- Restaurants |
- Nightlife |
- Shopping |
- Coffee & Tea |
- All
La P'tite France
- Price Range:
-
$$
- Accepts Credit Cards:
- Yes
- Attire:
- Casual
- Good for Groups:
- Yes
- Takes Reservations:
- Yes
- Waiter Service:
- Yes
- Outdoor Seating:
- No
- Alcohol:
- Full Bar
3 reviews for La P'tite France
3 reviews in English
-
Review from George B.
Winnipeg, MB
8/29/2010
Rich, tasty food, in a warm cheerful setting. The service was professional. Excellent food for those who don't mind taking their time and paying for it. The bread is fabulous.
-
Review from DineoutGal A.
Winnipeg, MB
12/13/2009 10 photos
This place always drew curiosity from me whenever I drove by the restaurant. This is a French restaurant with a Franco-Manitoban twist to it. Chef Justin Bohémier (also the owner) worked at the Manitoba Club for many years under Chef Bernard Mirlycourtois (who also happens to operate one of my favourite French restaurants in the city).
It's a small and cozy restaurant on St. Mary's, near downtown. The restaurant is dark and leans towards a more traditional decor and plays soft French music. The restaurant is surrounded 180 degrees by glass so you can watch the St. Mary's traffic (not the prettiest but it'll do). The place seems to attract very small groups and couples - it's the kind of place where you can have a good intimate conversation and linger for hours on end without feeling the wrath of the servers.
Previously, this place focused on pre-fixe meals - there was a 3 course menu for about $30. I had called earlier in the week to inquire about the food offerings but the man on the other line did not provide any useful information. He only said "oh our menu changes daily and it's prepared fresh." But since my last call (which was only a few days later) it seems like they have changed their menu. Now they now have a la carte options. There is a chef's menu but apparently you have to call ahead of time to notify the chef. There is a romantic couples offering where you get bread and olives on the house then you order and pay according to the menu price for one appetizer to share, two entrees and you receive a free dessert to share. Not bad as that will probably end up around $65 after taxes for two people. I'm sure it's not just limited to couples as I'm sure any two people dining together can order this offer.
I love bread and adore it even more when it's hot and fresh out of the oven with fresh churned butter! The baguettes were cut to perfect slices - crunchy on the outside and oh so soft and fluffy on the inside. The bread basket came with olives which had a good salty tang.
We shared the drunken mushrooms with garlic and brie cheese - it's a generous bowl of mushrooms covered in a wine reduction sauce. It's a great comforting appy to have on a cold night. The sauce is very rich and a tad salty for my tastes but I loved the gooey melted brie tucked underneath all those mushrooms. It was great to scoop onto the bread.
The entrees are classic French dishes; there's about 6-8 entree dishes to choose from which includes potatoes and vegetables and another section for more casual entrees like quiche. We ordered the beef bourguignon ($24) and the coq au vin ($23). The portion sizes are very fair especially with entree prices in the low $20 range. Very much bistro pricing. Both dishes came with beets, squash puree, zuchinnis and a lovely rich and creamy slice of potato gratin. The coq au vin was slightly dry, the sauce was very rich and once again a tad salty for me. The beef bourguignon was very tender and was in a great mushroom wine reduced sauce.
We shared the (free) brownie with a peanut butter sauce - a very rich and chocolately dessert.
We chose the heavier dishes so I felt very full after dinner. The food service is a tad slower than most places...probably because its a small kitchen and the chef is making everything to order. It's the type of place to linger over a meal - very French indeed. I think our meal lasted for about 2 hours but it was nice. Service was very personable and warm. Our server was knowledgeable about the menu and gave good descriptions and comments on the dishes. I like it when servers have an opinion and help steer you to good dishes.
Overall, I think this is a good place to have more classical French dishes at Bistro prices. I'd give this place 3.5 stars. -
Review from Jacqueline B.
Winnipeg, MB
9/13/2011
We went for the all you can eat mussels in August 2011. We tried the 4 different sauces and all of them were wonderful and so were the fries. I thought the price was fair as for $22 each we ate 5 servings of mussels. The service was great and very friendly. I will be going back to try other items off the fixed menu.
