Lunching With The Bros: Favourite Winnipeg Eateries Part 2

Favourite lunch restaurants in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada Part 2 (L to Z)

For more than a year beginning in the spring of 2023, my husband and his brothers had an almost weekly Wednesday lunch date. They tried out different eating spots in our home city of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

In Lunching With The Bros: Favourite Winnipeg Eateries Part 1, I explained how this tradition started. I also talked about the types of restaurants they visited. Although there were a few restaurants the brothers visited multiple times, for the most part they went to a different place each week. They avoided chains and chose independent, local restaurants. They were particularly partial to diner-style eateries and places that served breakfast all day (or at least until well into the afternoon). They also sought out ethnic restaurants to try a variety of cuisines.

Here is Part 2 – more of my husband’s favourites, listed in alphabetical order.

Le Beau Café & Fudgerie

30A Third Street South, Beausejour, Manitoba

So, the brothers occasionally ventured to eateries beyond city boundaries. Le Beau Café & Fudgerie in Beausejour, about 46 kilometres northwest of Winnipeg, was one of those places. The Fudgerie makes 300 varieties of fudge. It also makes a variety of cakes, tortes, and cheesecakes. You’ll find mouthwatering photos on their Facebook page.

The one-woman shop also serves lunch for a few people – the space is very small. The menu changes daily and features a  variety of soups, sandwiches, wraps, salads, pastries, and desserts, all made fresh daily. While the brothers ate, a number of other customers came in to get cakes and fudge to take out.

With an eclectic and colourful mix of items decorating the walls and lining the shelves, there was a bit of an antique store vibe to the place. Everything combined to make their lunch an experience (and a great one at that).

Luda’s Deli

410 Aberdeen Avenue

Luda’s Deli, a traditional-style diner open for breakfast and lunch, has been a North End Institution for decades. It has a friendly, at-home atmosphere and offers hearty home-cooked meals.

The breakfast menu offers a variety of eggs, French toast, pancakes, and a fried egg sandwich. For lunch, there are hot and cold sandwiches, soups and salad, burgers, and fries. Sandwiches are served on bread from Gunn’s Bakery. One of Luda’s specialties is “North End style” perogies, stuffed with cheddar cheese and potato, and served with fried onions, sour cream, and Kubasa sausage.

Note that Luda’s is cash only. It is open Monday through Saturday in winter months, Monday through Friday in summer months.

The Oakwood

4-660 Osborne Street

The brothers returned to The Oakwood a few times. The cozy, family-friendly diner feels like a community café.

It offers an extensive all-day breakfast menu as well as sandwiches, wraps, burgers, perogies, chicken tenders, brisket, fish and chips, quiche, and mac and cheese.

The pancakes were the draw for my husband. On one visit he had the blueberry pancakes. On another, he had lemon poppyseed pancakes with blueberry compote. He couldn’t decide which he liked better, so on a Wednesday when only one other brother could make it, the two returned to the café and ordered both to do a taste test. The lemon poppyseed won, but just barely. The whipped cream put it over the edge.

The café opens at 9am daily and closes at 7pm Tuesday through Saturday, at 3pm Sunday and Monday.

Ramallah Café

325 Pembina Highway

Ramallah Café brings the flavours of Palestinian and Middle Eastern cuisine to Winnipeg. The café decor is plain and basic, but there is a lot to choose from on their menu from appetizers that include falafel, hummus, and a mezze platter to salads, lentil soup, wraps, shawarma, and shish kabob. They do a thriving take-out business in addition to their dine-in option.

My husband appreciated the hospitality and the time the friendly owner took to chat. He also said that the falafel and schwarma were very good. They also have a location on Munroe Avenue.

Shahi Flames

2-208 Marion Street

On its website, Shahi Flames says it “embraces the philosophy of Shahi (Royal) life . . . bringing the taste of traditional and contemporary Indian cuisine into a whole new experience.” The interior of the restaurant is comfortable and welcoming.

Its extensive menu (available for eating in or take-out) includes butter chicken, chicken tikka masala, tandoor dishes, dosa, biryanis, traditional curries, pakora, Hakka dishes, Thali platters, and more. Indian food was a favourite of my husband’s and the fact that he spoke highly of the food here says a lot. The only thing he wasn’t fond of was the raita, mostly because it didn’t contain cucumber, which is the way we prefer our raita.

After my husband’s visit here, I too had a couple of opportunities to have a Shahi Flames Indian meal, both as take-out and eating in the restaurant. Everything I’ve had from the menu so far was very good. Butter Chicken is their “house specialty” and it was fantastic. Palak paneer is one of my favourite dishes. Theirs was one of the best I’ve ever had.

Super Boys

1480 Main Street

Super Boys is a burger joint offering burgers, hot dogs, French fries, onion rings, salads, chicken fingers, chicken nuggets, and gyros. It has a small, plain eat-in area, but does much of its business as take-out.

Its signature burger, the Super Boy, is a version of the fatboy (or fat boy). The fatboy is a Winnipeg specialty. It is beef burger with lettuce, tomatoes, white onions, pickles, mayo, and a meat chili sauce. The chili is not the type of spicy chili with beans but is closer to a pasta-type meat sauce. Its origins are said to be traced to the late 1950s and Gus Scouras, a Greek immigrant who opened a number of burger joints, although the fatboy name came later from other restaurants started by former Scouras’ employees.

Super Boys also serves a chili burger, which is a burger covered in chili sauce and which my husband said was delicious.

Tang Dynasty

730 St. Anne’s Road

Tang Dynasty was one of the restaurants the brothers visited a few times. It has nice, comfortable décor and an extensive menu of Chinese food items.

My husband spoke highly of the ginger beef, lemon chicken, and hot and sour soup. Tang Dynasty also offers a dim sum lunch.

Taverna Rodos Restaurant & Lounge

5114 Roblin Boulevard

Taverna Rodos Restaurant & Lounge is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. The good-sized restaurant has a bit of an upscale atmosphere, while still feeling comfortable and relaxed. My husband said the food was excellent.

The extensive lunch menu includes a Greek platter, souvlakis, sandwiches, melts, wraps, stir fries, soups, salads, fish, and pasta. The dinner menu is even more extensive.

Winnibakes

1765 Kenaston Boulevard, Unit T

Winnibakes features the tastes of the Levant area in the eastern Mediterranean region of western Asia. It serves flatbreads with a variety of toppings such as tomato sauce and eggs, ground beef, spinach, cheese, or spicy pepper sauce. Other menu items include calzones, salads, and pie in a pan (phyllo pastry).

The space is welcoming as are the owners, who will happily chat with you. A large oven, tiled on the outside, dominates the area behind the counter.

Winnibakes offers several desserts, including Kunafa (a middle-Eastern dessert made with shredded phyllo dough stuffed with cheese topped with sugar syrup and garnished with nuts), Basbosa ( a sweet syrup-soaked semolina cake), and Baklawa (layered pastry dessert made of filo pastry, filled with chopped nuts, and sweetened with syrup or honey). The various desserts are on display under glass at the counter. You may find them hard to resist. Turkish coffee is also available.

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This post is dedicated to the memory of my husband, Rick, who passed away on August 27, 2024.