Ciao! February March 2020 CIAO_FebMar2020 | Page 27

ciao! reviews Snow and Moon Neighbourhood . . . . Kenaston Address .5-1727 Kenaston Blvd Phone . . . . . . . 204-309-0606 Entrées . . . . . . . . . . .$10-$19 Icy treats are having a moment. Globally in major cities, particularly in incubators of Instagram-ably cute desserts like Japan, Korea and Taiwan, finding new ways to ice cream is where it’s at, whether stretched, nitro-frozen or spread in thin sheets and rolled. Winnipeg, however, is a less pop- ulous city full of discerning diners, meaning the trends that stick are those worth hopping on the band- wagon for. It also means that while visiting either of Snow and Moon Dessert Cafe’s cute locations (South Kenaston and St. James) you’re just as likely to see an aspiring influencer documenting her ice cream as a jock munching on multi-coloured macarons or the ladies who lunch set daintily downing a mountain of strawberry “snow.” Most varieties of shaved ice involve flavouring delicate shreds of ice with sweet syrups or toppings. Snow and Moon differentiates its product by shaving frozen milk into light and fluffy flakes that cake, clump, and melt on the tongue almost identically to the white stuff outside yet taste as luscious and rich as ice cream. This sweet snow comes in choco- late, vanilla and fruit flavours and is served in knock-your-socks off por- tions, in wide white bowls. Matcha flavoured snow, with its muted green hue and delicate grassy fla- vour, is a top pick. Yogurt lychee snow extends the idea to a new, cultured frontier of dairy, and yogurt’s signature tang makes a perfect backdrop for the needed, be fed is the Holy Grail. Enter Beaurivage. Chef/owner George Chamaa is at the helm of this charming Lebanese eatery, which recently relocated to an inviting strip-side spot on Corydon Ave, still bearing bamboo from its most recent sushi-slinging tenant. From his open kitchen in the centre of the room, chef Chamaa handily churns out mouth watering Middle Eastern fare in a prix fixe parade that changes nightly. For $35, sample three appetizers, two salads and three main courses, or kick in for the $40 “dinner supreme,” which also includes des- sert and Lebanese coffee, brewed to order. There is also a deluxe sea- food menu available but it requires advance ordering (two days ahead). Appetizers are testament to the versatility of vegetables. Fire-kissed eggplant is whirred into a silky, tangy and intensely smoky baba ghanoush served with warm slices of pita. Delicately spiced cauliflower reaches new heights, broken into florets and fried until crisp and bur- nished brown. A stewy mixture of rice and tomatoes, lightly redolent of mint, is neatly packed into warm grape leaf bundles under a generous drizzle of tahini. Light and refreshing salads come next, including a crisp house salad and a parsley-packed tabouli, zippy beaurivage biStro and lemony, which is served with crunchy leaves of romaine for easy Neighbourhood . . . . . Corydon scooping. Address . . . . 788 Corydon Ave Entrées offer heft in the form of well-prepared proteins. On one visit, Phone . . . . . . 204-691-6999 beautifully spiced and exquisitely juicy chicken shawarma and kebabs Entrées . . . . . . . . . .$30-$40 of savoury beef were the day’s fare, Indecision can be the bane of served with a fluffy pilaf of bulgar eating out, as any hungry would- lashed with tahini. Lebanese kibbeh seem to have be diner who’s ever spent too long searching for a restaurant online been dreamed up by a meatball knows all too well. These days, when mad scientist. A warm-spice scented options have been converted to an ring of minced eye of round is endless scroll, a place where one mixed with pulverized bulgar and can sit down and, with no decisions wrapped around a core of juicy sweet, syrupy lychee fruits. Hot café style drinks, as well as smoothies and iced coffees topped with milk snow, are also on offer. An alluring dessert case supplements the menu with Asian-inflected patis- serie like matcha roll cakes and ube macarons. Shibuya honey toast, a treat pop- ular in Japan, is typically made by hollowing out and cubing the centre of a section of squishy Japanese milk bread, tossing the cubes with honey before reinserting them. A warning for those clinging to carb- conscious New Year’s resolutions: what emerges from the kitchen is a golden brick of bread the size of the plate, capped off by a frilly whorl of whipped cream. Order extra spoons for the dieters anyway. Once set on the table, its warm-from-the-oven smell is impossible to resist, and the fluffy interior—shot through with honey and topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream—is pure pleasure. It must explain why, even when the snow is falling, this ice cream shop is packed. At the end of the day, it’s all about fun. Snow and Moon Dessert Cafe is open Mon-Sat 2 pm-10 pm, Sun 1 pm-8 pm (Kenaston); Mon-Thu 1 pm-10 pm, Fri-Sat 1 pm-11 pm, Sun 1 pm-9 pm (St. James). ciao! / feb/mar / two thousand twenty 25