Give it a whirl

Opinion

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 19/09/2017 (2410 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The revolving restaurant phenomenon had an optimistic birth in the 1960s and ’70s, when these lofty eateries stood as icons of big-city modernity. Today, rotating towers continue to be built in Asia, the Middle East and the South Pacific, but in North America they mostly hang on in the novelty restaurant category — often seen as destinations for tourists and earnest couples on first dates — and as pop-culture references.

These moving feasts now have a reputation for offering great views but not-so-great food and that, unfortunately, is often the case at Winnipeg’s Prairie 360.

First off, the whole spinning-room thing is absolutely fabulous and fun and I resoundingly recommend it.

At a 30-storey height, you can see Winnipeg’s big, sexy landmarks, of course, but you also get the unexpected, gritty back- and topsides of nearby structures, as well as a clear sense of how green our town is, with its spreading canopies of trees.

The constant rotation adds another layer to this panoramic vision. The restaurant completes a 360-degree revolution every 72 minutes and the steady but almost imperceptible movement means you have to constantly reorient yourself and figure out what you’re looking at.

You really will see our city in a whole new way.

Does the cuisine measure up to this eye-opening experience? Well, no.

The venue, which originally opened in 1998, was shut down for a few years and then re-opened in 2013 with new owners, has recently undergone yet another reboot. The food is ambitious — new chef Huan Nguyen has freshened up the menu, offering upscale steakhouse fare with some nouveau flourishes and fusion twists — but it can be uneven and overpriced.

We started with drinks. (And if you want to take in some glamorous nighttime views without a big cost commitment, consider a weekend cocktail in the lounge — a sampled Clover Club had a Prohibition-era kick.)

A Goldeye Park salad of spinach, quinoa, nuts, cauliflower and, yes, smoked goldeye, was light and lively, though the honey-lemon dressing maybe a titch too sweet.

The charcuterie plate was unadventurous, relying too much on dull, thinly sliced cheese, including a pedestrian marble variety, and some indifferent salami. Only the tasty bacon jam lived up to the $29 price tag.

Steak, a seven-ounce tenderloin with beautiful horseradish butter (a $3 add-on), was good, but the attending garlic mashed potatoes were dry and quite lumpy. (A few lumps in a mash can be taken as a badge of authenticity, but too many seems more like a sign of rushed prep.) Duck was nicely cooked — not overdone, as it sometimes is, and served with a creamy, herby polenta — but the top layer of fat needed crisping up. Pickerel was delicately cooked and served with spaetzle, a smart take on an underappreciated side.

The menu contains a few misnomers. Tuna carpaccio would suggest very thinly sliced fish, but here it is served up in small slabs, just barely seared and garnished with sambal chili sauce and a dramatic curve of puffed rice noodle. Don’t get me wrong: it’s good, just not as expected.

Another vegetarian offering is billed as both a paella and a risotto; while both dishes are rice-based, they are different.

We also tried the Sunday brunch buffet — not my favourite dining option, as it often combines an overwhelming amount of food with underwhelming quality. The 360’s offerings include cheeses, meats, salads and a yogurt bar, along with cooked breakfast classics bacon, sausages and eggs. There are also sweet things, such as tarts, though the baking area was curiously short on straight-up breakfast carbs such as toast, buns or muffins.

Eggs Benny were pretty good, considering they came out of a warming tray, but the stiff waffles weren’t improved by sitting. Better bets include the cooked-to-order omelettes and the carving station, where we arrived just as the attendant first cut into a huge roast of medium-rare beef.

The furnishings and fittings at 360 are comfortable but quietly understated, keeping the focus on the windows. Service is pleasant and mostly efficient, especially considering the customers keep moving in relation to the kitchen doors.

A final note: though you can spot the tower in the sky from blocks away, it can be difficult to find the entrance, which is tucked into a fairly odd subsection — combining classical statuary and a loading zone — of the exuberantly kooky Fort Garry Place. The 360 website very wisely provides extremely specific directions. Follow them and you’ll find the door to the restaurant elevator.

alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca