The Foods Of Canada
I haven't got the headspace to fully write about the trip yet, so here's a throwaway piece about which restaurants I visited and what I ate each day! It seemed to be my mission to eat at quite a few chains I'd heard of that don't exist over here.
Chicken satay pho [with amazing quality chicken and spicy broth] from Fantasia Noodle House.
Dairy Queen Reese's Blizzard, although I asked for what they had in the photo which seemed to be a Reese's brownie with icecream on the side. I don't know if it was a really misleading photo or just got lost in translation. I enjoyed it anyway.
iHop ham and cheese omelette with three pancakes on the side and choice of four different syrups [blueberry, butter pecan, maple and strawberry]!
A white chocolate meringue from Duchess Bakeshop.
Smoked Atlantic salmon tartare with pumpernickel crisps and saffron aioli. Turns out this was on REALLY HARD crispbread but I enjoyed it so much I ate it anyway. Yes, about midway through the trip I really noticed my jaw improving. Sadly it's back to being a bit crap now I'm back in work. Baked Arctic char: cracked pepper and maple glazed with orange ginger butter sauce and grilled saffron potatoes, both from La Ronde revolving restaurant.
Remedy Cafe hummous and pitta which was so huge I snacked on it for three days. Boxing up leftovers is a big thing over here. I also got a vanilla rooibos chai here, and then two more during the course of the trip.
A thing of beauty:
Miso soup, spicy tuna and salmon from Tokyo Express at West Edmonton Mall food court.
Poutine and white truffle scallops, with a random slice of garlic bread on top. Olive Bistro, Jasper. My first poutine! Love those cheesy curds. Tasted a little sweet, almost. Perhaps the gravy.
Rye toast with strawberry sauce from Maple Leaf Grill and Lounge.
Grizzly House: 'cub' portion of chicken [1/4 lb] cooked on their garlic and herb hot rock, with a selection of their sauces. We had to cook this ourselves, which no-one actually explicitly told us until we were ordering. The menu was vague. We were first under the impression it was cheese fondue, and then told there were two ways of cooking which we thought meant we could do it ourselves or they could do it. It was eventually revealed that it was all on us.
Neil's rather more exotic 'exotic fondue' and my chicken in the background:
Holiday Lodge cooked us a homecooked breakfast, waffles with strawberries.
'Beer bread' with a cheese dip, from Finn MacCool's. Basically a roadside diner/pub on the journey back from Banff.
Coconut chicken curry and rice from Delicious Pho. So tired could barely leave the house to get this takeaway. Good flavour, slightly poor quality chicken.
Swampstick, which is marinated, fried Louisiana alligator kabob with a sweet and spicy sauce, served with black bean salsa and chicken and sausage gumbo from Louisiana Purchase Cajun and Creole.
Barbecue on Elk Island National Park! Which isn't an island. Hot dog and 'Mumbai' spiced chicken breast.
Donuts from Take 5. I got a raised maple which was what I expected, light donut body with maple icing. I got another kind though, not raised and it was a very heavy kind of... almost cake batter? Like homemade bread, took quite an effort to eat. I'll get raised if I go again!
Red Lobster combination: coconut breaded shrimp and sole stuffed with broccoli, cheese and rice, with roasted carrots and butternut squash with Bourbon brown butter as a side. And free biscuits. If I ever go again, I'll eat small and fill up with the biscuits.
Butternut squash and lentil soup from Hotel Fairmont MacDonald.
Dude cooked me a meal! Chicken and roast potatoes with gravy and a herby crust. It wasn't ready until nearly 10:30 at night so the planning left a little something to be disered, but that's mainly because we were trying to fit so many activities in we were running late, and that was our lazy day.
A slice of 'truffleicious' chocolate cake from Remedy Cafe.
Chicken satay pho [with amazing quality chicken and spicy broth] from Fantasia Noodle House.
Dairy Queen Reese's Blizzard, although I asked for what they had in the photo which seemed to be a Reese's brownie with icecream on the side. I don't know if it was a really misleading photo or just got lost in translation. I enjoyed it anyway.
iHop ham and cheese omelette with three pancakes on the side and choice of four different syrups [blueberry, butter pecan, maple and strawberry]!
A white chocolate meringue from Duchess Bakeshop.
Smoked Atlantic salmon tartare with pumpernickel crisps and saffron aioli. Turns out this was on REALLY HARD crispbread but I enjoyed it so much I ate it anyway. Yes, about midway through the trip I really noticed my jaw improving. Sadly it's back to being a bit crap now I'm back in work. Baked Arctic char: cracked pepper and maple glazed with orange ginger butter sauce and grilled saffron potatoes, both from La Ronde revolving restaurant.
Remedy Cafe hummous and pitta which was so huge I snacked on it for three days. Boxing up leftovers is a big thing over here. I also got a vanilla rooibos chai here, and then two more during the course of the trip.
A thing of beauty:
Miso soup, spicy tuna and salmon from Tokyo Express at West Edmonton Mall food court.
Poutine and white truffle scallops, with a random slice of garlic bread on top. Olive Bistro, Jasper. My first poutine! Love those cheesy curds. Tasted a little sweet, almost. Perhaps the gravy.
Rye toast with strawberry sauce from Maple Leaf Grill and Lounge.
Grizzly House: 'cub' portion of chicken [1/4 lb] cooked on their garlic and herb hot rock, with a selection of their sauces. We had to cook this ourselves, which no-one actually explicitly told us until we were ordering. The menu was vague. We were first under the impression it was cheese fondue, and then told there were two ways of cooking which we thought meant we could do it ourselves or they could do it. It was eventually revealed that it was all on us.
Neil's rather more exotic 'exotic fondue' and my chicken in the background:
Holiday Lodge cooked us a homecooked breakfast, waffles with strawberries.
'Beer bread' with a cheese dip, from Finn MacCool's. Basically a roadside diner/pub on the journey back from Banff.
Coconut chicken curry and rice from Delicious Pho. So tired could barely leave the house to get this takeaway. Good flavour, slightly poor quality chicken.
Swampstick, which is marinated, fried Louisiana alligator kabob with a sweet and spicy sauce, served with black bean salsa and chicken and sausage gumbo from Louisiana Purchase Cajun and Creole.
Barbecue on Elk Island National Park! Which isn't an island. Hot dog and 'Mumbai' spiced chicken breast.
Donuts from Take 5. I got a raised maple which was what I expected, light donut body with maple icing. I got another kind though, not raised and it was a very heavy kind of... almost cake batter? Like homemade bread, took quite an effort to eat. I'll get raised if I go again!
Red Lobster combination: coconut breaded shrimp and sole stuffed with broccoli, cheese and rice, with roasted carrots and butternut squash with Bourbon brown butter as a side. And free biscuits. If I ever go again, I'll eat small and fill up with the biscuits.
Butternut squash and lentil soup from Hotel Fairmont MacDonald.
Dude cooked me a meal! Chicken and roast potatoes with gravy and a herby crust. It wasn't ready until nearly 10:30 at night so the planning left a little something to be disered, but that's mainly because we were trying to fit so many activities in we were running late, and that was our lazy day.
A slice of 'truffleicious' chocolate cake from Remedy Cafe.