Huang Pu River Restaurant

Huang Pu River Restaurant
2 - 1875 Pembina Highway
204-261-4407

December, 2020

For the past decade, I’ve propounded the quality of Chinese foods along the Pembina strip, south of McGillivray to the Perimeter.  The influx of Chinese students to the UofM brings the best of Chinese to the south of the city.  Every time I walk into a new restaurant in this area, I expect to have the best Chinese meal of my life, which is a high order since I grew up in a Chinese household with a chef father.

Huang Pu River isn't a new experience for me.  A couple of years ago, we happened into this place after a beer event at Stone Angel in the same shopping complex.  We had some of the best Chinese food I ever tasted in Winnipeg, but then again, everything tastes great when you just came out of a three-hour tour of all-you-can-sample beer.  Not long after, we sampled Huang Pu again, and again, the food tasted spectacular.  Now, on our speed-dial list, Huang Pu delivers to our house regularly.  After many tastings, I'm willing to declare Huang Pu the best Chinese food in Winnipeg!

Starting with the spring rolls for appetisers, take a peek at how crispy the wrappers look, without a hint of oil or greasiness anywhere.  Each bite crumbles deliciously in your mouth as you crunch into the crispy stuffing.

Don't fill up on appetisers though, because the dinner portions are huge.  

Witness the fried rice as it is literally jammed into the container, as someone sitting on a suitcase to close it.  Perfectly seasoned and highly flavourful, this rice leaves you wanting for seconds, then thirds.  The only change I'd make is taking out the frozen peas-carrots-beans medley and subbing with fresh veggies--as is, it's still a spectacular dish.  This is the free chicken rice you get for orders over $35.

Here's the deluxe rice off the menu.

The paid version has the same wonderful rice but loads of other ingredients, including huge shrimps, cooked to perfection.  Shrimps overcook easily and when you overheat them, the because rubbery.  Not here, as these shrimps maintain their lovely crunch.  

When you open the chow mein container, all you see is ingredients, bright and fresh looking.  All of the broccoli, baby corn and the cauliflower taste nicely seasoned and cooked perfectly al dente.  Huge cuts of button mushrooms add body to the dish and carrots add wonderful colour.  

Here's a better look at the noodles.  Some Chinese restaurants recently started using packaged, dry noodles for their chow mein, which both saves time and cost--if you don't mind eating rubbery, soulless pasta.  Huang's noodles come deliciously soft, holding tightly to the flavours of the sauce.  Oh, and those huge chunks of chicken taste as juicy as they look.

The sesame chicken comes lightly battered, with generous tenders of chicken.  The sweetish dish oozes with the taste of sesame.  Despite the moisture of the sauce, the batter retains some of its crispiness from frying.  

Similarly, the enormous chicken balls hold their crispy coatings.  Often, you find restaurants cheap out on fried meats by leavening the batter so the sliver of meat in the middle looks a lot larger than it is.  Not here--the thin coating barely cover the pool-ball size blocks of white chicken meat.

I'm not a huge fan of Shanghai noodles; I prefer chow mein and ho fan (chow fun) since the noodles are smaller and less starchy.  However, this Shanghai dish has so much delicious sauce that it covers the noodles nicely.  The vegetables come freshly fried, still al dente, and the big slices of beef taste marvellous.  

Here's how my typical dish looks, with a "small" sampling from each container.  The item on the bottom left is the egg foo yong, soft and velvety.  Big slices of beef give wonderful taste and bean sprouts add texture and crunch.  Just done, the eggs hold their shape but have just a tad of runniness.  

Everything I've tried from Huang Pu River tastes wonderfully delicious, authentic Cantonese, and loaded with prime ingredients.  Folks, it just doesn't get any better than this.

If you eat in, don't be shy to ask the servers for help with the menu that, typical Chinese style, has hundreds of entries.  They won't be shy about telling you to stay away from the dishes that may be too authentic for your tastes.

Right now, we're in the heart of the COVID era, so it's takeout only.  Huang Pu has in-house delivery, free with orders over $35 and within 5 km (or free Chicken Fried Rice over $35).  They also offer the services of Skip the Dishes.  Please do not use Skip the Dishes (or any other third-party delivery companies) if you can.

Skip the Dishes charges 30%, cut right from the profit of the restaurant; that’s in addition to what they charge you as the end consumer for delivery.  In these troubled times, when we think we’re doing small businesses some good by ordering in, all the profit goes into the pockets of the greedy Skip folks while the restaurant is left with nothing.  I want to support the restaurant; I want them to get the profits.  I don’t want the greedy Skip the Dishes to pour more $millions into their pockets. Even if you pick it up yourself, just because you used Skip’s online payment system, they still take 30% off the top.  Just avoid them all together.

This is an unbiased, free public service that I am happy to provide.  If you enjoy these reviews, please consider clicking on the accompanying ads.  This is the only compensation I receive. 

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Ray Yuen, Pit Master / Grill Master
Certified Kansas City Barbecue Society Judge – Badge #97736
Certified Steak Cook-off Association Judge – Badge #7788
Canadian Barbecue Society Member