Ken's Restaurant - Average Chinese

Sometimes the on call and work requirements of a residency program can be daunting, especially so when you are on a busy in hospital rotation. There would often be days when I find myself staying at the hospital past 7PM. And even when physically out of the hospital I often find myself focusing on the litany of things to do coming up ... the teaching for the students tomorrow, the plans for our more complex patients, etc. Thus you can imagine it leaves little time for food which forces me to return to previous restaurants or try new places for sustenance rather than to savour. One such night saw me arrive at Ken's Restaurant.

Ken's Restaurant & Lounge is a prominent building in the middle of downtown Winnipeg close to Chinatown. And like the current state of wear and tear that is Winnipeg's Chinatown, Ken's Restaurant is dated and altogether unattractive. The exterior is simply a big simple sign in tacky block lettering while the interior is similarly dated with worn down booth seating and an unappealing shade of green wallpaper. Further augmenting the look is the laughably poor condition of the menu with pages randomly strewn together and a broken binding. The menu though, is impressively vast and carries a range of Chinese dishes and cuisines. I was happy to see that Ken's separates out their Western Chinese, Cantonese and Northern Chinese menu options and strives to carry a stunning number of dishes.

Wanting to try something in the Northern Chinese section we opted for an Spicy Peanut Noodle Soup with Pork Chop. The dish is split into two with the noodle soup and pork chop served separately. The noodle soup was the star of the dish featuring a rich and creamy peanut base that was augmented by the spice of chili oil. The simple egg noodles were cooked al dente and did well to soak in the juices but were firm enough to not become too soggy. A little green onion added a needed colour and freshness to the dish.

The second half - pork chop - was more of a mess. The crispy pieces of pork were cooked well but the quality of the pork was suspicious with most of the portions featuring huge globs of fat. And while I always appreciate a bit of fat in my meat, this was overwhelming and rendered the dish inedible.

Lamb Hot Pot was served piping hot in a large stone bowl and was chalk full of tofu skin, Chinese mushrooms and the aforementioned chunks of lamb. Thankfully this dish was better than the previous with tender pieces of lamb (this time with a reasonable amount of fat) all wrapped together in a thick soy based broth. The key here is the interplay between the fatty lamb and the soft pieces of tofu skin that soaked in all the juices. Perfect with a bowl of rice.

Our vegetable of the day were Pea Tips with Beef. The relatively large portion featured a bed of hearty pea tips with tender slices of beef. Conservatively seasoned with just a dash of salt, this brought a much needed brightness and freshness to the meal. Unfortunately the dish came overly greasy which resulted in a huge pile of oil and grease on the bottom of the plate and destroyed the usual crispness of the pea tips.

While Ken's Restaurant has a vast menu and reasonable prices, the food is simply average with the chefs relying on huge portions and large amounts of oil rather than finesse and balance of flavour. And so if you are able to ignore the dated and unattractive restaurant, Ken's Restaurant represents an option for those in the area wanting Chinese.