Voyage through Winnipegger and Manitoban specialties
Winnipeg has the most storied history of all the cities in the Canadian Prairies. Indigenous groups converged at The Forks, the confluence of two rivers. Winnipeg still has the largest number of indigenous residents among Canadian cities. Then, came the voyageurs: French-Canadians that used canoes to transport fur goods. Those who stayed spawned the Métis: people of mixed indigenous and French-Canadian heritage. Their food legacy survives as a derivative of Quebec’s.
The British moved in, followed in the early 20th-century by Greek, Polish, Ukrainian, and even Icelandic settlers. Mennonites from Germany and Russia also formed a sizable minority. Unsurprisingly, foods from all these groups can be found in Winnipeg today.
With a rich history and opportunities for multicultural adaptation, it’s odd that Winnipeg has few unique dishes. The most unique dish, fatboy, was only created in the 1950s. And it’s not a particularly interesting dish either.
For the foodie tourist, the city’s culinary makeup is of modest interest. Skim the list below, skip the cuisines you’ve tried before and focus on Modern Canadian fare. I’ve listed the unique foods first.
Fatboys
Fatboys are the only thriving food specialty in Winnipeg. It’s a burger with chili. There are dozens of places that make them, including VJ’s Drive Inn, centrally located near The Forks Market. For the best, you have to venture out of downtown.
Read more about fatboys in our previous article.
Vinarterta
Vinarterta is an Icelandic cookie cake that is so old that it has been forgotten in Iceland. But not by Icelandic-Canadians. Seven soft and thin layers of scented cookies make up a vinarterta, with prune jam between each layer.
@ Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company
It isn’t easy to find a vinarterta in Winnipeg. Kyle’s Icelandic Vinarterta is the surest bet but it’s only open on weekends at St Norbert Farmers’ Market. Goodies Bake Shop doesn’t always have them. I was lucky enough to stumble upon vinarterta at Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company in The Forks Market.
And they sold it by the slice! And quarters, halves, squares, and rounds.
This vinarterta was tinged with almond extract. I wouldn’t have guessed it was there if it wasn’t for the ingredients list. The cake crumbled like shortbread. The prune jam was the focus, providing a stodgy sweet flavour. It was a heavy cake. I couldn’t eat more than two bites at a time. I would have liked more tartness, cardamom, or other spices. I’m glad to have tried it but I don’t think it’s decadent or tasty enough for me to have another. Next time, I’d go for the modern flavours from Kyle’s Icelandic Vinarterta. 6/10.
Imperial cookies
While imperial cookies are not exclusive to Winnipeg, the name is. It’s called empire biscuits in the UK. These biscuits are not super popular there. It’s a mystery how they became a thing in Winnipeg but not elsewhere in Canada.
An imperial cookie is simply a raspberry jam sandwich cookie. The cookies are round shortbread. The top cookie is flooded with white royal icing, usually with a red dot in the centre.
@ High Tea Bakery
High Tea Bakery has a reputation for excellent cookies and their imperial cookies are no exception. As their name suggests, they make British treats for high tea, like scones, ginger snaps, mincemeat tarts, and such. I even spotted Australian lamingtons.
Imperial cookies are their bestsellers. They have a few varieties: a large one measuring 10 cm, a mini one, and the same mini one with fancier piping. Like their other confections, these cookies were textbook versions or better. They’ve added gourmet tweaks to the traditional recipes. Instead of covering just the top of the cookie with icing, they’ve enrobed the whole cookie in it (except the bottom face). Strong almond essence was added to the icing, giving it an enchanting scent.
A modern interpretation of the imperial cookie, the large one had a star pattern cutout to showcase the luscious red filling. I thought it was a clever homage to the traditional candied cherry placed on top of an empire biscuit. My only complaint was that the cookie was too large. 8.5/10.
The mini cookie tasted the same as the large one, but with a higher icing-to-cookie ratio. The shortbread was buttery and crumbly. The thick raspberry jam complemented the almond icing. I preferred the mini version as I could finish it in two bites. 8.5/10.
I also bough a double chocolate shortbread for variety. It was delectable. Not cloyingly sweet as I had feared. The cocoa shone through. 8/10.
By a large margin, these are the best cookies in the city. Dare I say, they are one of the best cookie shops in Canada.
@ Goodies Bake Shop
It’s also a good idea to try a traditional imperial cookie as a benchmark. Goodies Bake Shop makes a solid one.
The cookie had a rustic feel. The shortbread and filling was thicker than High Tea Bakery’s. The centre was punctuated with a dot of red colouring.
Flavours here were more straightforward. The icing wasn’t flavoured, letting the coarse raspberry jam shine. It was respectable but could have more tartness and raspberri-ness. The shortbread was classic and crumbly. 7.5/10.
Goodies Bake Shop is an institution that bakes other Winnipeg specialties like schmoo and vinartorte. They are also open late in case you have a birthday cake emergency at 9pm.
Flapper pie
This is a layered pie consisting of a Graham cookie base, vanilla custard middle, and meringue top. It’s the prairie’s take on Nanaimo bars, but with easier ingredients. Flapper pies are structurally unsound. A tall layer of marshmallow-y meringue sitting on top of custard is destined to flap about and collapse.
It’s supposedly found in the prairies but I had difficulty finding it in Winnipeg. So, I went to the only reliable place that serves it.
@ Salisbury House (Sals)
Salisbury House, known affectionately as Sals, is a renowned chain of family restaurants in Winnipeg. The food is so-so. It’s where people go for nostalgia, convenience, or when they can’t decide where to eat. The flagship location is at Pembina Highway. Don’t miss the tiny “Tribute to Manitoba Music Museum” (actually a display wall) right after the entrance.
Sals’ signature dish is nips. It’s just another name for a burger. Their flapper pies are called “wafer pies”.
My takeout flapper pie looked sad. I was decidedly underwhelmed. The graham cracker base was too thin to provide a crunchy contrast. Everything else was mushy and it felt like eating goop. The custard tasted like it was made from instant custard powder. It was cloying and artificial. The meringue was not set and it felt like eating foam. Perhaps there are better flapper pies in Winnipeg. This wasn’t the best introduction to them. 4/10.
Indigenous cuisine
The indigenous restaurants I’ve been to in Canada usually revolve around bannock (fried flatbread). They are almost always caterers, fast food, or casual establishments. There is a noticeable lack of mid-range and fine dining options.
@ Feast Cafe Bistro
Enter Feast Cafe Bistro. It’s one of the handful in the country that’s in the solid mid-range category. Rejoice, for they have a large menu that isn’t just about bannocks.
Still, I felt compelled to order bannocks since they had so many variations. I got a plain one with wildberry jam.
It was pale blonde instead of the usual golden. It had puffed up beautifully and was the right chewiness. It wasn’t greasy either. The wildberry jam ate like a raspberry sauce. Its tartness held well against the fried dough. A superb bannock. 8/10.
The chef is keen on showcasing bison in indigenous cuisine and prepares it in various forms. At the entry level is their bison chili. I ordered a small cup and was blown away. This was the best non-Southern style chili I’ve had. There were loads of vegetables and all cooked to the perfect doneness. Succulent corn, smooth carrots, and toothsome beans. They didn’t skimp on the ground bison either. Although it lacked fat, the amount of aromatics more than compensated. 9/10.
They sell frozen meals in case you want to bring them home.
Mennonite cuisine
Mennonites are a religious group and as such, they don’t have a particular cuisine. When people talk about Mennonite food in Winnipeg, they’re referring to food that originated from Russian Mennonite immigrants in the late 19th century.
There are only 2 restaurants that serve Mennonite food in Winnipeg: Dawning Restaurant and The Don Restaurant. Both are brunch spots and have similar offerings. Most of their menu is regular diner fare like BLT sandwiches and omelettes. They have less than five Mennonite dishes.
@ The Don Restaurant
What The Don Restaurant has going for it is location. It’s in the fun part of downtown, South Portage.
Unless you count farmer’s sausage as a specialty, the only Mennonite item for breakfast is gloms kuak. For lunch, kjielkje with schmaunt fat (egg noodles with cream gravy) is another option.
Gloms kuak is a fried cheese patty. At The Don Restaurant, you can order it on its own or with a full breakfast.
The gloms kuak was salty as expected but not overbearing. There were lots of dill seeds embedded in the patty, which helped lift up the heavy dish. The soft cheese was cooked well, browned on the outside. 7.5/10.
The hash browns at The Don Restaurant are actually thin slices of potato. I found them to be greasy.
Like the gloms kuak, their other breakfast sets are above average and satisfying. Great for a cold winter.
Modern Canadian
The next generation of chefs in Winnipeg are forging a culinary identity for the city. Besides the following, Enoteca and Maque are good picks too.
Gourmet sandwiches @ King + Bannatyne
You wouldn’t come all the way to Winnipeg for sandwiches but if you happen to be downtown, I recommend King + Bannatyne. The hipster fillings aren’t unique. In fact, it wouldn’t be out of place in any foodie American city. But the quality of cooking is high.
The menu is small and predominantly sandwiches. The popular ones are the River City Brisket and the King + Bann BLT. The former is a pastrami sandwich plus. The BLT is a gourmet rendition, replacing bacon with a slab of pork belly, and tomatoes with tomato jam.
The first thing you’ll notice is the thick cut of bread. It can withstand a hefty amount of sauce. They aren’t toasted because it would be intractable to eat a thick, crispy disc.
The BLT I ordered was exquisite. The pork was fatty and tender, roasted crisp on the outside. I was skeptical about the tomato jam but it provided a hit of acid and touch of sweetness. 8.5/10.
Their potato salad is also well-received but I was too full to try it.
Creative local @ Deer + Almond
Deer + Almond is a front-runner for best Modern Manitoban restaurant. It uses regional produce, like Lake Winnipeg pickerel and foraged mushrooms, to create dishes you’ve probably never seen before. It deserves a separate review and you can read more about Deer + Almond here. 9/10.
Other cuisines to try
I wasn’t able to find a good French-Canadian restaurant. Seems like traditional dishes only come out during the winter festival, Festival du Voyageur.
Ukrainian immigrants are spread out across the prairies from Manitoba to Alberta. I wasn’t on the lookout for Eastern European cuisine in Winnipeg, so I can’t comment on it. But I casually noticed that many menus had pierogies (dumplings), so it shouldn’t be hard to find Ukrainian food.
I used EatThisTown for food research. It’s a great resource for finding iconic foods in Canada, including Manitoban ones that I didn’t cover here.
Where to get Manitoban foods in Toronto
Does Bothwell cheddar count? There is a paucity of Manitoban foods in Toronto.
Sap Restaurant currently has schmoo torte on its menu.
Imperial cookies can be found at some Scottish establishments like But ‘N’Ben Scottish Bakery. They call them Empire biscuits, like the rest of the Commonwealth does.
Verdict
My top picks for Winnipeg if you have one day would be:
- Gloms quak at The Don Restaurant
- Fat boy from Super Boys or VJ’s Drive Inn
- Imperial cookies at High Tea Bakery
- Dinner at Deer + Almond
- Take home some snacks and frozen meals from Feast Cafe Bistro
Practical information
Tall Grass Prairie Bread Company
- Rating
- 7/10
- Prices
- Vinarterta (slice / quarter / half / whole): $6.00 / $16.00 / $31.00 / $53.50
- Address
- Ground floor of The Forks Market, 1 Forks Market Rd and 859 Westminster Avenue
- Hours
- Daily 0700h – 1800h
- Date of visit
- December 2021
High Tea Bakery
- Rating
- 7/10
- Prices
- Imperial cookie, large (single / dozen): $2.80 / $31.58 ($2.50 / $28.20 excluding tax)
Imperial cookie, mini (single / dozen): $1.10 / $12.23 ($0.98 / $10.92 excluding tax)
Double chocolate shortbread: $1.10 ($0.98 excluding tax) - Address
- 2103 Portage Avenue
- Hours
- Tuesday to Saturday 1000h – 1700h
- Date of visit
- December 2021
Goodies Bake Shop
- Rating
- 7/10
- Prices
- Imperial cookie: $3.36 ($3.00 excluding tax)
- Address
- 1124 Ellice Avenue
- Hours
- Monday to Friday 0900h – 2200h
Saturday 0900h – 2100h
Sunday 1000h – 1800h - Date of visit
- December 2021
Salisbury House
- Rating
- 7/10
- Prices
- Wafer pie: $5.14 ($4.59 excluding tax)
- Address
- 759 Pembina Highway and other locations
- Hours
- Daily 0600h – 2200h
- Date of visit
- December 2021
Feast Cafe Bistro
- Rating
- 8.5/10
- Prices
- Wildberry frybread: $1.96 ($1.75 excluding tax)
Bison chili (cup): $5.88 ($5.25 excluding tax) - Address
- 587 Ellice Avenue
- Hours
- Tuesday to Saturday 1100h – 2100h
- Date of visit
- December 2021
The Don Restaurant
- Rating
- 8/10
- Prices
- Gloms quak: $12.27 ($10.95 excluding tax)
- Address
- 120 Donald St, Unit 2
- Hours
- Daily 0700h – 1530h
- Date of visit
- December 2021
King + Bannatyne
- Rating
- 8/10
- Prices
- King + Bann BLT: $13.44 ($12.00 excluding tax)
- Address
- 100 King Street
- Hours
- Monday to Friday 1100h – 1800h
Saturday 1100h – 1600h - Date of visit
- December 2021