Upscale authentic and delicious Chinese at Kum Koon Garden

Chinese cuisine is always an easy go to for me. With the exhausting hours of residency and being a senior resident, there are multiple days when either my motivation or my interest in cooking wanes and I look towards my favourite restaurants in town for a nourishing (but still tasty) meal. One of my usual go-to spots is Kum Koon Garden.

Located in downtown Chinatown of Winnipeg, Kum Koon is the definitive restaurant for authentic Chinese cuisine in the area. The pleasant exterior houses a massive dining room inside; large enough even to host mega Chinese weddings! Traditional tasteful decor adorn the walls while elegant busboys and suited service staff welcome you into the busy restaurant.

As with most Chinese style Cantonese restaurants, Kum Koon operates on many menus: a simplified lunch menu, a brunch dim sum menu and an expansive dinner menu. Unfortunately, following the same norm for most Chinese places, Kum Koon is best enjoyed in the company of someone who can read Chinese as many of the best dishes are housed away on their "Chinese menu". Nevertheless the usual upscale seafood, stir fry, meat and hot pot options are available here.

Spicy Long Green Beans with Minced Pork take large green beans and wok fry them with minced pork in a sweet and spicy sauce. Tender but still crisp, the green beans are soft enough to absorb the sauce while providing enough crunch to contrast the fatty pieces of pork. The secret here is the sauce - a tasty combination of sweet, salty and spicy that envelops the entire dish to perfection.

This massive Assorted Seafood with Bean Curd Casserole features squid, shrimp and scallops tossed with fried tofu and vegetables. Kum Koon does a nice job here by not over seasoning the dish and let each ingredient's inherent flavour come to the fore. While the scallop and shrimp were nice and plump, the pieces of (previously frozen) squid were dry and too chewy. Nevertheless the dish was nicely cooked and tasted entirely authentic; don't forget to enjoy the iceberg lettuce at the end as it has soaked up the flavours from all the ingredients.

My usual order for any Chinese restaurant is the Deep Fried Crispy Chicken. Simple at initial glance but difficult to execute properly, Kum Koon delivered a nicely crisp exterior while maintaining a nice and tender interior. The inherent sweetness of the chicken was on display as the chefs showed restraint by keeping the dish deliberately mild in flavour. Make sure to enjoy the accompanied shrimp crackers quickly before they become soggy!

Kum Koon remains one of my go to restaurants for upscale Chinese cuisine in Winnipeg. Excellent flavour, fresh ingredients and authentic techniques all describe the excellent Kum Koon, an easy recommendation for anyone in the Chinatown area.