My family and I spent 9 days in Lake Louise and Banff. It was absolutely incredible. Food wasn’t our focus but I thought I’d share some spots we enjoyed.
Tank 310- Canmore- gorgeous brewery with mountain views from the enormous windows. I loved my wings and my husband had an elk burger. I love that almost every restaurant has a kids menu- my daughter inhaled the burger.
Canmore Farmers’ Market- Canmore- my daughter had a chimney cake (new to us!) with ice cream inside, so that made her day, week, year, life, lol. There was a great coffee/tea vendor and we got delicious local fruit to bring back to the hotel
Valbella Meats- Canmore- a MUST STOP. They have tons of cured meat and a lovely curated selection of cheeses. We got crackers, mustard, cured meat, lunch meat, baguettes, and other goodies to make our bag lunches for the next few days. We also ended up eating their meat and cheese for dinner for a few nights too.
Bill Peyto’s- Lake Louise- a great family friendly casual spot in the little village of Lake Louise. It’s super cute inside and the service is friendly. Basics done well, such as sandwiches and soups and the like. My daughter had her first root beer float here, and it was a delicious one made with Tank 310 root beer.
Three Bears Brewery- Banff- we lovvvved this place. Super family friendly, gorgeous space, menu elevated a bit beyond your basic brewery fare. I had Alberta beef lettuce wraps and my husband had a surprisingly good rendition of a Thai Green curry. My daughter happily ordered off the kids menu and we all enjoyed beer, cocktails and mocktails.
COWS ice cream- Banff- I am an ice cream connoisseur and while this is not excellent ice cream, the variety of flavors certainly appeal and I will never turn up my nose at a freshly made waffle cone. Definitely a must visit.
Mad Trappers- Banff (Sunshine Village)- we had a late lunch/early dinner/snack situation here after hiking Rock Hill Road. More kids menu fare for my daughter (she’s very adventurous with eating at home, but seemed to crave basic comfort foods on vacation) and her requested hot chocolate after the chilly conditions at the top of the mountain… snacks and much needed boozy hot chocolate for me and my husband. Pretty basic menu but friendly service and the food did the job.
Saffron- Banff- really great casual Indian restaurant. Super friendly service. We had a great meal here with our favorites- butter chicken for my daughter, lamb korma and saag paneer and another lamb dish for my husband and me. We drank mango lassis and a delicious housemade strawberry drink with some Indian spices in it. Portions were huge and we overordered so this was dinner the following night as well.
Banff Farmers’ Market- Banff- a must stop. My daughter finally ate something other than chicken fingers and hamburgers and it was funnily enough two of the sushi hand rolls from one of the vendors here. We also tried impossibly flakey empanadas by a guy who called himself obsessive about his pastry dough (and it shows- yum!) along with cookies and other goodies.
Bluebird- Banff- I saved the best for last. This meal was excellent- we sat on the outdoor patio and enjoyed their great cocktails with our appetizers (cheesy donuts and a refreshing salad) and then switched to red wine for our shared big Alberta steak, served medium rare with Bearnaise, and sugar snaps done in their wood oven along with decadent mashed potatoes that were more butter than potato (and I’m not complaining!). They accommodated my daughter, who ordered her cheesy spaghetti with the cheese on the side (oh, four year olds), and then proceeded to eat a $14cdn bowl of plain spaghetti while my husband and I ate the incredible cheese sauce with a spoon (don’t judge). We got two desserts- a raspberry pistachio tart and made-to-order madeleines with a creme anglaise dipping sauce and shamelessly ate every last bite.
As I said- food was not our focus on this trip but we certainly ate a lot and well. I will post some photos below!
