culinary
Nationally celebrated restaurants
Winnipeg has once again made its mark, with three local eateries landing on Air Canada’s list of Best New Restaurants.
You’ll relish Winnipeg’s culinary scene
Winnipeg’s well-seasoned culinary scene will never leave you salty.
Many of our restaurants continue to garner national recognition, with several local spots making Canada's 100 Best Restaurants list over the past few years along with Air Canada’s Best New Restaurants.
Being surrounded by fertile farmland and lakes, Winnipeg restaurants provide a showcase for the Prairies. From the international flavours of the West End and the microbreweries and eateries of the Exchange District to the hot culinary destinations like Osborne Village, River Heights, South Osborne and Saint-Boniface, Winnipeg has some of the best Italian, French, Middle Eastern, Vietnamese, Greek, Indigenous and Filipino restaurants in Canada. There’s no shortage of world-class bakeries, too.
Plating up Winnipeg’s food scene
We regularly cover new restaurants, highlight the best dishes across the city, create thematic guides and do chef profiles to serve up Winnipeg’s top food news.
culinary
Winnipeg has once again made its mark, with three local eateries landing on Air Canada’s list of Best New Restaurants.
Every quarter we offer up a serving of brand new restaurants that should be on every foodie’s radar. Dig in!
With more than 20 microbreweries and a pair of distilleries, there’s always a Kölsch, IPA, sour, whisky, gin or craft cocktail within reach.
If you’re looking to uncork Winnipeg’s top culinary experiences based on the critics’ picks, make a reservation at one of our many wine bars and small plate spots. Currently on Canada’s 100 Best Restaurants (C100) are deer + almond (opens in new window), Nola (opens in new window) and Peacock (opens in new window), featuring award-winning chefs Mandel Hitzer, Emily Butcher and Ed Lam, respectively. Both Nola and Peacock specialize in Asian cuisine with their shared plates, while deer + almond offers a four-course tasting menu, plus an à la carte bartop that’s a showcase for his whimsical creations. SNACK HäUS (opens in new window), a counter service small plate concept within Low Life Barrel House (opens in new window) brewery/winery, was singled out as a new “C100 Recommends” for 2025. Winnipeg is also home to Clementine Cafe (opens in new window), a darling of the Exchange District, the sole brunch-only spot to make the C100 at No. 74 in 2024.
In 2025, Air Canada named Crumb Queen/Andy’s Lunch (opens in new window) –– a dual concept bakery-fresh pasta lunch joint –– as one of Canada’s 10 best new restaurants, the only counter service restaurant to ever make the cut. Petit Socco (opens in new window), the city’s tiniest restaurant with just eight seats, was named the fifth best new restaurant by Air Canada in 2023, with chef Adam Donnelly also winning dish of the year. In 2026, Osborne Village neighbours Shirley’s (opens in new window), an Italian leaning cafe specializing in fresh pastas and killer cocktails, and BabyBaby (opens in new window), a très hip small plates bar from the owners of Clementine (along with chef couple Daly Gyles and Nick Gladu), both cracked Air Canada’s list.
Chef Scott Bagshaw has made both the C100 and Air Canada guides for his now-closed concepts Enoteca and Maque, so be sure to check out Passero (opens in new window), his Italian restaurant on Corydon Ave’s Little Italy, along with his intimate French bistro, Ne de Loup (opens in new window), which is located in River Heights.
Oenophiles will also be impressed by several of the city's top fine-dining restaurants.
Current Wine Spectator award-winners include 529 Wellington (opens in new window), the city's most acclaimed steakhouse, located in a former luxury home in River Heights on the Assiniboine River. Its wine selection was recognized with the Best of Award of Excellence, an honour it has received since 2003. A new Best of Award of Excellence has gone to Vida Cucina Italia (opens in new window), the cozy Italian restaurant in the Fort Garry Hotel (opens in new window). The hotel's wine director, Christopher Sprague, who was also instrumental in developing 529's wine program before joining the hotel, oversees a menu of 360 wines at Vida. In fact, the Fort Garry has an inventory of more than 10,000 bottles between Vida and The Oval Room (opens in new window), which was named one of Canada's 50 best hotel restaurants by OpenTable and Kayak.
Winnipeg is the home of Nips, Googs and Schmoos and a side of honey dill sauce.
Seriously. Let us explain.
The boss of sauce around these parts is honey dill, a creamy mixture of mayonnaise, liquid honey and dried dill weed. It was invented by accident at Mitzi’s Chicken Finger Restaurant, a Chinese eatery famous for its – surprise – homemade chicken fingers. (It closed in 2024 after a nearly half-century run). Today, you’ll find honey dill on menus across the city, particularly where chicken fingers and fries are on the menu.
We have two kinds of burgers – Fat Boys and Nips. Fat Boys are a Greek-style burger that first hit the city in the 1950s. It features a smashed beef patty covered in cheese, beef chili seasoned with cinnamon and other warming spices, pickle spears, shredded lettuce, raw white onion, a tomato slice and a big slathering of mayo and mustard. You’ll find fat boys at all the reputable (and often cash-only) burger stands, including Super Boys (opens in new window), Daly Burger (opens in new window), Dairi Wip (opens in new window), George’s (opens in new window), Junior’s (opens in new window) and V.J.’s Drive Inn.
Nips, meanwhile, are the signature burger at Salisbury House (opens in new window), the local institution that’s part-owned by Guess Who singer Burton Cummings. Made with Manitoba beef, they’re even flatter than a Fat Boy and are served with grilled onions on Sal’s fresh-baked buns.
The Goog is an upside-down blueberry milkshake topped with a hot fudge sundae, banana slices, whipped cream, peanuts and a cherry, available only at the iconic Bridge Drive-in (opens in new window) (or BDI), which has locations on Jubilee Ave. and Main St. There’s also the Sleeping Beauty, a half-pineapple brimming with cherry and strawberry sundaes with bananas, pineapple and whipped cream.
The schmoo torte was invented by Dora Zasalavsky for her son, Murray’s Bar Mitzvah in 1948 and it quickly attained legendary status. It’s composed of several layers of angel food cake and whipped cream, covered with crushed pecans and plenty of caramel sauce. You can find it at dessert counters across the city.
In the last few years, the Indigenous culinary scene has expanded significantly.
The Indigenous Kitchen (opens in new window) is a local food truck making Ojibway and Cree cuisine, while
Sharecuterie (opens in new window) uses local and sustainable ingredients at both of its locations at The Forks Market and in River Heights.
The city’s first Indigenous-owned hotel, Wyndham Garden Winnipeg Airport (opens in new window), is home to Manoomin (opens in new window) – that’s“wild rice” in Ojibway – where the regionally-focused menu is available from breakfast until late. There’s also Shelly’s Indigenous Bistro (opens in new window), where bannock is used as a base for almost everything, including pizza dough. Promenade Brasserie (opens in new window) and Bistro on Notre Dame (opens in new window) both focus on Métis cuisine while Feast Cafe Bistro (opens in new window) – operated by celebrity chef Christa Bruneau – is one of Canada’s first Indigenous-owned and operated restaurants focussing on First Nation cuisine.
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