The Oxbow Natural Wine Bar & Restaurant — Restaurant in Winnipeg

My wife and I tried The Oxbow out over the weekend and really quite enjoyed it.

The restaurant picks up on the trend of small sharing plates. There are currently 14 dishes on the menu of which 7 are vegetarian. The Oxbow owners have a joint relationship with Bergmann Farms who directly supply this farm to table initiative. As such, the menu is seasonal and subject to change with what's available and fresh - always a good thing!

There's a select list of craft type classic cocktails, each with a house twist as well as beer offerings, ciders and a very extensive wine list. The wines are especially interesting as they feature only wines which have been minimally processed or altered - so no filtering and minimal or no use of sulphites - generally no monkeying around!

We started with the pickeral croquettes with smoked fennel aioli. The two pieces sitting on top of a schmear of aioli were delicious with a light airy filling of potato and pickerel and a subtle liquorice smokiness from the fennel. A good start!

Next was the beef tartare with mushroom finished with some grated smoked egg yolk. The tartare was placed on top of a house made slice of grilled bread. We both agreed this was tasty but this is a rich dish and I got that sense after 3 bites. I felt it was a touch heavy handed being presented on the bread and perhaps would have benefited from a lighter overall carrier.

Next up the barley risotto. The first bite caught us by surprise. Lovely, slightly chewy texture with pieces of delicate oyster mushrooms torn in. The surprise came in the creamy carrot broth used to prepare the dish. It had an intense, salty rich hit which had at first association reminded us of a Knorr type of flavour - so wasn't sure about this. However, on subsequent mouthfuls the complexity of the carrots came through and we quite enjoyed it.

At this point we decided to order a bottle of wine. Not knowing any of the wines our server sent over (I'm guessing) one of the owners who recommended what turned out to be a really fun and different 14.5% Spanish red. It complemented our meal extremely well - so definitely seek out the expertise. I would also mention that our dishes were sometimes brought out by different servers as they were ready and each one of them carefully and expertly explained what they were putting down in front of us. The staff here are trained and it's clear.

Sidebar done - we received some pork belly, panisse (similar to polenta but made of chickpea flour) and celery root dice. The panisse was quite good and the celery root in a black garlic vinaigrette cut the richness well. The pork belly itself was a bit of a disappointment. Pork belly preparations should typically melt in your mouth. The meat layer of the belly was tough and surprisingly hard to cut with our knives. It was lightly seasoned with salt but was on the bland side overall.

Our final dish was a large share made up of a lightly breaded pickerel fillet sitting on top of a celery root dice with potato, bacon, kale and drizzled chili oil. The combination of celery root, potato, bacon and kale was a knock out and paired nicely with the fish.

They don't serve espresso. They should.

They have two desserts available - a chocolate terrine and beignets. They also have two options for cheese plate selections. We opted for the chocolate terrine as it presented an interesting mix of flavors including pistachio, rosewater and halvah. Don't know specifically what it was but it was underwhelming. Will try the cheese offerings next time.

There are a lot of options available in the share plate restaurant niche (and one still excels). The Oxbow restaurant presents itself as an honest place with no pretenses and a simple approach to its menus. This is the best way. Ingredients (and wines) stripped to their basics and prepared to highlight their essence. Oxbow clearly lives up to this ethos with its passion very evident.

We look forward to returning often. Well done.

Reservations are via email.

PS Many thanks to...

Visited Oxbow with friends/partner for the first time on September 12, 2025. Reservations are recommended for prime times, as it’s a small place. They have a dining area, lounge and patio. I loved the building with the exposed brick inside, moody lighting with candles, and wood tables with bench seating. It was a really cool vibe!

The menu has dishes that are meant for sharing. They have a good selection of dishes that can be made vegan and/or gluten free. They even had an entire separate gluten-free menu which wasn’t advertised online, so make sure to ask. We ordered the patatas bravas (French fry like potato wedges with a mix of sauces on top), pasta dish (not advertised on the regular menu - but it was gluten free rigatoni noodles with a vegan cashew cream sauce. This was my fave!), roasted carrots (in a sweet and slightly spicy sauce), and Brussels sprouts (raw, mixed in a coleslaw like salad with puffed rice and sauce). The pasta dish and potato one were my favourites but everything tasted great and the dishes were unique and creative.

Would definitely visit here again and want to try the tomato dish as well. They did not have any desserts that were vegan and gluten free but one or the other. They also have an extensive wine menu along with cocktails.

The service was fantastic. I...

Oxbow is a fantastic dining experience. It's most enjoyable with more people, as sharing plates is highly recommended. Its menu is carefully curated with thoughtful and favourable dishes and its servers are extremely knowledgable about their wine selection and offer detailed recommendations (+ 50% off bottles of wine on Sundays!).

I mostly recently visited with my family and we tried 9-10 dishes that were incredibly delicious, paired with 2 wine selections, and we all left very satisfied with every aspect of our evening.

The menu can also be enjoyed for people with Celiac disease, as many of the items are gluten-free or have great gluten-free substitutions. The kitchen staff were amazing with handling and creating our dish selections to ensure that everything was Celiac-friendly too.

The atmosphere inside is a great spot for date night, to get some friends or family together, or even to enjoy a night out for some drinks. We didn't get to enjoy their outdoor patio, but it has been highly recommended and I can't wait to enjoy another night at Oxbow...