Pembina café
serves up unique takes on diner staples,
Winnipeg’s restaurant scene has drastically shifted in the past three years. Even though some of the city’s signature watering holes could not weather hard times even before the pandemic, some eateries promise to stave off a diner’s drought.
Filling in the gap left by the old Pembina Village Restaurant at 333 Pembina Highway, Next Stop Café brings Iranian and Western fusion food to the fore at breakfast, lunch and dinner.
Next Stop’s breakfast menu, available until 3 p.m., features a range of familiar egg dishes and omelets with an assortment of sides. While the breakfasts have been a hit with everyone I have brought to the café, a little more diversity outside of just eggs would make the restaurant an ideal morning haunt.
The lunch and dinner menus are expansive, with kebabs, wraps and a broad range of burgers. The hot dog burger and the chicken burger showcase Next Stop’s versatile offerings and high quality. Many of the burgers come with a tart “secret” sauce and the restaurant’s logo branded into the buns for a little fun flair.
Next Stop’s felafel wrap is always a favorite's with the company I bring along.
Aside from these savory selections, the cafe’s dessert menu shines, particularly their monumental milkshake menu. Each iteration is sweet and creamy without tasting artificial. The list features reliable standbys like chocolate or strawberry milkshakes, but its more experimental sesame banana, pistachio, saffron and tiramisu flavors are equally satisfying.
After my tours through Next Stop’s offerings I always caffeinate with the restaurant’s unique selection of coffees. The café is one of few places in the city that serves Turkish coffee, a type of unfiltered coffee which is served retaining the very fine grinds used in the brewing process. Next Stop serves the drink with a small shot of water and a sweet to rinse your mouth and counter the bitterness.
The staff are very friendly and anticipate questions before they are asked.
One recent addition to Next Stop’s staff is a tray-carrying, singing kitty-shaped robot. The robot’s front has a screen showing emoticon faces to match the tone of its songs.
What is initially a cute and quirky novelty on first encounter, the robot starts to wear thin with each subsequent visit, as it causes an excited uproar among new customers every time it rolls out of the kitchen.
Overall, Next Stop has a tasty range of filling dishes that are great as a morning boost or a cap on a long day.
Next Stop Café is open from 9:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. weekdays and 9 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturdays and Sundays.
BY JESSIE KRAHN | IMAGE BY FAITH PETERS NOVEMBER 15, 2022
