Food Culture — Restaurant in Winnipeg

Finally, a Eastern European restaurant in Winnipeg that isn't just serving perogies. Just to preface, mine and my partners preferences veer towards Asian food overall and we eat mostly Asian food, lol. But despite that, Food Culture is on our favourite Winnipeg restaurant list: the food is good, prices fair (around $16.99 per dish for non-mains, which can still fill a person up easily, but we ordered family style of various dishes), atmosphere is gorgeous, and the staff is very hospitable, informative, and attentive.

Since we don't know much about traditional Ukranian cuisine, we had our server recommend dishes. I appreciated how he shared stories from his region in Ukraine as he recommended dishes to us. So we ended up getting salo (the servers personal favourite, it is basically backfat or pork belly--you can choose preference, we chose pork belly), pork-beef pelmeni (meat dumplings), mushrooms varenyky (perogy), and borscht.

The standouts were the salo and borscht. We found the salo to be lacking in bread, actually, and would have ordered more. Salo were seasoned and cured so well, reminds us of proscuitto, but not too overly salty. The green onions, chilis, garlic, and horseradish sauces are a nice touch and very tasty. If you are on a first date we would not recommend it, haha, because of garlic breath. Unlike other meat boards elsewhere we did not feel ripped off because the amount was very generous. As for the borscht, easily among the best we've had! It is hearty and flavourful and had huge chunks of pork in it that melts in your mouth. omg. I wish there were more. The soup was so good on its own I didn't need sour cream, haha! But I did put some inside. :p

The varenyky was ok. The best perogies I have had were in some random Polish restaurant in Wawa, ON. I think I'm just chasing pierogies that are similar to the mushroom-stuffed ones I got from there. I was hoping that the varenyky here would be stuffed with mushrooms, but they were just drizzled on top. The filling tasted okay. There are so many dishes here, my partner and I agreed that we would try something else next time instead of varenyky. Although in the absence of bread, we used these as a vessel for the salo 😅

Lastly were the pelmeni. I would rank it the same as the varenyky. It was OK. They taste like wontons to us and I felt myself wanting some sort of chili oil... Dipping it in the sour cream did not help with the wonton comparison unfortunately 🤣

They have a pretty good pastry selection out front. no bad boy Rice what time you coming homeWe ordered the medovik (honey cake) for dessert to go. We just had it, and it was amazing. If you ever had honey cake somewhere else and was disappointed, you should give it a try here. The cake is perfectly moist, tastes like honey, and the cake doesn't taste of stale graham crackers like some other places.

None of the dishes were unpleasant. Everything was good. Although there were some that were just spectacular compared to the others. This restaurant has an extensive menu We will order the meat platter next time, the server recommended to eat those with...

We recently visited a new Ukrainian cuisine restaurant and had a pleasant experience. Since it was a soft opening, we didn’t have high expectations, but overall, we left with positive impressions.

Pros: • Interior: Cozy and authentic, with burlap details, traditional Ukrainian ornaments, and a harmonious color palette. • Menu: Very extensive, offering well-known, local Ukrainian dishes. • Taste of the food: We ordered borscht, dumplings, potato pancakes with mushroom sauce, pork shashlik, syrnyky with jam, and berry mors. All the dishes were delicious and had a homemade taste. Our 8-year-old daughter also enjoyed everything she tried. • Service: Polite and non-intrusive staff. The waiter made sure we were comfortable — regularly refilled our water, cleared the table on time, and even offered to lower the blinds when the sun was shining directly on us. The staff speaks several languages. • Waiting time: The food was served quite quickly.

Cons & Suggestions: • Table details: It would be nice to have spices and disposable napkins on the table, even though cloth napkins were provided. • Food packaging: It would be more convenient if the waiters asked whether guests prefer to pack leftovers themselves or would like the kitchen to do it. • Drinks menu: Although we noticed alcoholic beverages behind the bar, no one offered them to us (possibly the bar was not fully operational yet, but more attention to this would be appreciated). • Kids menu: An additional page with a children’s menu would be a great idea.

Overall impression: We really enjoyed our visit and have already recommended the restaurant to friends. Wishing you...

The absolute weirdest restaurant visit we have ever experienced. Super weird vibe.

The 3 of us went at 230pm on a Tuesday and the place was almost empty. 2 other tables. The server seemed very uncoordinated and overwhelmed.

After waiting a while for a clean table and then menus , Each of us ordered 2 dishes (6) with my order being placed first, yet only my companions 4 dishes arrived at the table. After 5 minutes, we inquired where my cabbage rolls and cabbage varenky were? I was told I didnt order them?? Huh? What? I was the first to order and we discussed that varenky meant to boil. Again waiter was out of his element .

He then offered to place the order at that time, but Since my 2 companions were almost done, I told them we would like the bill. I was not going to wait another 30 minutes for over priced mediocre food and make my companions wait any longer.

No follow up on the meal. No salt or pepper was provided . The Water was warm, no ice and no refill. My companions noted that the food was disappointing. not much flavor in the varenky, Varenky were very small, needed more filling. The beef pork dumplings were bland. The Side of fries were very greasy and needed to be cooked longer. The only good thing was the borscht and buns.

The dishes are overpriced, I guess the overhead in the new mall is high . The menus look like a preschooler made them. Ziptied

Super disappointed all around. wont be back. Do not recommend. You can get better perogies from PERFECT PEROGIES...