The media chef

Soup's On!

We call it “soup weather” when the sun sets earlier and the evenings are cooler. Our meal planning naturally transforms with the colours of the leaves from salads and grilled items to savoury soups.

Bernstein’s Deli, at 1-1700 Corydon Ave. has a huge selection of frozen soups that have been made for its restaurant patrons-10 varieties on the day that I was shopping. The chicken noodle was just like Momma used to make. For a special treat, I’ll stop at the Little Saigon Restaurant, at 333 William Ave. and order its deluxe beef rice noodle pho (soup), which comes in two very heavy containers-one holding the mound of noodles, crisp bean sprouts and thinly sliced beef and the other, the rich dark broth with spring onions floating on top. A trusted foodie has also recommended the rare beef soup at Binh An on Main St. (she swears it has healing powers).

I often choose soup for lunch and love the magenta-coloured beet borsht at Alycia’s, the hearty pasta soups at De Luca’s, or the brandy-flavoured french onion soup at the Keg with the gobs of cheese crusted on top.

A chef’s skills are very apparent by the soups he/she serves.  I commend the stock makers at Bread and Circuses Bakery, The Fyxx, Dandelion Eatery and Prairie Ink.  Special accolades go to the Tallest Poppy whose daily, from-scratch soups focus on local and seasonal ingredients.  A Facebook friend also praised the pernod chowder at Fude.

For supper soups, the lobster bisque at the Promenade Bistro takes top stars, as well as spicy peanut soup at Saucers and the tom kha gai (thai coconut soup) at Magic Thailand Restaurant, Sukhothai and Sawatdee Thai restaurants (I can’t decide which one I like the best).

Here’s what my fellow Winnipeg food bloggers had to say:

Randy Reynolds (randyreynolds.livejournal.com): “Caribbean Spice makes a great oxtail and dumpling, which is actually more of a stew, and its calaloo soup is great.”

Riverside Kitchen-Gluten-free specialist (riversidekitchen.blogspot.com): “Stella’s is my favourite soup spot for its peanut soup and a really delicious chickpea parsley soup.  Spicy Noodle House has a delicious curry peanut one (very different from the Stella’s version).  Mondragon has some delicious soup specials, too.”

Relish (zenbecca.blogspot.com): “The vegetarian hot and sour soup at Vietnam Khoa.  For me, the true test of a hot and sour soup is whether it lives up to its name, and this one definitely does, with its well-seasoned, sinus-clearing broth!  The over-sized bowl arrives at the table piping hot and full of all sorts of treasures: veggies, mushrooms and big pieces of soft tofu.”

Looks like the Vietnamese restaurants are the soup winners, with most mentions of Pho No. 1!:

Breakfast Connoisseurs (breakfastwinnipeg.com/BreakfastWinnipeg.html) Andrew: “Leif and I are partial to the #6 soup at Thanh Huong. It’s amazing. Similarly, Viva, just down the street, does good work too.” Leif: “I like the won ton soup at Vi-Ann.”

Zollipop (zollipop.com): “Any soup from Ha Long Bay or Pho No. 1!”