Viena Do Castelo

Great!!! Fresh food. Low-​cost. Friendly staff.
Was visiting family this week and my best friend wanted to go for Portuguese food, because he had visited me in Calgary and I had treated him to an awesome traditional Portuguese diner.
Having not lived in Winnipeg for over 15 years I didn’t know where to go and old Portuguese restaurants I was familiar with are all closed, so I did some research and discovered there are none left.
I found that there is one that has a few things like Portuguese style grilled chicken on the menu, but the rest of the food is not, therefore it’s not authentic.
The other two places were grocery/​bakery establishments that serve some hot food in the back. I chose Viena do Castelo based on the proximity to where my friend works and took him to lunch.
I was pleasantly surprised by the experience. They don’t have a full sit down dinning experience with an extensive menu. But what they do offer is very tasty, fresh, and affordable. There is a sitting area with a few tables at the front of the establishment. It was sunny and clean and made for a nice lunch-​time eat and chat.
The staff were friendly and very helpful. We explained what we were looking for and they put together a nice lunch for the two of us. We had:
Bifanas — crusty Portuguese buns filled with tender port cutlets smothered in a rich sauce, with sauté onions. We had ours topped with banana pepper rings and hot pimento sauce. They were delicious… just like my mom’s, but even with the peppers and suave, they weren’t as hot as my mom’s…thank god :-)
Bacalho as Nata — cod fish and potato in cream sauce. I had never had this before and it was delicious. I would certainly look for this dish when I get back home, because I am hooked. I eat it all up and was completely satisfied with the portion and flavour. It had the right amount if saltines and seasoning, but others may find it too salty. Definitely not a bland dish.
We chased these two wonderful items down with a couple of cans of orange Sumol, which is a soft drink they sell as part of their grocery items. It’s nice: not too sweet and not too carbonated. North American soft drinks could learn a thing or two from this simple soft drink :-)
Pastels de Nata — For desert with had a couple of custard tarts from their bakery items. These were very fresh and delicious. I have eaten a lot if pastels de nata in my many years and these were some of the best I have ever had.
Overall a great value meal with great taste and freshness. I highly recommend this for a quick low-​cost lunch or a very, very casual early dinner.

Heard about this place from a friend of mine, who said their Portuguese egg tarts or pastel de nata were really good. This was my first time hearing about them being available in the city, so of course I had to go try it. The last time I had Portuguese egg tarts was when I was in Macau, and they were so amazing, so my expectations have already been set quite high.
We got a package of 6. The shell of the egg tart was flaky, and there was a nice caramelization at the top. They were very good, but they weren’t as good as the ones I’ve had in the past. Give them a try if you’ve never had a Portuguese egg tart before.

What’s not to love about this place? It’s a super friendly Portuguese grocery, bakery and eatery! Oh yeah, and they sell the juiciest, most amazing whole roasted chicken with piri piri sauce and potatoes for $ 15!!! I was very sad when I heard Chave D’Ouro closed as that was the first place I ever tasted Portuguese style roast chicken and potatoes and fell in love. Well, now this place has taken over that business by offering that as a take out — just order ahead, preferable 24 hours ahead but they said they can do it with 3 hours notice but 24 hours is best since it lets the chicken properly marinate.
Their lunches are a hidden gem as you can get $ 5 lunches that are super yum. Seriously, where can you even get lunch for that price anymore??? Bifana, pork sandwich with caramelized onions, banana peppers and hot sauce goes for $ 3 or if you add on the soup of the day comes to $ 5. The home made soup was great, not salty at all, you can taste all the fresh veggies in there. So good. The bifana can be ordered with beef instead, called «prego» though pork is traditional. Wonderful sandwich with great flavours so get all the fixings.
The bakery is another huge winner as it’s still as good as I remembered from my last view a couple of years ago when they first opened. Their cinnamon buns are more doughy but I like that and has just enough cinnamon and brown sugar in there without it being too bloody sweet which I hate. Their baked items change daily but Saturday has the most flavours to choose from.
You gotta try the chorizo in a bun for $ 3.50 — it’s essentially a calzone, bread filled with sliced strips of home made chorizo (made in house, which you can buy as well) plus mozzarella. The wonderful guy working there who was super passionate about the food suggested getting this heated up and filled with caramelized onions if you eat it in store. Do the same if you take it home or add a fried sunny side up egg and make it a meal. I heated the chorizo bun in a toaster oven, cup the top open and placed a sunny side up egg and had the most delicious lunch.
Great place to try so many yummy savoury and sweet items!!! It’s mostly take out though there are a handful of tables for you to sit and enjoy the food as well.
Open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Monday to Thursday and Saturday, to 6 p.m. Friday.

I stopped here on the way home and picked up four take-​out sandwiches. I ended up with a bottle of olive oil and some homemade sausage too. The place is clean. The service is friendly and fast. You can sit down and eat or have a coffee, latté or Portuguese cold drink. They also have a Portuguese grocery mart. This place is cool. I’m going back because they said they cook old school Portuguese Cod and chips for the old folks. I hear they have wicked pork cutlet sandwiches and very good pastries. I recommend this joint.