It would be hard to improve the Thermëa by Nordik Spa-Nature experience.
As soon as you don your robe and enter that centre of supreme relaxation and bliss, you will be presented with all kinds of options for taking it easy and doing your body right. There are thermal pools, saunas, steam rooms, a vast beach area (which includes a bar and wood-fired pizza stand) and countless places to stretch out and snuggle up with a book.
On top of that, its Restö and culinary program has always complemented this setting beautifully. The menu is farm-to-table centric, offering dishes that range from holistic to indulgent, all singing with seasonal flavours. The craft cocktails, wine list and selection of local beers are worth the trip alone and, you get to eat in your robe while seated in the dining room, on the patio or in the fireside lounge. (Pro tip: Bring an extra bathing suit so you don’t have to sit in a wet one. It’s a clutch move.)
Chef’s Table Experience
Not satisfied with all that amazingness, the culinary team at Thermëa has introduced a new Chef’s Table Experience that has proved so popular that it will continue, much like the beach, into autumn.
Led by chef Maximus Navarro – aka chef Chicco and international award-winning sous chef Darnell Banman, the Chef’s Table Experience is seemingly lavish, and yet somehow relaxed – you are dining in your robe after all – and has sold out all summer long.
Along a large communal table set above the spa you’ll be treated to five courses with three wine pairings and two palate cleansers. On top of the wine pairing, the culinary experience is paired with a private Aufguss ritual in the Finlandia sauna after your meal. And, if that wasn’t enough, the whole evening starts with a guided sensory meditation!
This summer’s menu progressed through dishes like Canadian albacore tuna with sweet drop peppers and basil vinaigrette, crispy pork belly with bitter melon, a rich spiny lobster risotto with seared scallops and a Manitoba-centric main of pistachio-crusted bison tenderloin. The first palate cleanser was all Manitoba – a chilled borscht with a dill tuile (who doesn’t love a fancy cracker?) and crème fraiche.
As part of the Chef’s Table you also get full spa access, so you can come anytime beforehand and stay into the night after.
For autumn, you can expect the seasonal menu to be rich in local fare. In fact, the current Restö menu features borderline spooky season dishes like roasted sweet potato with green bean, radish and wild rice in tahini citrus dressing; skin-on pan fried walleye (no one is doing skin on here! You can also order it à la carte for $13) with smoky pureed corn and sauce virge, and Berkshire pork belly with malt glaze on wild lemon risotto.
Other staples we can’t get enough of are the mushroom confit from the starters (so satisfying to load up those crostini) and literally every sandwich. The bacon jam burger always calls out – it has three sauce elements that bathe the juicy Angus beef, the Croque Nordik makes for an indulgent brunch and the smoked Manitoba Arctic char on Danish rye is the apropos choice, given the Scandinavian spa surroundings.
Future Chef’s Table experiences will be announced to Thermëa newsletter subscribers (go to the bottom right of the website). For a private Chef’s Table Dining experience of 8 people or more, please email marketing.winnipeg@thermea.ca with your name, phone number, desired date and party size.
Still plenty of time to hit the beach – and Biërgarden!
Outside of the three Restö areas, you can also get food down on the beach. Its Biërgarden, on top of having an impressive selection of local beers and drinks, is stocked with a wood-fired oven that the culinary team uses to make a full menu of chewy, charred pizzas.
You can also toast marshmallows over one of the many fire pits after you order one of Thermëa’s famous s’more kits.
The beach itself is brimming with loungers and fireplaces, and is accompanied by the soothing sounds of water features (which run under the stairs to the beach) rippling along the rocks. It’s a peach of a scene, and one that still works well as autumn approaches.
Thermëa by Nordik-Spa Natutre is located at 775 Crescent Drive and is open seven days a week, 8:30 a.m. to 10 p.m. Book your session online at www.thermea.ca
