[Dine-Out] Calgary: Brasserie Kensington (Big Taste 2012) August 16, 2012

Oh dear. It just dawned on me how far behind on my posts I am. I’m such an awful blogger, apologies.

Soooo…I have a couple posts I still have to do from the 2012 Big Taste Calgary. I’m so ridiculously behind now that its official website no longer has its 2012 restaurants and menus on it. And because I’m such an awful blogger, I, of course, don’t have notes on the menu items. So…the next couple of posts will be very short and sweet…and will only contain stuff I can remember. Awful, awful, awful. I will try to be more diligent from now on. Promise.

So the Big Taste Menus are usually $25 for lunch and $35 for dinner. Most menus will come with three courses. From the 2011 event, the bf and I have come to the realization that two $35 menus usually end up being too much food. So this year, for a lot of the restaurants, we would order 1 Big Taste menu and 1 regular main course, unless, of course, the menus are super good and have lots of choices that we both want. Sometimes the restaurants only offer 1 menu with no choices (like the case with Kensington Brasserie this year) and there’s really no point in both of us eating the same thing.

So the first course of the Big Taste menu was a Brome Lake duck breast pastrami:

Big Taste Menu Item – Duck Breast Pastrami

Look at the perfect doneness on that duck. So beautifully pink. This small starter came with crostini and a little bit of greens on top of the duck.

Big Taste Menu Item – Braised Alberta Beef Short Ribs

This was my entree – braised short ribs on top a bed of mustard spatzle and topped with a slice of foie gras torchon. Oh. My. God. This was heavenly. This meal was 5 months ago for me and I still remember how fork-tender the short ribs were. Some people think that foie gras is too rich, but this small little portion was a perfect compliment to the meat.

The bf got this off of their specials board (I think):

Not part of the “Big Taste Menu”

I’m pretty sure it was a boeuf bourguignon, I remember trying some and thought that the red wine taste was too dominating…

Big Taste Menu Item – Foie Gras Profiteroles

And last but not least, profiteroles piped with a foie gras and sea salt ice-cream. This was a good dessert, but I don’t think the foie gras was very apparent. It almost tasted like a normal ice-cream.

BRASSERIE KENSINGTON
1131 Kensington Rd NW
Calgary, AB T2N 4P4
(403) 457-4148

[Dine-Out] Calgary: Brasserie Kensington July 18, 2011

Brasserie Kensington opened a while ago down in (obviously) Kensington. This is great news for me because it’s another reasonably priced restaurant with food I actually want to try near where I live! I don’t even remember what was in that space before hand…hmmm….nope, can’t remember. Brasserie Kensington is a cute little place on top of Winebar Kensington – a place which I have still not been to, definitely need to fix that soon!

I love the atmosphere of the place:

Very Modern with a Semi-Open Kitchen

The bf ordered the Wild Boar Burger for $16.75:

"Hog Wild"

The burger came topped with gruyère, arugula aioli, and a grainy mustard. He loved this burger. The patty was cooked to perfection, and the boar taste was very prominent. For an additional $3.00 he got his fries upgraded to the parmesan pomme frites with white truffle oil. I wonder how much extra it would be to upgrade to their foie gras poutine (a definite must-try)?

Fries = Perfection; I ❤ Skinny Fries

I got the Tempura Soft Shell Crab with Summer Apple Slaw for $14.50:

Soft Shell Crab

This was good, the apple slaw complemented the fried crab perfectly. And the aioli that comes with the dish was absolutely delicious, they’re a little skimpy on it though. I’m sure I could’ve gotten more if I asked though.

The food is fantastic here, and there are many things on their menu that I want to try so I will definitely come back.

However, there was something that irked me this particular time and it kind of diminished the dining experience for me. If you look on their menu – the soft shell crab is listed under the “SHELLS” section:

Screen-Cap

And the menu in the restaurant is exactly the same as this. It says that – all shells are served with pomme frites. The soft shell crab is listed under shells – so you would think that it would also come with fries. There’s nothing that indicates otherwise. I realize that some people might say that it says it comes with a slaw – but it never clearly says that it’s served with a slaw instead of fries. There’s no space before the crab that would indicate that the above “all served with pomme frites” statement does not apply to the crab. So, the menu in itself is confusing. When I inquired about the fries, the server replied in a very snobby manner that only the shells come with fries. Ummm…last time I checked, a crab is a shellfish. It has a shell, a pretty damn big one in fact.

The point is, I didn’t mind that my meal didn’t come with fries (I really didn’t need the carbs for my dinner), but the way the server chose to deal with my question was very off-putting. There’s  no need to make your customer feel uncomfortable about asking questions regarding your menu. Not only that, she answered in a way that made it seem it was stupid for asking the question. Her attitude was completely unnecessary since it’s their menu that was obviously misleading.

It’s a good thing that the food is good here, because shitty server attitude is the kind of thing that I would not return to a lesser restaurant for.

BRASSERIE KENSINGTON
1131 Kensington Rd NW
Calgary, AB T2N 4P4
(403) 457-4148