# Guide to Winnipeg's iconic eats \- Winnipeg

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**Last Updated:** 2026-11-05T18:49:47+00:00

By Mike Green

To paraphrase Anthony Bourdain, you can learn a lot about a city by trying its locally famous foods. Here’s just a few staples from the Winnipeg pantry that the city is known for.

## The thrill of honey dill 

The boss of sauce around these parts is called honey dill, a mix of mayo, honey, dill… and secrets. According to *Saveur* magazine, this king of condiments was said to have started at Mitzi’s Chicken Finger Restaurant, which was a Chinese restaurant famous for its homemade chicken fingers and honey dill sauce (it closed in April 2024, after a legendary 46-year run). Nowadays, you’ll find honey dill on menus across the city, particularly everywhere chicken fingers and fries are sold.

If you are looking for a souvenir jar, you’ll find Greetalia Honey Dill Dipping Sauce at grocery stores throughout the city, plus some of the city’s fine food stores make their own version. Given our local desire for dunking, Winnipeg restaurants take their house-made chicken fingers seriously, so you should never be getting something from a box.

## Imperial cookies 

This simple, dainty sandwich cookie is a mainstay at pastry counters across the city. In essence, it’s raspberry jam pressed between two elegant (and often sun-shaped) shortbread cookies that have been dipped in an almond icing and topped with a candied cherry. The internet tells us they originated in Scotland as “empire cookies” during the Austro-Hungarian Empire, but that’s not how the cookie crumbles around these parts where they’ve been known as Imperials as long as anyone can remember. You’ll find them everywhere –– from old-school bakeries to coffee shops and convenience stores. Our top picks include [High Tea Bakery (opens in new window)](https://www.highteabakery.com/) (2103 Portage Ave.) where you can get a regal box of them (also in miniature if you desire), and [Gunn’s Bakery (opens in new window)](https://www.gunnsbakery.com/) (247 Selkirk Ave.) an old school Jewish bakery that’s been running since 1937. In fact, if you see some individually wrapped Imperials by a store’s cash register, they’re usually from Gunn’s.

## Farmer’s sausage 

As celebrity chef-turned-actor/producer/culinary advisor Matty Matheson (from The Bear) will tell you, Winnipeg (more so the surrounding farming towns of Manitoba) should be famed for its farmer’s sausage. This recipe for this cold-smoked pork-centric staple is said to have travelled with Eastern European Mennonite communities to Manitoba, where you’ll now often find it as a side served with perogies. You can also buy it from shops across the city like Winnipeg Old Country Sausage Ltd, Tenderloin Meats and Karpaty’s Meats and Deli, while Pioneer Meat in Altona, Manitoba is said to be “the original smoked farmers sausage” and can be found in major grocery stores.

## Find a fat boy (or a Nip) 

This is the main type of burger you’ll find in Winnipeg, and it’s been this way since the 1950s when Greek burger shacks started to pop up all over the city. This icon features a smashed patty covered in cheese, beef chili spiced with cinnamon, pickle spears, shredded lettuce, raw white onion, a tomato slice and so much mayo and mustard. You’ll find fat boys at all the reputable (and often cash-only) burger stands, including Super Boys, Daly Burger, Dairi-Wip Drive In, George’s, Junior’s and our personal favourite, V.J.’s Drive Inn.

As to Nips… ahem, that’s what Salisbury House, a burger institution with locations throughout the city dating back to 1931, calls their little hamburgers. These are even flatter than a fat boy and made with 100 per cent Manitoban beef. Nips are served on Sal’s fresh baked buns with a smattering of grilled onions and loads of Sals special sauce.

## Do a schmoo 

This distinctive cake –– the schmoo torte –– is said to have been invented in 1948 by a Winnipeg mother, Dora Zaslavsky, for her son Murray’s Bar Mitzvah and has since become a cake icon across the city. It’s composed of layers of angel food cake and whipped cream, covered with crushed pecans and plenty of caramel sauce. You’ll see it at dessert counters across the city, with a particularly rave-worthy version found at Osborne Village’s [Baked Expectations (opens in new window)](https://bakedexpectations.ca/) (161 Osborne St.), where a slice is served with a small jug of caramel sauce to really get you buzzing.

## Goldeye 

“Smoke ‘em if you got ‘em” is the motto when it comes to one of the province’s more famous fishes. Winnipeg is surrounded by thousands of lakes, particularly to the north where the almost inland sea of Lake Winnipeg once provided millions of pounds of goldeye a year for fish connoisseurs like King George and Woodrow Wilson. These days you can still find goldeye at classic city establishments, like 529 Wellington, where the smoked fish is served occasionally as a featured menu item. You can also buy whole smoked goldeye at spots like Fergie’s Fish and Chips at The Forks Market and Gimli Fish Market (three locations in Winnipeg). You can also catch the Winnipeg Goldeyes playing American Association baseball throughout the summer at Blue Cross Park downtown.

## Go for a Goog 

This specialty at our beloved seasonal ice cream shop BDI (766 Jubliee Ave. and 1680 Main St.) is an “upside-down” blueberry milkshake topped with a hot fudge sundae, sliced bananas, whipped cream, peanuts and a cherry. It’s as crazy delicious as it is crazy (you have to see the upside-down bit for yourself), while other memorable BDI creations that are great for the Gram include the Sleeping Beauty: a half pineapple brimming with cherry and strawberry sundaes with bananas, pineapple, whipped cream and all the trimmings.

## Things you simply can’t miss 

Speaking of ice cream, we are home to Canada’s Best Ice Cream, courtesy of [Chaeban Ice Cream (opens in new window)](https://chaebanicecream.com/). The shop is owned by Lebanese dairy scientist and cheesemaker Joseph Chaeban and Zainab Ali, his Syrian wife who is the tastemaker. In addition to their award-winning Salty Carl flavour, the ever-changing menu will take you from the Middle East to the Manitoba prairies. Chaeban is about as artisan as it gets, with the milk being single-sourced locally and directly sent to the shop for processing. They also make a variety of incredibly smooth feta and ricotta cheeses you can find in grocery stores and fine food shops across the city.

If you really want to try the unusual, you must try the made-in-Manitoba blue licorice ice cream. It evokes a feeling of nostalgia, one that Winnipeggers who have moved away, travel home just to taste it again. Try it at [Sweet Tops (opens in new window)](https://www.instagram.com/sweet_tops_icecream/?hl=en) in Winnipeg’s East Kildonan neighbourhood.

Fête Ice Cream, located in downtown Winnipeg, offers many dairy- and gluten-free treats with oat and coconut milk bases. For a more complete list of Winnipeg’s best and coolest ice cream spots, visit our [ice cream guide (opens in new window)](/winnipeg-ice-cream-guide/).

No one can resist a sweet treat, and [Morden’s Chocolates (opens in new window)](https://www.mordenschocolate.com/) has been making them irresistible since 1959. Their world-famous Russian Mints (not to mention award winning) must be sampled and there’s no doubt you’ll want to take a box (or two) home with you. They have treats for every taste or occasion, including nuts roasted daily and truffles to drool over.

No Winnipeg childhood was complete without grabbing a Pizza Pop (or two) from the freezer for your school lunch. The lunchbox classic was invented in Winnipeg, is still manufactured here and is sold nation wide. With fillings like three cheese, pepperoni and bacon and deluxe, every kid was satisfied after lunch.

## Chips, cakes and rye bread 

Another locally famous cake is Jeanne’s Cake, which started at its namesake bakery in 1936. The cake itself is log shaped and features a shortbread cookie bottom, with signature Jeanne’s icing and chocolate swirls and is frequently brought to celebrations, like parties and socials. For potato chips, Old Dutch is the most legendary local brand, and this being Canada, you must get yourself a bag of ketchup chips (so tangy! But be warned, you’ll stain your fingers!). As for bread, rye bread is Winnipeg famous, particularly from City Bread Co. and the aforementioned Gunn’s Bakery. The crust is crisp and golden, and the inside is fluffy and studded with coarse little rye grains, giving it its signature nutty flavour.