WINNIPEG, MB. Have an open mind when you pull up in front of Crème DeL’Essence Café and Bistro and get ready to experience something unique. I was not expecting a restaurant of this calibre in the middle of an urban industrial park.
Black-and-white photographs adorn the pitch black walls, but the room is astonishingly bright due to their south facing windows. The menu is a basic laminated sheet, but this is where the mundane departs and luxurious food enters the scene. My lunch date and I started by sharing black garlic linguine with arugula and parmesan. The lengthy pasta ribbons and creamy sauce were offset with peppery arugula leaves.
My friend opted for an all-day breakfast item, choosing the ube pancakes. We were baffled by the purple flesh of the flapjack. With research, I discovered that the colour comes from the ube yam which is used in a variety of Filipino desserts such as ice cream, cakes, hopia, and halo-halo. The pancakes themselves were fluffy and delicious, sensational when topped with bruleed bananas and coarsely chopped hazelnuts.
I chose roasted Brussel sprouts enhanced by a pomme puree and more chopped hazelnuts. From our elementary French we thought that the pomme puree would be apple sauce, but was in fact a pureed potato as in pomme de terre or potato in French.
SmartBiz for Manitoba Post
Photo supplied.