Peg City Grub | Tourism Winnipeg

  • Home
  • Things to Do
    • Summer Top 50
    • Top 10s
    • Only in the Peg
    • Family Fun
    • Free Activities
    • Attractions
    • Performing Arts
    • Shopping
    • Nightlife
    • Tours
    • Recreation & Sports
    • Spas
    • Architecture & Design
    • 2SLGBTQ+
    • The Loop
  • Places to Stay
    • Hotels
    • Campgrounds
    • Hostels
  • Eat & Drink
    • Eat & Drink
    • Best Eats
    • Peg City Grub
    • Breweries / Distilleries
    • Food Trucks
    • To Go & Delivery
    • Patios
    • Top Chefs
  • Festivals & Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Live Music
    • Annual Festivals & Events
    • Submit an Event
  • Plan Your Trip
    • Welcome to Winnipeg
    • Top 10 Must Sees
    • Neighbourhoods
    • About Winnipeg
    • Getting Around
    • Travel Information
    • Publications & Maps
    • Be an ambassador
    • Moving Here
    • Manitoba Day Trips
    • Explore like a Local
    • Summer
  • Deals & Passes
    • Packages & Deals
    • Passes & Discounts
  • Contact Us
Build an Itinerary
  • Home
  • Eat & Drink
  • Peg City Grub
Cozy up to winter at Promenade Café and Wine - French Onion Soup $8 (PCG)

French Onion Soup $8 (PCG)

Cozy up to winter at Promenade Café and Wine

By: Peg City Grub // November 30, 2016 // Bistro

Our current climate of blowing snow and slush doesn’t exactly scream salad weather.

Instead, it makes you want to bathe in oniony beef stock with a blanket of melted cheese, or get smothered in buttery mashed potatoes topped with tender braised meats and a rich demi-glace. (We’d say metaphorically here, but really who couldn’t do with a French Onion Soup filled pool? Perhaps it will be the next addition to Thermëa?) 

This is how your appetite should welcome winter. And for us, our favourite spot in the city to do so is at Promenade Café and Wine. 

It’s safe to say that Promenade, with its prime location at the foot of the Esplanade Riel providing panoramic views of downtown Winnipeg from the dining room, has become a staple for quality bistro fare. They knock it out morning or night, be it eggs Benedict on meaty-yet-supple house-smoked salmon (the breakfast really is a hidden gem of sorts), or moules frites in a creamy broth with matchstick fries for lunch or dinner. 

They also make a mean poutine, as evidenced by the pimped-up ras el hanout version that won them the People’s Choice title at this fall’s Poutine Cup. 

If you want the holy trinity of meals when it comes to embracing winter, go with a three-course dinner consisting of French onion soup, followed by the Agneau (braised lamb shank) and Winnipeg’s best pecan pie. 

Promenade’s French onion soup is always going to be a winner with its balance of sweet-savoury-creamy, courtesy of caramelized onions, deep beef broth, and melted Gruyère. It’s one of those dishes that is equally a dishwasher’s and cook’s nightmare (there’s no cure for the onion-cutting cries nor for dealing with all that baked-on cheese), while always being a dinner’s delight. Just be sure to pay homage to that kitchen crew by picking off all those crunchy Gruyère bits while slurping up every last drop of broth. 


Lamb shank $26 (PCG)

The lamb at Promenade is braised to the point that it is just barely holding onto the bone. That braising liquid (composed of red wine, stock, mirepoix etc.) is then reduced to a viscous savoury-sweet demi that could win the day on nearly any cut of red meat. To even out the flavours and provide a bit of texture you get truffled chickpeas, sautéed mushrooms and bits of blue cheese for some added tang. 

It’s a very dad dish, one you’d be expected to ordered from the head of a table during a family dinner. All stereotypes aside, there are few meat dishes in the city that are as luxurious and rewarding. 

It comes on a bed of super buttery mashed potatoes – Promenade is known for using local products whenever possible. This includes Notre Dame Creamery butter, which they put to awesome effect at Fort Gibraltar Dining Corp. (owners Connie and Shawn Brandson’s catering business) during Festival Du Voyageur (more on that here).

Be sure to save room, because the display case of pies, cakes and crème brûlée at Promenade is the kind of thing that a small child would throw a deserving fit over after being denied after much pointing. 

Considering the amount of sugar pie they go through during Festival, it only makes sense that the pecan pie here is a masterpiece. It’s a solid two inches thick, with that gooey, sugary filling and a tall, buttery, flaky crust. It’s seriously the best pecan pie in the city, one that you can more accurately describe in moans than words. 

Promenade Café and Wine is located at 130 Provencher Boulevard and is open daily, 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.

Back

Become a
Winnipeg Insider

Subscribe to our blog
for more great content

+No Thanks

More Inspiration

 
Delta Winnipeg's poolside experience will keep you satiated in the sun

June 29

 
2022 Winnipeg ice cream and cool treats guide

June 22

 
Miss Browns isn't chicken when it comes to new brunch branding

June 14

Tourism Winnipeg

Suite 810, One Lombard Place
Winnipeg, Manitoba
Canada R3B 0X3
1 855 PEG CITY (734-2489)

Newsletter Sign-up
  • Leisure
  • Meetings & Conventions
  • Travel Trade
  • Sport Tourism
  • Media
  • Site Map
  • Industry
  • About Us
  • Français
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
Visitor Guide

Visitor Guide

Request our Winnipeg Visitor's Guide. It's FREE!

Order

Economic Development Winnipeg acknowledges that we are located in Treaty One Territory, the home and traditional lands of the Anishinaabe (Ojibwe), Ininew (Cree), and Dakota peoples, and in the national homeland of the Red River Métis. Our drinking water comes from Shoal Lake 40 First Nation, in Treaty Three Territory.

© 2022 Tourism Winnipeg

logo - Economic Development Winnipeg
logo - Tourism Winnipeg