My last review was about a place that is open late night. Today’s is also about a late night place. This time I’m writing about New Asia Chinese Restaurant on Ellice Avenue.
Hours:
| Mon | 4pm – 3am |
| Tue | Closed |
| Wed | 4pm – 3am |
| Thu | 4pm – 3am |
| Fri | 4pm – 3am |
| Sat | 4pm – 3am |
| Sun | 4pm – 12midnight |
Over the last couple of summers, the City of Winnipeg has been resurfacing Ellice Avenue not far from where I live. In 2018, I decided I would walk down the street to see what businesses were being affected by the construction.
New Asia is located just west of Arlington Street. It’s in one of those old buildings, with a business on ground floor and what may be apartments on the second floor. I’ve never been upstairs to see, it could be another dining room.
Late Night at New Asia
One of the first things that appealed to me about New Asia is that it is open after 9:00 pm. New Asia is open most nights until 3 am. I’m not there that late, being a big believer in the statement: “nothing good happens after 2 am.” However, there are the odd occasions when I’m looking for something to eat between 10 and 11 pm. Most restaurants in the neighbourhood are closed by that time.
I’ve never been in when the place is busy. The service is generally quite good. Although, the family’s son is often playing online multi-player games, where he is carrying on conversations with other players. That takes something away from the pleasure of the dining experience.
Since then I’ve visited several times. This review will be of my most recent visits.
Among the dishes I’ve tried recently is the BBQ Lean Pork. It’s a mild, dry, ham style dish. They offer plum sauce with it, but I preferred it dry. It’s a little drier than I would want, but still quite nice.
The Beef In Black Bean Sauce is also quite good. The vegetable mixture is quite good. The beef is nicely cooked, and there is plenty of sauce. You also get a good bowl of rice to mix with the meal.
Hot and Sour Soup and Combo
While I’ve enjoyed the meals I’ve eaten at New Asia, it wasn’t until my last visit that I found a couple of dishes that I really enjoyed. The last time I went, I decided to order the Hot and Sour Soup, and one of the combinations dinners.
The wonton soup I ate is quite good. The Hot and Sour soup is really good. When it came to the table, I thought there wasn’t a lot of solids, particularly, I couldn’t seem to find any shrimp. However, as I dug in there were a few shrimp. Beyond that, what I really like about this soup is they balance the hot and sour aspects of the soup.
If the Hot and Sour soup was a bit of a surprise, the combination plate was even more of a surprise. My experience with combination plates is that they tend to be rather pedestrian. At New Asia, the combination plate I ordered, contains, Lo Mein noodles, Kung Pao Beeg, and Chicken Balls.
All three of the elements tasted very good. They were also hot and fresh. When I go back, I’m definitely going to give the other combination plates a try to see if they are also as good.
Normally I tend to eat Chinese food, with pop to drink. This time around I ordered the Tsingtao beer. I enjoyed it quite a bit. I find it to be a good, light drink, that doesn’t leave me feeling overly full.
Given it’s proximity to me, and convenient, evening hours, I will be visiting New Asia on a fairly regular basis.