Disappointing considering the noodles were otherwise well cooked and the slices of chicken tender and well seasoned. Extra crunchiness is given by the accompanied bean sprouts. Overall though it is the flavour that make this dish and I could not get over the disappointingly lackluster sauce.

Pad Lemon Grass is a stir fry dish that combines fresh vegetables with your choice of protein and stir fried with bitter and lemony lemongrass in a soy based sauce. I found this dish extremely ordinary with fresh but lackluster vegetables, tender but non-flavourful meat and a sauce that was too high on soy and less on the lemony flavour from lemongrass. While overall tasty, there was nothing specific here that screamed of innovation nor uniqueness.

Bangkok Thai is a enjoyable Thai experience with a location that nobody can beat and has good enough food to warrant a visit for anyone in the area. In reality, there area host of much better and tastier Thai restaurants in town that offer a better and more authentic dining experience that I would recommend over Bangkok Thai ... ones you won't need to wait two hours for your food at either.

Wakoya Sushi - Flavourful Japanse/Korean

Spring is amongst us! And with spring comes warm weather, blue skies and the promise of summer. For me, this spring brings about a sense of responsibility, as I transition myself from the ranks of junior resident to that of a senior. With that leaving less time to dine out, I have to find and made a more concerted effort to blogging. One lonely afternoon, after finishing a pile of work, I grabbed a fellow resident for a quick and hearty meal at Wakoya Sushi.

Wakoya Sushi is located in the heart of Osborne Village on the corner of Wardlaw and Osborne. The nicely decorated restaurant has a modern sheen and tasteful Japanese decorations. Large lanterns adorn the entranceway while smiling wait-staff direct you to the table of choice.

While Wakoya calls itself a fusion restaurant, it truly features both Japanese and Korean cuisine. I have to laugh when these restaurants exist, as I find they offer mediocre food that does neither cuisine justice; rather I wish they stick with their base home cuisine (the owners are Korean by the way). Nevertheless the menu features a whopping number of dishes from the two respective countries. The usual suspects are found here with a nice combination of Korean fried foods and stews; the Japanese portion features a venerable mix of sushi, Nijiri, sashimi and rolls.

The Blue Ocean is an atypical roll that utilizes a cucumber as the sushi wrapper. Inside it holds a luscious combination of salmon, avocado, crab, shrimp and roe. The large list of ingredients might scare one off, but it truly works here as the nice combination of fish and seafood all lend a good textural contrast to one another. Holding it all together is a tasty spicy wasabi mayo that adds the needed saltiness and spiciness. At the end of the day though, the cucumber exterior did a poor job in holding everything together and added nothing to the dish, other than a sense of uniqueness.

Never missing an opportunity to try Korean food, we the classic Hot Stone Bibim Bap. The large stone bowl features Kimchi rice in the bottom filled with a laundry list of cooked and marinated vegetables and topped with a fresh egg. Mixing everything together with the supplied Korean hot sauce delivers a wonderful combination of sweet, salty and savoury. Nothing special about Wakoya's version here, it was as it should be.

Gochujang Jijjae was the closest they came to having pork bone soup. The stew consists of pork, cucumber, tofu and pork in a red pepper beef based broth. The bowl came beautiful presented with big pieces of vegetables and pork in a bubbling hot broth but unfortunately the soup was runny and thin, missing the luxuriousness usually found in such stews. And although the components of the stew were nicely cooked, they lacked any additional flavour.

With all of their Korean dishes, Wakoya delivers Banchans: Marinated Radish, Bean Sprouts, Marinated Lotus Root. A nice addition is the lotus roots which had a delicate crunch in a tasty sour marinate.

Altogether Wakoya delivered serviceable flavourful Korean and Japanese cuisine. While their rolls and soups were not up to par with the best in the city, there is enough here to satisfy most people in the mood for sushi or Korean.

A Bear-y Special Visit: Segovia

After a fun day exploring The Forks, it was time to supper. Having a former medical school colleague of ours visit was excuse enough to get together and catch up in our busy lives. And so the troops were amassed for an meal at Segovia.

Segovia is a popular restaurant in the Winnipeg food scene. Located on Stradbrook nary a stone's throw from Osborne Street, Segovia focuses its talented chefs on creating Latin American inspired tapas style cuisine. Its head chef, Adam Donnelly, is a well regarded chef who has stints working at Michelin Star Restaurants under his belt and is renowned for his vision in assembling simple, unique and tasty dishes. Thus it should be no surprise that Segovia is one of the most popular restaurants in Winnipeg. It's popularity, though, outstrips itself and finding a seat, especially on a weekend, can be tough and a test of endurance. Not taking reservations, it is not uncommon to see hour-long waits for seats and while some view this as prohibitive, the majority stay and are handsomely rewarded for their patience.

Having blogged previously about Segovia, we had a good basis on their food and drink. Touting their Latin inspirations, we had no choice but to order one ... or three ... pitchers of their house Sangria. Red wine, fresh berries and citrus are the basis for this pungent, smooth and almost juice-like like drink. Light and refreshing this started a constant low-pitch background growl of our stomachs as we enthusiastically lapped in conversation while waiting anxiously for our food.

We started with a simple dish, Patatas Bravas. Thinly sliced white potatoes are fried crisp and served with a house aioli and a basil tomato sauce. These potatoes, nicely fried crisp, were little vehicles for the even more delicious sauces. The aioli had smoothness and creaminess that was intersected wonderfully with the tart spicy tomato sauce.

Chorizo & Apples was next to arrive. A personal favourite of mine, the combination of spicy chorizo, tart apple and sweet honey sauce all scream umami in this excellent dish. Today I thought Segovia overcooked the chorizo a bit resulting in some charred black portions of sausage that unfortunately gave a hint of bitterness to the otherwise tasty apples and honey sauce.

Next into the gladiator pits of our stomach was the Albacore Tuna Crudo. A nice fillet of briefly seared tuna was paired here with pineapple salsa, pine nuts and raisins. Beautiful presented, the seared fish had a tenderness that simply melted in your mouth. Unfortunately the salsa topping, while excellent on its own, was a tad strong and overpowered the delicate fish.

Spicy Venison Tartare was our next dish of choice and was served with crispy potatoes and a Tandoori Hollandaise. A bit difficult to imagine at first, the curry based Hollandaise was the most inspired part of this dish. Working perfectly with the exquisitely tender lean meat, the sauce added needed fattiness to the dish. I was amazed at the lack of gamey-ness of the dish and applaud the chef for crafting such intense depth of flavours here.

BBQ Mackerel was a instant pick from our fellow fish loving resident. The moderately sized grilled fish was paired with a curried cashew granola and celeriac remoulade. The crisp celery root had a vast depth of flavour within the aioli like remoulade. Unfortunately the fish was devoid of flavour and was disappointingly overcooked, lacking any dedicated BBQ sauce within the dry fish. This was the only misstep of an otherwise excellent meal.

This dish brought the table down, Roasted Beef Short Rib, and left us wholly satisfied. Here Segovia stacks superbly tender short rib with soft peppery cauliflower mash, sharp onions and a fresh salsa verde into a dish that amounts to one of my favourite of all time. The different notes of each component harmonize with one another and elevates the entire dish into magnificence.

Our last main was the Smoked Lamb Rump. Taking some Mediterranean influences, the tender rump is topped with chickpeas, a raita (Yogurt based Indian dip) and a large piece of flatbread.  The lamb, tender and expertly cooked, went well with the creamy raita and crisp bread. Although the chickpeas added a nice crispy texture to each bite, I was missing some herbal or vegetable freshness to cut through the fatty lamb.
 

For dessert, we started off with the Bunelos. Popular in Latin America, these fried dough balls were finished with drizzled hot chocolate. Similar in flavour and taste to a churro ball, this was a great dessert. Segovia does a nice job here making the Bunelos crisp on the outside but soft and light on the inside. The chocolate, while an obvious pairing, was tasty and complimented the deep fried dough balls well.

Finally we ended this vast supper with a Apple & Rhubarb Crumble, served with a rosemary ice cream. Beautifully plated, the crumble had a good contrast in sweet, sour and salty. The fruit added much needed balance to the dough and the ice cream added a textural creamy element that finished the entire dish off nicely.

Overall Segovia reminded me again of its inspired Latin American tapas style cuisine. Although there were some clear highlights of the supper, each dish (Mackerel aside) had some moments of inspiration and brilliance. Dining on such skill reinforces how important the mixture of flavours is in food and showcases the chefs skill and ability in spades. A definite recommendation for anyone looking for something new to try in Osborne, even with the associated hour long (or longer) waits.

Cornerstone Bar, Just Average

At the end of medical school, prospective applicants must go through a process called CaRMS (Canadian Resident Matching Service). To summarize, the process takes applicants and matches them with programs in specific specialties of their choice. For medical students this means you travel across Canada interviewing in a span of three weeks. For programs this means you have to host a number of interviewees and showcase your program. As part of this process, the pediatrics residents arranged a number of socials to give applicants the ability to meet current residents, explore Winnipeg a bit and most importantly, fill their bellies with some of Winnipeg's tasty eats.

To find a location capable of handling upwards of 20 people was difficult but we were able to arrange for the Cornerstone Bar & Restaurant. A large bright restaurant at the corner of Osborne & River Avenue, the Cornerstone is a popular bar in Winnipeg and the eclectic Osborne Street.

The menu is nicely arranged and has is fairly extensive. It is obvious there is a number of Asian influences which adds uniqueness and creativity on top of the standard pub fair. Cornerstone also has a number of daily specials that range from Vietnamese sandwiches to fresh oysters.

We started off with a Cheese Platter. Parmesan, Brie and Mozzarella were paired with a variety of crackers and crostinis and served with bacon jam and a tomato jam. The bacon jam was the highlight with a smoky fatty flavour that went very well with the smooth creamy cheeses. Well presented and tasty.

Chicken Wings are a pub favourite and the Honey Garlic version here were solid. Nicely breaded chicken wings with a tasty honey garlic sauce. Overall nothing spectacular or special but as you would expect from a pub.

The Dip Platter features an artichoke dip with crackers, crostinis and fresh vegetables. The dip itself was warm, creamy and smooth. Again this is as you would expect and nothing exceptional or extra-ordinary.

The Steak Bites were a disappointment. To start, the portions of beef were tough and difficult to chew. Furthermore, the breading was soggy and tasteless. Finally the mayo on top of the bites did not mix well with the sriracha aioli. Altogether this made the dish basically inedible. Very disappointing.

I also wanted to order a main to round out my meal. After discussing with the waitress I went with the Chicken Cacciatore. Billed as a braised chicken leg with a litany of vegetables on a white corn polenta, this dish was poorly executed. The presentation sloppy, the chicken poorly seasoned, the polenta bland. The best part was the mixture of vegetables with the sauce but that should be a compliment, not the standout of this dish.

Overall The Cornerstone was a major disappointment. Despite their large bright display and well thought out decor, the food was ultimately not on par. In a city where there is a litany of food options, you can get much better elsewhere and therefore I simply cannot recommend The Cornerstone.

The Grove, Cut Above the Rest

Another venue for our CaRMS suppers was The Grove. A local favourite and well renowned for their pub style food, I entered with some trepidation. I had just been disappointed by the Cornerstone and knew that the Grove was a sister restaurant with some ties to them. However being related does not render the same judgement on all and thus I entered with as much an open mind as possible.

The Grove is a large establishment on the corner of Stafford and Corydon Avenue. I am told this used to be two restaurants, a bar and a restaurant which amalgamated to become the current rendition. I was impressed with the decor and the attentive wait staff. Furthermore it possessed a vibrancy and energy from the packed crowd. I was excited.

The Grove features a stable menu of standard pub fare. Furthermore they offer daily specials which range from an appetizer, main and dessert. Rounding off the menu are local beers and cocktails, should you be in the mood for some alcohol hydration.

As we were ordering for a group we started off with a number of appetizers. The Cheese Platter featured Blue Cheese, Brie and Chevre and was served with crackers, crostinis and fruit. The addition of fruit here was a nice balance to the creamy cheeses.

Their special was the Chicken Wing Platter. Deep fried wings with a homemade honey garlic sauce served with vegetables and a blue cheese dip. The wings themselves were as you would expect, but went well with the creaminess of the cheese dip. Overall solid!

Billed simply as Fancy Fries, this was a monster serving of poutine. I enjoyed the thick cut fries which were topped with nice squeaky cheese and finished with a beef based gravy. Overall this was a good dish but altogether ordinary.

Wanting to try something new we ordered the Chevre & Pequillo Pepper Croquettes. These croquettes were panko crusted, deep fried and served with a roasted pepper dip. This was a nice inventive take on cheese balls. The chevre added a creaminess that was cut by the spiciness of the pequillo pepper. Well done!

To add some heartiness to the meal we went with The Duffy pizza. A nice offering with crusty dough topped with mozzarella, hoison, spicy chicken, tomato, avocado and sriracha. I enjoyed the interplay between the salty Hoison sauce with the creamy avocado and smooth mozzarella. I would never have imagined them working together but somehow The Grove has managed it. On the other hand, the Sriracha sauce feels tacked on and unnecessary in an already flavourful dish.

Wanting to order a main I went with The Stafford Burger. This came highly recommended by many people, and it did not disappoint! A fresh fatty with the usual fixings, avocado, blue cheese and bacon jam. The interplay between the fresh avocado, sharp blue cheese and fatty bacon jam with the crisp vegetables make this dish work. The patty itself was well done and cooked perfectly, but it was the toppings and fixings that took it to another level. I still can taste that bacon jam!

Despite being sister pubs, The Grove does a much better job than The Cornerstone in food delivery and creativity. I enjoyed the interplay of multiple flavour profiles and welcomed the creativity displayed in their dishes. Ultimately the Grove does a fine job on delivering modern pub fare with a twist and is worth the visit, if not just to try the bacon jam!