Sophisticated interpretations of Canadian regional cuisine are still the cornerstone of Mise Bistro, but in their new location they’ve taken it to all new heights.
One of Winnipeg’s best kept secrets, Mise grew into one of Winnipeg’s pre-eminent restaurants in spite of being tucked away in a low-profile corner of Osborne Village.
Owners Terry and Sue Gereta have successfully increased the restaurant’s profile and expanded its scope by taking over the now defunct Gluttons restaurant and specialty food store on Winnipeg’s trendy Corydon Avenue.
The retail floor has been dramatically opened and brightened thanks to the removal of a monolithic display that greeted shoppers upon entry.
The menu represents a culinary philosophy emphasized by great chefs the world over–do a few things, and do them well.
You’ll find a relatively short list of dishes separated into firsts (lighther fare) and seconds (mains in every sense of the word).
Unless already served with your main, get your mitts on some latke fries. I’ve never encountered anything so unique and infinitely cravable. I can’t eat standard french fries anymore.
A potato pancake with Chef Terry’s signature regional spin, he mixes them with wild-rice (a favourite ingredient of his…you’ll find it everything from pasta to ice-cream). Then they’re cut into chunky strips and deep frired. Try the harissa dipping sauce.
Another of my faves is the roasted chicken flat bread with basil pesto and bocconcini. Mmmmmmelty goodness. An intensely satisfying first.
I was relieved to see the pork tenderloin with maple bourbon sauce. My first taste of this dish was after mooching from my wife’s plate last year. It was a full body experience, so delicious and succulent that shivers of delight ran head to toe.
I was making a b-line for the t-loin when I spotted Terry’s new dishes…soul satisfying classics like paella, cassoulet and duck confit.
This brisk November evening called for, nay demanded, just such hearty fare. Cassoulet, a slow-cooked bean stew, is the stick to your gills king of comfort foods but a long-held curiosity about confit left me torn. A recommendation from our server broke the stalemate. Duck Confit. I’m trying to say this without being too melodramatic, but it was a decision that changed my life.
Confit itself isn’t a dish so much as it’s a cooking method. Originally developed as a way to preserve food, I doubt it was very effective. Because when its discoverers learned how insanely delicious the resulting food would be, how could anything last?
In duck confit, the meat is essentially poached, then cooled, in its own rendered fat. Of all the fats, animal and otherwise, duck is perhaps the richest and tastiest.
A marvelously moist leg of duck was delivered to the table, bracketed on the plate by a perfectly seared breast. Tucked cozily under the leg was a nest of wild rice tagliatelle, sauteed in a soy sake sauce with shiitake mushrooms.
An intoxicating aroma rose from the plate, teasing of what was to come. I easily spent five minutes simply inhaling. I wanted to immerse myself in the heavenly scent. So enraptured was I that I considered rubbing the duck on my my body like a cologne.
Our sever, noticing my hesitation, asked if everything was alright. I may have confessed my bestial desire. He found it nothing if not amusing. My wife, however, was mortified and shot me one of her withering looks.
“I’d better leave you two alone, then,” said the server.
To this day I’m confident he was referring to me and the duck.
But I was here to eat, and eat I did!
Unbelievably moist thigh meat fell from the bone with the slightest pressure of my fork. It was love at first bite and from there I couldn’t stop myself. It’s entirely possible I ate some of parts that were never meant to be eaten. In fact I think I might have swallowed bone.
Combined with the noodles and mushrooms, the composition of the dish was out of this world…meaty, earthy, a depth of flavour beyond anything I’d ever experienced. Bite after bite was a veritable food-gasm.
But this wasn’t just good food. There was something else going on here, another dimension. This was an epiphany moment of my gustatory experience. I had discovered that pinnacle of flavours that the Japanese have defined as umami–the fifth taste. And it’s available to you right here in Winnipeg, folks. Corner of Corydon and Lilac.
Mise Bistro
842 Corydon Avenue
Winnipeg, Manitoba. R3M 0Y4
(204) 284-7916
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