Highway 44, Lot 3
West Hawk Lake, MB
204-349-2269
hi-pointrestaurant.ca
August, 2020
Inside and out, this place looks like a log cabin and has the rustic feel. Themed work by a local artist adorns the walls, giving it a homey feel. The first time we tried to come here, we arrived at 8 pm only to be turned away because they’re closed. With all tables on the patio filled, inside dining room buzzing, and people waiting for pickup, it was hard to believe that they’re close. Still, it’s true that they close at 8 pm on Sunday to Wednesday (10 pm on the other days). Check the times before you come—you don’t want to miss out because you dawdled.
Knowing better this time, we
get there earlier but with all of the bar, patio and dining room full, we end
up at a table beside the door. I never
would have realised how much pickup traffic there if I didn’t sit by the
entrance. It’s with good reason that
they’re popular; the food tastes superb.
We start with the Sweet Chilli Bites, breaded and fried chicken pieces tossed in a sweet and spicy chilli sauce. They garnish afterwards with sesames, scallions and crunchy chow mein noodles. The chicken comes well done, fried in light batter and not overcooked. The sauce tastes sweetish but the chilli doesn’t have a lot of bite to it. Overall, the flavour tastes pleasant.
Reaching to its Asian base, the sprinkling of scallions and sesame seeds emulate how the Chinese would serve many dishes. I have a person pick against the crispy chow mein noodles and I think it’s a travesty that restaurants have turned to this cop-out and called it chow mein. True chow mein takes time and effort to make, which is why this instant noodle came about.
Chow mein noodles come dried, just like many pastas. To reconstitute, you need to boil them until the get al dente. Then drain the water and panfry until the noodles get crispy. It’s work that many restaurants don’t want to undertake so someone invented these instant noodles instead.
To properly use the ersatz noodles, you need lots of liquids in your sauces. Put the nest of noodles down and ladle the sauce generously over it. After several minutes, the noodles soak up the sauce and try to resemble the genuine chow mein. The texture doesn’t cut it and it ends up tasting somewhat rubbery but still dry.
Here as a garnish, these strands of noodles sit on top of the sauce and since the sauce is thick, it can’t absorb anything. They don’t go with the dish and they don’t taste good. If I ran the Hi-Point, I’d just get rid of these noodles all together. They not only add nothing to the dish, they in fact drag the quality of the dish down. It’s a good dish—it doesn’t need this.
Speaking of garnish, the steak sandwich (today’s special) could use a bit of garnish. It looks so lonely sitting on the plate. Even though it shares the plate with bread and a bowl of slaw, there’s a lot of dead space on the plate. They have some scallions covering the slaw—let’s bring some of that on and beside the steak and they’d have a much nicer presentation.
As far as the steak goes, they grill it well, as well as they can. It’s a thin slice of meat so it tends to overcook VERY quickly. They chef knows that, which is why there is only one set of grill marks; there’s no time to cross grill. Kudos to the chef for being able to get the grill marks and still leave the pink inside (medium).
I love eating the bread after it soaks up the wonderful steak juice. Unfortunately, there just isn’t enough juice from this steak to leave any on the bread. This is not the fault of the griller; the cut of steak is just too thin to have juices. I would tailor the steak so that it’s not as wide but thicker—perhaps go to a center cut top sirloin instead. I know it looks more impressive on the plate when it’s larger but most foodies know how it is. Tenderloins are by nature small so they’re thick; people understand that.
The Sicilian Chorizo Fettuccini
lists tomato as the first ingredient on its menu, which deceived me into
thinking that it’s a red sauce; I thought it would be some sort of red
pesto. It’s not; it’s as white as white
gets.
It also comes with spinach, red onion, and option to add garlic shrimp, although I added chicken instead. The chicken was a half breast, seared nicely and cut into sizeable pieces—done to perfection, it’s caramelised on the outside and moist on the inside.
Out of spinach, they offered mushroom as a wonderful substitute. Topped with tons of feta (pronounced fay-tah, NOT fet-tah) and blended with oodles of basil, this pesto tastes delicious blended with the noodles. This is a fantastic dish and I would order it often in future.
This is a lovely, cozy
restaurant that feels like a ski resort—a place where you’d go to warm up to some
hot beverages and comfort food. The décor
doesn’t look like the sort of place I’d go to cool off after a steamy day playing
in the sun. In the end, it doesn’t
matter. Between the nice atmosphere and
the excellent food, this becomes an instant must-stop every time I come to Whiteshell.
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