Work lunch at Thai Bochi

Not having a 9-5 job excites me. It allows me to have an interesting and complex schedule that changes from week to week, month to month. The major downside is the lack of dedicated lunch breaks. But one scores 100% of the shots one doesn't take. And so on a lovely Monday morning, I was able to snag a close friend of mine for a work lunch at Thai Bochi.

Located on a rather unassuming, and downright dangerous looking part of town, Thai Bochi was brimming with customers when we arrived just after noon. Boy were we lucky as all the tables were filled by the end of our meal. Thai Bochi has very much the look of a hard working honest family restaurant. Nothing upscale, nothing that screams decadence or pretentiousness.

We started with an order of the Thai Fish Cakes. Fish mash fried to a crisp and served with Thai chili sauce. This dish was just alright. The cakes were a bit too greasy and lacked much flavour. It then got overpowered when dunked into the chili sauce.

I ordered the Green Curry Chicken. The lunch portion would have been enough to feed a whole family! (okay hyperbole alert). Tender chicken with vegetables in a creamy spicy green curry. Went incredibly well with the side of rice.

My friend went with the Pad Thai Beef. Out came a huge plate of rice noodles with chunks of beef finished with the usual Pad Thai ingredients. What was out of place was the thai dipping sauce, an unusual addition to pad thai. Furthermore, the beef was fatty and had a rather unappetizing consistency. Overall passable.

Patio chilling (Cibo)

Last week Winnipeg had a spree of summer-like weather. With the mercury pushing into the mid and high 20's, me and my fellow residents went to re-live the summer life by going to Cibo.

Located on waterfront drive, Cibo is located on the back of hotel Mere. My understanding is this was an old factory in the Exchange district that was recently renovated and retrofitted into an hotel.

Cibo has a old school charm associated with it. A beautiful brick building overlooking the Red River, I cannot fault them for the esthetics of the location.

One of the members of our group ordered the Bruschetta. Cibo allows you to order three types and she opted for the: Tomato basil shallot; Mozarella tomato basil; Mushroom goat cheese. A big thumbs up as she delved into the crunchy bread and wonderful toppings.

Another member of the group got the Beef Bourguignon Poutine. A large skillet of matchstick fries with a huge topping of beef bourguignon and cheese curds. The fries I found were too small and thin for poutine but the beef stew was wonderful.

Another member got The Panino. Listed as chicken, arugula and soft cheese, this sandwich was finished with the same matchstick fries. No complaints from them!

There is nothing that speaks more of summer than a big glass of Sangria. Absolutely brimming with fresh fruit, this red wine (avoid the white wine version: it tastes like cough syrup) sangria was wonderfully refreshing and delightfully delicious.

Food is, in my opinion, often sold by the eyes. Thus when the Cibo pizza (Genoa, proscuitto, finished with an egg) came I was immediately sold. Thin crunchy crust, tasty meat and a rich egg make this an excellent offering.

I shared the pizza and Spanish Chicken Panino with a fellow resident. Paprika dusted chicken with Spanish cheese add a interesting element to the sandwich. Finished with the same unremarkable matchstick fries, this sandwich was merely okay, nothing crazy to write home about.

Trip to Brandon - Chili Chutney

One of the perks of being in residency is you get to do some traveling. During the first few days of a new rotation I had the opportunity to attend a proceeding in Brandon, MB. Located about two hours west of Winnipeg, it afforded me the ability to check out some of the eats in Brandon.

I am sucker for Indian food. When I went on Urbanspoon and saw a 92% rating for an Chili Chutney, my tastebuds forced me to go.

Finishing at around lunch, I opted for the lunch buffet. A reasonably priced buffet allowed me to try a decent variety of food: butter chicken, beef madras and a variety of vegetarian curry dishes. Fresh naan was delivered from the oven. Overall not bad. Will definitely have to return to try the menu.

Special meal for those special in our lives - 529 Wellington

On the last night of Marilyn's trip to Winnipeg, I wanted to treat her to a special meal. Being not a huge carnivore, Marilyn does occasionally get the hankering for steak. Searching through Urbanspoon I realized that one of the nicest and fanciest restaurants in town was 529 Wellington.

When we arrived we were immediately impressed by the old world charm of the restaurant. The establishment is in a restored mansion from 1912. From beautiful grand staircase, to the rich mahogany floors, to the excellent and attentive waitstaff, this restaurant exudes elegance.

The customary bread basket served before the meal with butter. Nothing special but one cannot complain about crusty bread to wet our appetite.

The appetizer of choice today was Bacon Wrapped Scallops. Two large plump fresh scallops finished perfectly with smoky bacon. The surprise of the dish were the sauteed garlic spinach. Rich, creamy and garlic-infused, this was an excellent addition.

I like my steaks with lots of flavour. I immediately fell on the 22 oz Peppered Ribsteak. Done perfectly medium rare, this was finished off with a cognac peppercorn cream sauce. The peppery-ness of the sauce with the unbelievably tender steak were an incredible combination.

Like most upscale restaurants, sides are ordered separately. We decided to get the Creamed Mash Potatoes. Deceptively simple in appearance, these potatoes were wonderfully creamy and buttery smooth.

Steamed Asparagus with Hollandaise sauce was our other side. Huge sticks of tender asparagus arrived at our side. The Hollandaise was a little thin and disappointing. However, being a side, it is understandable to not want the sauce to overpower a main.

Sorry for the poor lighting! Marilyn got a 6 oz Tenderloin with a Lobster Tail. She gave a huge thumbs up to the tender steak. The lobster was small in size but large in flavour and paired well with the steak.

Like a pavlovian response, looking at this Chocolate Lava Cake with Home-made Ice Cream makes me salivate. This was absolutely the best dessert I have ever had. Luscious lava cake is cut perfectly with an out of this world ice cream. I would eat this everyday if I could.

Hot Pot - Sun Fortune

Before the trip to Winnipeg, Marilyn had expressed a desire to go Hot Pot. Sometimes referred to as Steamboat or Chines fondue, Hot Pot refers to a style of cooking where you cook a combination of meats and vegetables in a poaching broth or liquid. Typically, hot pot restaurants are all you can eat where one orders a variety of ingredients to cook in the pot.

The only version of Hot Pot we could find in Winnipeg was at Sun Fortune. (For reference sakes, there is a version at Igi but they only offer it during the winter months). Being massive gluttons, we opted for the Deluxe Seafood Combination. The staff warned us that this is usually for a group of four.

One half of hot pot are the ingredients. The other half is the soup. You can see that Sun Fortune offers a number of choices. We decided to go with the Chicken Soup Base with Tofu and Vegetable. In our experience, the soup gets very dense and takes on the flavours of the ingredients so starting with a milder soup allows for the full taste of what you are dipping into them. There is also an option to have two soup bases (the pot is split into halves) if you are having difficulty deciding.

The broth looks very unassuming. Deep inside there are bits of silken tofu.

We were absolutely shocked when we saw the amount of food that came to us. This metal plate of goodies filled up most of our table. It consisted of: shrimp (frozen), basa fish filets, scallops, mussels, an assortment of fish balls and a homemade fish paste.

A number of dumplings were included (our favourite being the shrimp and pork dumplings) with fresh chicken, beef and lamb. All this was on top of more tofu (silken and tofu skin), Chinese vegetables, and button mushrooms.

Definitely more than enough for the two of us, we had to pack up more than half of this monstrosity. At the end of the meal, we both preferred having the All You Can Eat option. We understand that this style of Hot Pot allows a restaurant to control portions but the plate came with too many items we would not have ordered normally. Thus these became a waste, both for our tummies, and for the restaurant. Here's to hoping that an establishment opens up a more typical style of Hot Pot.

Kum Koon Dim Sum ... again

After looking at how many dim sum posts I now have (including this one), I made a mental note to try either new dim sum places or not to blog about the same ones anymore. After returning from retreat we had to treat ourselves to some Asian food. I find, if I go more than a few days without some of my oriental delicacies, I tend to get cranky and irritable. Thankfully, there are usually people around me who are hankering for some Asian. Packing a car back from retreat, we meandered straight to Kum Koon.

A lot of these dishes will look familiar to one of my previous posts at Kum Koon. Nevertheless the Shrimp and Vegetable Steamed Dumplings were plump and delicious as always.

I almost cried with joy when I saw these beauties. Curry squid is one of the dim sum dishes I always tend to get, if available. Rubbery (that's a good thing, by the way) squid with smooth and spicy curry sauce.

These Pork and Chive Dumplings were as expected. The fattiness of the pork is cut nicely with the sharp flavour of the chives.

We noticed a new item on their carts. When asked we were pleasantly surprised to find Xiao Long Bao. I want to be clear here: these are NOT xiao long bao (i.e. Shanghai soup dumplings). These were just disappointing pork and cabbage dumplings. No soup, no thin skin, no deliciousness.

The Ha Gow (shrimp dumplings) were better this time. Only one of the four was stuck to the bamboo =).

The pork ribs were fatty and rice. Finished with the typical black bean sauce, definitely a well executed dish.

Marilyn loves Egg Tarts so we got these for the table to share. A crisp tart with smooth egg custard in the middle. As expected.

Shrimp Rice Noodle Rolls were the same as before. Silky smooth rice rolls with juicy shrimp finished with soy sauce. One of Marilyn's favourites as well.

Boy we got a lot of dumplings this time around. These Shrimp and Chive Dumplings were well executed. Similar to above (i.e. the pork and chive version), but the taste of the shrimp was overpowered by the chives here.

One of our group loves Turnip Cakes. Kum Koon finishes their cakes in an interesting way. These beauties are brought around on a cart, finished on flat-top and served with a Hoison sauce mixture. The crisp edges of these cakes with the richness of the taro make their version one of the best I've had.

Beef Balls here are as expected. Mixed in with cilantro and a little bit of taro gives these a nice contrast in flavour and texture.

Wanting to finish off the meal with a bang, we ordered a XO Beef Ho Fun. Ho Fun refers to the type of thick rice noodles which are fried with beef in XO sauce. I cannot fault any dish that uses XO sauce and the version here was excellent. Great ending to the a great meal.

Pre-retreat meal with Marilyn: Bangkok Thai

Boy how time has flown. Peeking at the calendar today I realized I had been in Winnipeg for three months now. Reflecting back on this time I realized how easy and seamless it has been to orient myself to this new environment. Kudos to all the great friends I have and have made, my wonderfully inviting program, and supportive family. Of course, there's Marilyn. Going these last two months without seeing each other was tough, but the light at the end of the tunnel was a return trip to Winnipeg, this time for our pediatric residents retreat.

Before going off to retreat, we had to have a celebratory "you're back in Winnipeg!" meal. Her craving that night was for Thai and so off we went to Bangkok Thai, an establishment that many of my co-workers rave about. Located literally a five minute walk from where I live, we took a nice lazy stroll over to the restaurant.

Wings are Marilyn's kryptonite. The Thai Chicken Wings here were nicely fried and finished with a Thai chili sauce. A little remincent of the generic chili sauce you can get from the supermarket, but nevertheless a humble beginning to our meal. Happy GF, happy life right?

I know, I know, I posted a picture of rice. I wanted to showcase the fancy metal bowls that Bangkok Thai serves their plump coconut rice in. A nice little touch that also speaks to the quality of the restaurant.

We had a Masaman Curry Chicken. Being of the milder variety, this curry was loaded with vegetables, potatoes and carrots. Very tasty and went so well with the rice.

Pineapple Curry Prawns was the next offering to our thankful stomachs. Big juicy pieces of prawns with potatoes and pineapples in a mild curry sauce. The pineapples here add a ton of sweetness to the spiciness and richness of the curry.

Its hard to go to a Thai restaurant and not get their Pad Thai. Arguably the most popular Thai dish, the version here was a generous helping of delicious rice noodles with egg, chicken and crisp bean sprouts. Nicely done and as authentic a version as I have had.