New Winnipeg restaurant a fish out of water at core-area hotel

A new sushi restaurant is about to openin Winnipeg, but its location at an agingdowntown hotel is raising a few eyebrows.

The once impressive McLaren Hotel at Main Street and Rupert Avenueis known more now for its beer sales or seedy bar just off the lobby than for its restaurant.

At lunch hour, the busiest spot in the McLaren Hotel is the beer vendor. The hotel's long-term residents are unlikely consumers of sushi.

But Kang Seog Lee is bringing the tasty Asian raw-fish treats to the neighbourhood anyway, converting the hotel's former greasy-spoon restaurant into a sushi joint.

Lee, who immigrated to Canada from Korea in 2002, has already opened two Winnipeg locationsfor Ta-Ke Sushi, one on Pembina Highway and the other on Portage Avenue.

Lee admitsthe restaurant'snewestbranch is a bit of a gamble. Butthere is room for it in the neighbourhood, he said, noting the hotel's proximity to museums, live performance venues and city hall.

"I know this area is not the very top," he told CBC. "Hopefully I will make goodopportunity here."

Harmin Kang, one of the owners and manager of the McLaren, said the sushi restaurant could be a good fit.

"Especially having all the ethnic community around… I think it'll be good. It's downtown. Not too many restaurantsaround here, lot of businesses," he said.

Lee'sinitiative to open at the hotel —on the cusp of the revitalizing Exchange District neighbourhood —is another example of improvement in the city core, Kang said.

"With the new development coming on, the riverfront and everything around, the condos, things are changing. Downtown is becoming the focal point, I think,for Winnipeg now."

Lee hopes to have Ta-Ke Sushi's Main Street location open in the next few days.