529 Wellington may be considered Winnipeg's most expensive restaurant. I haven't done much fancy dining in the city so I'd have to agree.
One of my best friend's birthdays brought us here last night. It's located on the city's ritzy Wellington Crescent. The restaurant is in a mansion built in 1912, absolutely exquisite with beautiful dark wood that the waiter told us was "worth more than the house itself".
The ambiance is romantic. There were 10 of us in the party so we were placed in a private room. We were seated by the hostess and visited by a sommelier who also served as the guy to tell us how much the cars were worth in the parking lot. There was a half a million dollar Bentley in our presence that evening. The wine menu by the way is extensive and bottles ranging from like $20 to $2000, maybe more. We got the $2000 bottle..haha, I wish.
Our waiter for the evening was named Mike. He started off by giving us the restaurant's beef lesson. The restaurant's different cuts of beef were saran wrapped on a plate and he told us about which cut would be best if you desire taste, texture, etc. We were also told the 529 is the only restaurant to serve a particular kind of Prime Canadian beef (from Alberta). Very rad and my first experience with anything like that.
Mike's service was amazing the whole night. He and the rest of the staff were extremely attentive and accommodating.
I ordered the Rib steak grilled medium rare with the Chef's Pontalba Potatoes. Everything is a la carte here but the sides are definitely big enough to share so we all got to taste everything.
A run down of everything I tasted:
Caesar Salad - Flavorful, used lots of garlic. Croutons were so good. Delicious yet lacked a little something..fresh shaved parmesan and lemon wedges, perhaps?
Garlic Mashed potatoes - also a ton of garlic used. Creamiest mashed taters I've ever had. What was cool about this side was it wasn't on the menu but my friend requested it and they gladly made it for her.
Chef's Pontalba Potatoes - Potatoes, mushrooms, onions in a peppercorn sauce. Wow. The flavors were bold and went together so well with the steak.
Onion Rings - Huge rings served with these cute lil tongs piled on a metal tube. Great presentation. A thick but not overly greasy batter with sweet onion on the inside that was cooked to a perfect tenderness.
Asparagus with Hollandaise - I've never had this vegetable cooked so perfectly before. They were the epitome of what "tender crisp" is. The sauce was rich and creamy..just like it should be.
Atlantic Smoke Salmon - this appetizer came with capers, lemon, toast points, shaved onion, and cream cheese. Very delicate fish with a great smoked flavor.
THE STEAK - My rib eye ($39) was AMAZING. It was a HUGE piece of meat at 22 oz that I ended up having to take some home. It's difficult to describe just how perfect it was. You get what you pay for, that's for sure. Tender, juicy, just enough grilled flavor yet the meat really came through. What was amazing about this steak was even the next day being reheated - it was still just as good as the night before. My friends had the tenderloin and new york strip and all agreed they had just eaten the best steak of their lives. A couple of them cannot have their steak less than well done. When I've seen well done before...the outside is charred so that it cooks through. Not here. Just perfect.
I had the pleasure of trying some bone marrow sauce over some of my steak and WOW....wow. The richest, most flavorful sauce to compliment a piece of meat...ever. Really incredible.
To finish I had Maple Creme Brulee with Ginger Snap...It was adorned with fresh fruit, extremely smooth and creamy, flecks of vanilla bean seeds throughout the deep yellowy creme. YUMMY!!!!!!!!!!!
Out waiter hooked us all up with a dessert wine at the end of the night and also gave the birthday girl a piece of the richest chocolate cheesecake ever. Even shared, we couldn't finish it. So decadent.
I could write on and on about this restaurant. It was the best dining experience ever, hands down. The night was absolutely perfect. I was among great company, we all had impeccable service in a great atmosphere. We were there until closing time and Mike even took us on a tour of the mansion and gave us some great history on the place.
I'll definitely be back..hopefully before I go back to the states. They've got a lunch menu during the week that I hear is a must try.
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