fude

fude
99 Osborne St #303
Winnipeg, MB R3L 2P7
(204) 284-3833


Late again with a review, but better late than never! May 4th, we BAGz hit the City again for an evening out at fude, a fantastic little eatery in Osborne Village.

fude gets a lot of rave reviews, and this one follows in familiar footsteps. With an eclectic menu, much of it locally sourced, fude brings innovation and flair to Manitoba's great bounty and variety of foods. Some items on the menu are subject to change seasonally, which brings even greater variety.



Toadstool Puffs and Mediterranean Dip

Our starters included a delightful puff pastry and mushroom concoction called Toadstools, as well as Mediterraean dip, chock full of artichoke and creamy cheese, served with crispy thin slices of homemade bread.  We really enjoyed this unique start to the meal, but it was difficult to choose from the appetizer menu.  There are many intriguing appetizers on offer, which makes it hard to choose.  The same held true for the entrées as well.




Clockwise: Chocolate chicken, Menage à trois,
steak,Thai pizza

We shared bits of our entrées, all of which were impressive combinations of flavours and ingredients.  The special, The Menage à Trois was particularly noteworthy --  a platter of three perfectly seasoned and prepared dishes -- Manitoba back ribs, tender and succulent, chocolate chicken skewers, a real treat of a flavour combination, and Berkshire pork tenderloin, so tender you could cut it with a fork.  We also tried the chocolate chicken, which came with a scrumptious serving of garlic mashed potatoes, and was a surprising, tasty and tender chicken dish.  The steak was also a hit, perfectly cooked and with a side of the fantastic potatoes.  Last, we tried the My Thai gourmet flatbread pizza, which was another great combo of interesting ingredients and flavours.  We ended the meal by sharing some house made ice cream, which you should surely try while you're there!

The service at fude is impeccably attentive and friendly and the atmosphere is very cozy, yet chic at the same time.  Parking might be a challenge at times, so expect a short walk, but in the summer, the Osborne Village area is interesting and lively, so the walk is a bonus.  If you are looking for some interesting and different food, try fude.  You won't be disappointed. 

Café Dario

Café Dario
1390 Erin
Winnipeg, MB
Tel: 204-783-2813
Reservations recommended

The first thing you should know about Café Dario is that there is so much more than meets the eye.  Tucked away in the Westend, you might miss the corner where this little café is located if you don't know what you're looking for, as there are no other eateries around the general area.  But, you would be sorry to miss such a unique restaurant. 

The menu at Café Dario changes seasonally and according to availability and the chef's inspirations.  While the flavour of the menu is definitely South American, there are a lot of familiar and local mainstays on the menu, including chicken, bison, beef and pork dishes, as well as seafood.  What makes them unique here is the chef's interpretation of the ingredients.  Also unique is the way the meal is presented.  For around $40 you will be served a 5-course meal.  This alone makes it worth the trip as you can hardly find such a thing anywhere, let alone at such quality.  You will choose your appetizer and main course from a good variety of selections.  The soup, salad and dessert are whatever the chef has created for that day.

On our trip, our soup was a roasted vegetable soup, hearty with garlic.  The salad was a simple mix of organic baby greens, but topped with an exquisite, creamy cucumber, honey and dill-infused dressing that left us all wanting more.  The dessert was a chili-lime-ginger mousse -- a surprising combination that was a perfect ending to the Latin flavoured meal.

 

For appetizers we ordered and shared the frog legs in seasoned corn meal, the carpaccio, the escargot diablo, and a pequillo pepper popper.  Favourites of the selections were the popper and carpaccio. The escargot diablo was marvelous, but a little spicy for some.

For main courses, we ordered chicken breast with a cream cheese stuffing that was "crazy awesome good chicken" as one of us declared.  Truly it was an excellent combination of flavours. We also ordered a bison roulade and the lobster dinner.  The bison roulade was surprisingly tender, as bison can tend to be tough sometimes, yet this was almost melt-in-your-mouth tender, and the sauce beautifully seasoned with just enough spice.  The lobster, too, was tender and luscious. 

The service at Café Dario was very friendly and warm.  We commented many times at how we felt as if we were simply at a friend's home.  We sat in the front part of the restaurant in a cozy nook by the window, which afforded us a fun view, but also a quiet and relaxing experience.  We would highly recommend going a few blocks out of your way to Café Dario.  You won't find a better meal at a better price, and you certainly won't find such expertly crafted dishes with such welcoming service anywhere.

Pembina Valley Inn

Pembina Valley Inn
120 Railway Avenue, PO Box 8
La Rivière, MB  R0G 1A0
204-242-2633
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I'm very late getting this out, but life gets hectic, and I kept forgetting to do it.  I will update with pictures shortly.

On February 15th, we BAGz visited Pembina Valley Inn, which is a new restaurant, lounge and hotel in La Riviere.  As they just opened on January 18th, we were among some of the first visitors.  The revamped decor is very warm and inviting. There are some excellent choices on the menu, but some room for improvement, as well.

In brief, the steaks, chicken and pickerel were top quality, cooked to order correctly and well and very flavourful.  The side dishes, however, seemed to lack seasoning and were somewhat bland and needed the chef's hand in seasoning for flavour.  The exception would be the roasted root vegetables, which were beautifully carmelized, flavourful, and a favourite of everyone. 

One item we all ordered was the "Chef Michael Smith's Caesar Salad."  This name is quite misleading as this salad did not resemble Caesar salad that one would expect.  The dressing was a very tart lemon-vinegar dressing, not the Caesar dressing that makes a salad a Caesar salad.  While the assemblage of ingredients was good, the dressing was overpowering.  If the salad were not called a Caesar, one probably wouldn't be so confused.

For dessert, the homemade strawberry shortcake was a delight.  The cake was light, tender and moist, and the fruit very ripe and fresh.  It was a pleasant end to the evening.

Service is very friendly and welcoming at the Pembina Valley Inn.  As there is a lounge, they are also licensed.  The restaurant closes at 9:00, which is a nice change of pace from the small-town early closing of 8 pm that is so common in the area. All in all, we would recommend a stop at the Pembina Valley Inn if you are passing through for the scenery and want to enjoy the local ambiance, or are having a ski weekend and need a good, friendly homestyle place to eat.

Ciao Down Ristorante

Ciao Down Ristorante

69-A Main Street South

Carman, MB

Phone: (204) 745-2767
Email: ciaodownristorante@gmail.com
Reservations accepted


Sometimes you wonder why people bother to set up upscale restaurants in small towns.  Sometimes you just shut up, eat and be thankful that they do. 

On January 18th, the BAGz headed over to Carman to visit Ciao Down for supper.  We've gotten a bit spoiled by some of the places we've visited and have come to have somewhat high expectations.  This makes it difficult for us to choose places, because none of us wants to pick something substandard.  Ciao Down, however,  was no worry.  It met and exceeded our expectations for excellent food, appealing decor and friendly, attentive service.

Ciao Down is a bit bigger than you think when you first arrive.  The restaurant is laid out as a series of cozy rooms, each with about 5-8 tables.  The decor is trendy and modern, giving homage to classic black and white films.  We began with drinks (it is a fully licenced establishment) and appetizers of White Wine Mussels and Garlic Cheese Bread.  The mussels were heavenly -- cooked perfectly tender in a broth of wine, basil, tomato and red onion, and served with bread which was perfect for sopping up the flavourful broth.  The Garlic Cheese Bread was also very well done.  It was not overly salty like so many restaurant garlic breads can tend to be, and was served with a fresh tomato and oregano dipping sauce.

Caesar salads and house salads followed.  Both were very well prepared with fresh parmesan and herbs and well-balanced dressings.  For entrées, we ordered the Atlantic Cod, the Lasagna and the Sausage Rosé, as well as one of the specials of the evening, BBQ Pork Tenderloin Medallions with Mushrooms.  It is interesting to note that the menu offers a selection of "add ons" -- extra toppings or ingredients that you can add, for a small extra charge, to any dish.  This makes the menu nearly endless in variety.

The Atlantic Cod was ordered with potatoes, which were pan roasted and tender, well-carmelized and flavourful -- definitely not your average potato.  The cod itself was flaky and tender, married perfectly with a white wine lemon sauce with tomato and onions.  The BBQ pork was ordered with pasta which came with a tasty fresh tomato sauce.  The pork was cooked beautifully and very flavourful, as was the sauce.   The pork and cod also came with carrots as the vegetable.  One wouldn't usually mention such a humble vegetable, but they were cooked crisp-tender and seasoned with a hint of orange and perhaps honey, making for a lovely side dish.

The Lasagna and the Sausage Rosé were both excellent examples of perfectly cooked pasta dishes. The lasagna was rich and flavourful, but not heavy and the sausage rosé was silky with just enough spiciness to keep it interesting and going back for bite after bite.  We finished with  the dessert of the day, a refreshing lemon blueberry cake with cream cheese frosting.

We all agreed we would be returning to Ciao Down again.  It certainly makes taking a trip to Carman worthwhile, not just for the food, but also for the friendly attentive service and easy-going, relaxed atmosphere.  Ciao Down is easily located on the main drag, and there is plenty of off street parking.  We recommend that the next time you think you'll just be driving through Carman, plan to be driving through around lunch or supper time.  You will not be disappointed in the detour.

Lovey's BBQ

Lovey's BBQ
208 Marion Street
Winnipeg, MB R2H 0T6
(204) 233-RIBS


Nothing fancy, just damn good barbecue.

It has been a while since the BAGz have been able to get out again, but we finally did it on December 21st as a little pre-Christmas treat. Our choice for the evening was Lovey's BBQ, a small, independent BBQ joint in Winnipeg. While it is a small place, Lovey's doesn't lack for flavour and value. The customer service is also quite friendly and helpful.

As you enter, tables are everywhere and you immediately notice the menu written on the side wall. Tables also held printed menus which included take-out options as well. Once you've decided, you head to the counter at the back to place your order. While Lovey's certainly isn't fast-food, the service was very fast and brought to our table in just a short while.

We all ordered combo platters -- 2 with brisket and chicken, 2 with brisket and pulled pork -- and we all ordered macaroni and cheese to share. We also ordered a starter of fried pickles to share, which were a real treat! The portions are very generous at Lovey's, and one could easily share a combo platter, or have plenty to take home for the next day's lunch.

Combo platters came with a choice of fries or potato salad, both of which were quite good and obviously made from scratch. The platters also came with BBQ beans, corn bread and coleslaw. The BBQ beans were a mix of several kinds of beans and were excellent. The corn bread and coleslaw were also good, but our Southern girl notes that neither was the sweet kind she is used to in her neck of the woods. However, the corn bread was very good -- dense but not too dense, and very flavourful, despite not being sweet corn bread. The macaroni and cheese -- homemade and baked like good old-fashioned mac and cheese should be -- is gooey cheesy heaven, but we all agreed that it didn't need the addition of bits of ham in it. It was quite a wonderful dish on its own.

The brisket was smoky, tender and wonderfully done, but needed a bit more trimming on the fat edge. The chicken and pulled pork were also very well prepared and flavourful. The key, of course, is Lovey's BBQ sauce which is reminiscent of the South Georgia style of BBQ sauce -- a balanced blend of tart, sweet, peppery and tomato-y. They serve two varieties -- the regular and the spicy, which could have been spicier, but then that is why there is Tabasco (or in Lovey's case, another brand of hot sauce).

Lovey's really pays attention to details with their menu, providing an authentic, homemade BBQ experience. Even the homage to the Southern mama's favourite family dessert -- nilla wafer pudding -- was done with obvious knowledge, attention to detail and homemade loving care.    A nice surprise is that several of the menu items are gluten free: not only most of the meats -- brisket, pulled pork and chicken, ribs and farmer sausage -- but also including the BBQ sauce itself, beans, potato salad and coleslaw.

We highly recommend Lovey's for dinner and are sure it would also be an excellent lunch choice as well. Parking is off street, but sparse and if it is full, there is no place to wait inside, but a wait in the car would be worth it as far as we're concerned.

Horfrost

Horfrost
190 River Road
Portage La Prairie

1.204.857.7203

 

Our trip to Horfrost in Portage la Prairie was a bit of an adventure all around.  First, we had trouble finding the place.  We recommend foregoing whatever your GPS says and just follow the directions on the restaurant's website.  Horfrost is tucked away in a small strip overlooking the river. 

Upon entering, the decor is an unusual mix of urban contemporary (the bar) and quaint country with a bright kick (the dining room). The first thing we learned about the restaurant is that their menu changes regularly. We had scouted out the online menu first, but were presented with a quite different menu.  The selections, however, were intriguing and very different from most menus one finds anywhere. The service we encountered was average overall, but that will depend on your server. Ours was really engaging and informative, but that was clearly not every diner's experience that evening.

We ordered starters of the Maple Fries, the Saratoga Style Homemade Potato Chips with Roasted Garlic Dip and the Buffalo-Mango Spring Rolls. All of the starters were excellent, but especially the homemade potato chips.  We were then brought an amuse-bouche of barbecued buffalo over more potato chips. 

For main dishes, we ordered the rib-eye with morel mushroom sauce, the burnt honey chicken, the roasted salmon and the buffalo flat bread.  Side choices included either mashed potatoes or rice.  The mashed potatoes were served with a dollop of a cheesy sauce and were incredibly tasty.  The rice was seasoned with cinnamon, but was otherwise a bit lacking in flavour. The main courses, however, were very well done, and we had a lot of fun sampling around the table.

During supper, we learned that Horfrost sources much of its menu locally. The pork and produce, specifically, came from right in Portage. The buffalo was also from Manitoba. The beef and chicken, though, are sourced from Alberta.  Horfrost certainly pays attention to what is in season, which is one of the reasons for changing the menu regularly.  It was a very nice change to find a restaurant so in tune with the freshness of produce and quality of meats, especially the fine offerings available right here in our own Manitoba.

We ended the evening with dessert, choosing the house recommended (and heavenly!) baked mousse, which was served with meringue, a poached plum and raspberry sauce, and the homemade raspberry ice-cream, which was simple, but spectacular.

It is certainly worth the trip out to Portage to visit Horfrost.  It would certainly be worth another trip to see what the next menu has in store.  This is more of a special occasion restaurant, though, with prices on the higher side than average. 

P.S. Apologies for not having pictures this time, but I lost them off of my phone.  The presentation was very lovely, though and we really enjoyed seeing how each course was presented.

Ichiban - Winnipeg

Ichiban Japanese Steak House

189 Carlton Street
Winnipeg, MB  R3C 3H7
1-204-925-7400

www.ichiban.ca

On June 23^rd, we visited Ichiban in Winnipeg.  Ichiban is a Japanese restaurant specializing in teppanyaki, a form of table-side preparation and cooking.  As you enter, you can view the entire dining room from above – a vast arrangement of various sized tables, each centered around its own flat-top grill.

Tables seat from six to twelve people, and our party of four was pleasantly surprised to find ourselves seated with two lovely gentlemen from Flin Flon, who were in town for a convention.  We felt we were lucky, as Mike and Vern were both wonderful company.  It was like an extra treat to get to know them throughout the meal and share such a unique dining experience with them.  None of us had ever been to Ichiban before this, so we were all experiencing it fresh for the first time.

The menu offers a fair variety of combinations, mostly centering on beef, chicken and seafood.  Combination dinners include soup, salad, an appetizer, green tea, rice and your combination selections, plus a choice of ginger, vanilla, orange or green tea ice cream for dessert.

The soup was a very nice, definitely home-made tasting chicken broth with vegetables.  This is followed by a marinated cucumber salad topped with minced crabmeat.  The salad is tangy and sweet and a refreshing start to the meal.

The starters are served by a wait person, and after those are finished, the chef approaches the table with the appetizers.  These are prepared on the grill right in front of you.  Our chef started us off with a bang, literally!  We truly enjoyed the theatrics throughout the whole meal, as well as the wacky sense of humour of our chef.

The standard appetizer is a mixture of chicken livers, onion and mushrooms seasoned with sake and soy and some other ingredients.  Upon first read, few of us were interested in the appetizer.  Ichiban does offer the ability to substitute another appetizer at half price instead of the chicken liver one if you want.  About half the table opted for the chicken liver appetizer and half for other appetizers, such as gyoza or sautéed shrimp or calamari.  The chef  served portions of each and did offer the chicken liver appetizer to others at the table as well.  We did a lot of sharing and sampling throughout the meal, which enhanced the friendly, communal feel of the evening.  Everyone was quite impressed with how very tasty the chicken liver appetizer was.  Those who hadn’t ordered it, but tried it, noted that if they returned again, they would order that appetizer.  It doesn’t sound delectable, but it really is!

Next, the chef prepared the fried rice.  There is an option to have steamed rice instead, but only one of us ordered that.  Again, the chef did share some of the dish with everyone, and everyone raved at how good it was.

After that, our entrée selections were brought to the table and the chef began by putting all the chicken on one part of the grill, while preparing the meat and seafood on other parts.  If you order the beef, the chef asks how you like it cooked (rare to well-done).  All of the meat is cubed and cooked together, but rarer portions are served first to ensure that everyone gets the doneness they prefer.  Seafood is cooked last to keep it just right.  Everything was truly cooked to perfection and seasoned just right. 

Pricing is by combination and ranges from approximately $25 up to $50 per person for all excluding cocktails.  A variety of public parking is nearby, and validated parking at the Delta Hotel lot is available after 5:30, making access easy even for this busy downtown location.  Ichiban is certainly a special occasion destination, but worth it.  It was difficult to say which was more exciting – the wonderful flavours or the fabulous show put on by the chef.  Both were quite impressive and made for a spectacular evening for everyone.  We even had a lovely walk back to our car with our little Buddha mugs that came with our cocktails – souvenirs of a memorable evening.