Tasty bites amid mod decor

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 17/05/2018 (2935 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Greenish, a downtown breakfast and lunch spot, takes a little finding. But it’s worth it.

Located in the Skywalk system on the south side of Portage opposite Air Canada Park (you can come across from Portage Place or enter at street level at 350 Portage Ave. and head up the stairs), this friendly, family-run resto offers a short but good menu of mostly Korean and Japanese dishes.

There are grab-and-go options, including prepared sushi and sashimi. If you want a relaxed meal, though, Greenish offers full sit-down service in a small room filled with mod furniture and natural light.

The wonton soup combines a delicate broth with very dense and tasty little wontons. Takoyaki — little Japanese octopus balls — are delicious, the batter crisp on the outside and tender on the inside, hiding a chewy bit of octopus. The ramen is also good, with springy wheat noodles, soft-boiled egg and a few more of those good wontons in a rich and spicy broth.

Korean specialties include bulgogi, bibimbap and sundubu.

A large lunch salad easily feeds two. It’s not tuna salad, as my lunch companion points out, “It’s tuna… salad.” A mound of greens, mixed with mango and peanuts and topped with a perfect fan of avocado slices, is finished with a bright, lively chili-lime dressing and served with a side of blow-torched albacore tuna.

If you want a more conventional North American breakfast, you can get a bagel with smoked salmon, or what the menu calls “egg and toast,” which is basically a very good breakfast sandwich with egg, real cheddar, crumbly bacon and a good garlicky mayo.

There’s also good, strong, fresh coffee — both drip and espresso-based types — and cold drinks, including a nice, not-too-sweet iced matcha, making Greenish a good spot for a workday pick-me-up.

● ● ●

Mercatino is located at the northwest corner of Portage and Main in the underground concourse, part of a newly renovated and nice-looking food court. A big skylight brings in lots of natural sunshine, and the swanky new seating area can be either loungey (upholstered chairs and couches and low tables) or work-ish (stools and high tables with multiple plug-ins and charging stations), depending on how busy you are.

Mercatino is a Calgary-based chain offering fresh, fast, healthy food for the daytime office crowd (including some gluten-free and nut-free choices and a number of vegetarian options). The venue relies on a streamlined black-white-and-wood look, with a smart setup that minimizes lineups. There’s a wall of fridges and shelves with quick to-go items, such as pre-made sandwiches, salads and yogurt; a central hot and cold buffet (priced by weight); as well as stations that cook on-demand entrées.

Pre-made quinoa salad with mixed greens is virtuous but bland, the dressing offering almost no flavour. A chicken salad sandwich on ho-hum whole-wheat bread is skimpy on the chicken.

The made-to-order menu is perhaps trying too hard to be all things to all people, with tacos, teriyaki, shawarma and banh mi.

Fish tacos pull off some nicely crisp battered cod, but the add-ons disappoint. The house slaw had run out during one lunch rush, so the dish lacked the requisite bite, and the avocado seemed to be missing in action.

Baked goods include a dense and moist zucchini-chocolate loaf, but a sampled scone is a bit stodgy — the plastic wrapping doesn’t help — and a chocolate-chip cookie a bit tough. Better are the energy bites, packed with flax and oats and honey and all sorts of good stuff, sort of a grown-up version of the no-bake peanut butter balls of my childhood.

Marketing clearly matters at Mercatino, which has a very specific look and lots of clever, slogan-y packaging. There’s a lot of style here, but the substance struggles to keep up.

“Any Fresher, and It’d Still be on the Farm,” my so-so sandwich says. “I Like to Drink Better Coffee,” my coffee cup proclaims. The java is good, in fact, but the packaging still seems a little presumptuous.

alison.gillmor@freepress.mb.ca