Cafe Platea

I found out about this place via Groupon and decided to give it a try, as I haven’t had much Korean food in Winnipeg. This place is in the same building that used to be Two A Tea.
I really like the atmosphere and décor of the place. It’s hip and modern but still classy, with a high contrast colour scheme — black, white and red and some other dark colours, but overall bright and airy.
We ordered the miso soup ($ 1.50), kimchee ($ 4.25), chicken bulgogi ($ 9.25), salmon roll ($ 3.95), salmon nigiri ($ 2.95) & red snapper nigiri ($ 2.95).
The kimchee was quite nice and made with fresh cabbage. I don’t think it was fermented at all, and wasn’t very salty. It had good flavour and a mild heat to it.
The miso soup came out next and it was your fairly average miso — not too salty, flavourful but not strong. I would have preferred if the soup came out before the kimchee, as the heat from the kimchee kind of overpowered the subtle flavours of the miso a bit.
Next came the bulgogi. Lots of pieces of chicken with shredded vegetables and garnished with a few tiny pieces of broccoli, served on a hot plate. Compared to the huge portions you get at most Chinese restaurants this looked a bit small, but it came with a miso soup and rice, and for a single person I think this would have been more than enough. The sauce was sweet and flavourful and the chicken and vegetables were cooked nicely. Overall a really tasty dish.
The sushi was alright, but nothing to write home about. Certainly not the best I’ve had. The salmon roll had cucumber in it, which was something different, and an enjoyable combination, though the roll was quite small. The nigiri was again, average.
Overall the presentation was really nice except for the salmon roll, which kind of looked uneven and dumped onto the plate. The pieces were cut at an angle and I could see the aesthetic they were aiming for, but it really didn’t come together very well, and the pieces weren’t carefully arranged on the plate.
The amount of food we ordered worked out to be the perfect amount for the two of us, though it might have come up a little short if you’re a big eater.
Service was polite but slow, and our food also took a while to come out (I think they only had one person there preparing food, and there were a few other tables of people there that night.)
Our bill came out to about $ 25 before tax and tip.
I enjoyed myself but I didn’t find that Platea really stood out for me. I’d go back for the Korean food, but they failed to impress with the sushi.