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In Banff, foodies can Eat the Castle

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The Mount Stephen Banquet Hall is one of the many posh locations for events in the Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel. (Adrian Brijbassi/Vacay.ca)

Story by Adrian Brijbassi
Vacay.ca Managing Editor

BANFF, ALBERTA — The Fairmont Banff Springs Hotel operates a dozen restaurants on its property, serves up on average about 4,000 meals a day, plates some of the best dishes in Alberta, and is teeming with stories — including those of ghosts — within its majestic walls. Karen Anderson, who runs Alberta Food Tours, saw all of what the hotel featured and felt it was brimming with potential as a destination for culinary travellers.

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The smoked fish board at Grapes Wine Bar features salmon and trout served with pickled beets and creme fraiche. (Adrian Brijbassi/Vacay.ca)

After coordinating an itinerary with the hotel, her company launched its Eat the Castle food tour in June. It takes visitors to four restaurants within the property, giving them a variety of tastes during a period of approximately three hours. Guests not only experience flavours of Alberta, they get to savour them within one of the most iconic properties in Canada.

The hotel opened in 1888 as part of the Canadian Pacific Railways’ ambition to construct a cross-country railroad and provide travellers a luxurious place to stay. But a fire damaged much of the property in 1926 and it reopened after a two-year renovation project that created the building people are familiar with today. Like many Fairmont property’s in Canada, the Banff Springs is much more than a hotel. It features art, antiques, boutique shops, and those 12 dining establishments.

“It’s just a fabulous place to hold a food tour, because it has such grandeur and history on one hand, and also it’s so important to Alberta’s food scene,” says Anderson, who is also a nurse and author.

Anderson’s tour begins with a stop at STOCK, a lobby-level cafe with modern Scandinavian-style design. The cafe features a bank of urban cultivators that grow micro-greens for use in salads, sandwiches, and other dishes.

Discover More: Calgary’s Exceptional Farmers’ Market Tour

The second destination is Grapes Wine Bar, a popular spot that showcases the hotel’s cheese and charcuterie selection, as well as a quality wine list. The tour takes place in the bar’s cellar, amid oak walls and beautifully displayed vintage bottles.

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Among the benefits new executive chef Robert Ash has brought to Fairmont Banff Springs is the recipe for his family’s delectable chocolate chip cookies. (Adrian Brijbassi/Vacay.ca)

The final two stops are to the Banff Springs’ leading restaurants — the newly renovated Vermillion Room and 1888 Chop House. The Vermillion Room is a gorgeous space with a sweeping view of the Rocky Mountains. Its menu is evocative of a French brasserie with escargots, foie gras and steak tartare among the offerings. Meanwhile, 1888 is a classic Alberta steakhouse, featuring Triple-A beef as well as bison and elk. Alberta-bred Wagyu beef is also a highlight. Its wine list is one of the best in the province.

Each restaurant serves a signature dish to Anderson’s tour guests as well as a drink. There will be opportunities to learn about the hotel’s fascinating history as well as its food programs. The ghosts reputedly are a bride who had the misfortune of falling to her death on a staircase on her wedding day and a doorman who has yet to put a close to his career at the hotel. The history includes all kinds of memorabilia including 150 fossils that are estimated to be up to 450 million years old.

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If you want to get down to business of eating some of Alberta’s finest steak and game, the private dining room at 1888 Chop House is the place to visit. (Adrian Brijbassi/Vacay.ca)

More relevant for some is the fact the hotel has implemented a modern zero-waste policy, meaning its food program is committed to as much recycling and reusing of materials as possible. New hotel executive chef Robert Ash makes sure peelings from fruits and vegetables that would otherwise be discarded are saved and used in a line of vinegars, among many initiatives.

“We do our best to make sure nothing goes to waste here. It’s out of respect for the products — the animals and the produce we use — and as recognition that we all have to be more mindful of doing our part for the environment these days,” says Ash, who arrived in Banff earlier this year after working for Omni Hotels in Orlando, Florida.

It’s Ash, the newcomer, who points out the underlying reason why anyone would want to visit Banff or participate in the Eat the Castle tour at the revered hotel. “It’s like waking up to a postcard every day here,” he says.

In these days of Instagram, those postcards can just as well include scrumptious food shots as glorious views of the Rockies.

MORE ABOUT FAIRMONT BANFF SPRINGS

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Fairmont Banff Springs is a sprawling property that was named a National Historic Site in 1988. (Adrian Brijbassi/Vacay.ca)

Location: 405 Spray Avenue, Banff, AB (see map below)
Room Reservations: 1-833-762-6866 (toll free)
Website: www.fairmont.com/banff-springs/

MORE ABOUT THE EAT THE CASTLE TOUR

Cost: $175 per person, includes 2.5-hour tour with sample food and drink at four restaurants in the hotel. Discount available for local residents.
Website: albertafoodtours.ca/tour/banff-eat-the-castle-at-the-fairmont-banff-springs-hotel/

 

Adrian is the editor of Vacay.ca and VacayNetwork.com. Adrian has won numerous awards for his travel writing, travel photography, and fiction, and has visited more than 55 countries. He is a former editor at the Toronto Star and New York Newsday, and was the social media and advocacy manager for Destination Canada. His articles have frequently appeared in the Huffington Post, Globe & Mail, and other major publications. He has appeared on national and local broadcasts, talking about travel, sports, creative writing and journalism. In 2019, he launched Trippzy, a travel-trivia app developed to educate consumers about destinations around the world. He also edited "Inspired Cooking", a nutrition-focused cookbook featuring 20 of Canada's leading chefs and in support of the cancer-fighting charity, InspireHealth. "Inspired Cooking" was created in honour of Adrian's late wife and Vacay.ca co-founder, Julia Pelish, who passed away of brain cancer in 2016.

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