The Castle Culinary Experience in Banff

What if you went to Banff and never left the hotel?

by Mary Bailey

Fairmont Banff Springs photo

Banff used to mean hiking and biking in the summer and skiing in the winter. But if you happen to be there during shoulder season with a knee injury, staying in, especially if you are house-bound at the majestic Banff Springs, looks like a more than attractive option. It doesn’t mean you won’t work up an appetite. There’s no lack of stairs, several pools, a fully-equipped gym, fitness classes and walking to and fro on the property. But, the main event will be, what’s to eat?

Chef Tyler Thompson, Grapes Wine Bar Mary Bailey photo

Grapes Wine Bar
Cosy, Swiss-Italian inspired, with fellow diners in jolly Nordic sweaters and hiking boots. Enjoy charcuterie and cheese boards along with an excellent selection of wines by glass or bottle. Breads are made in-house (those truffle parmesan sticks are second to none). Cheese selections were Canadian farmhouse, primarily Quebec-made but also Avonlea cheddar from PEI. Several choices of pâté, rillettes, smoked fish, candied nuts and condiments, all made in the Springs’ kitchens, round out the menu. We’re off to a great start.

Sushi chef Masa Endo at Samurai Mary Bailey photo

The Samurai is the oldest restaurant in the hotel, and in the days when the Banff Springs was vacation destination number one for all of Japan, it was twice the size. Now it burbles along  creating delicious sushi every day and presided over by sushi chefs Kaorho Osada and Masa Endo. We order a tasting menu of shrimp and vegetable tempura, light as air; tuna tataki with a citrus soya glaze; a rainbow roll with tuna, yellowtail, salmon, shrimp, and crab; shima aji (Japanese jackfish) and a toothsome sablefish with some sweet caramelization glazing the surface. Bonus: all the fish served is Oceanwise certified.

Make sure you leave time before dinner at the 1888 Steakhouse to have a drink with head barkeep Randy Tait. Not only will he serve you some of the most delicious savoury popcorn (flavours change daily) he makes a lovely cocktail. His Negroni is made with the Botanist and Amaro Lucano. The ginger pomegranate mohito also looked amazing, but I settled on a flute of Blue Mountain sparkling. It’s devilishly hard to find in wine shops. Now I know why—it’s all at the Banff Springs.

Jennifer Pye-Finch makes parmesan sticks Mary Bailey photo

Remember those truffled parmesan sticks from Grapes? We are touring the main bakery trying not to drool over those, plus every kind of square and tart you can think of. Then come the chocolates. (The stand-alone chocolate shop is due to open in 2017.)

There are 10 kitchens in the Banff Springs Hotel, presided over by the affable executive chef JW Foster, with a food and beverage budget of about $45 million. The hotel will serve 6,000-8,000 on a busy summer’s day plus another 4,000 staff meals in The Bean. These kitchens are a hive of focused activity. The largest kitchen takes care of room service, Grapes, the spa, and includes the garde manger (cold kitchen) and pastry. Banquets has their own kitchen with a conveyor that can handle 10,000 meals in 45 minutes.

Waldhaus and Stanley’s Smokehouse have their own kitchens. The 1888 Steakhouse has its own kitchen as does the Bow Valley Grill. This is where most guests have breakfast; in summer months about 700 people hit the buffet in the BVG. It is a marvel, even for non-buffet lovers (me). From smoothie shots to just-fried donuts, omelette bar and everything else you could possibly imagine having for breakfast, it is fresh and good.

While I was laying down tracks in the buffet line my friend was at the spa. That menu has an intriguing bento box selection based on the elements fire, air and water. The boxes, by the way, include a small indulgence—chocolate cake.

Executive Chef JW Foster Mary Bailey photo

What exec chef Foster is most proud of is the apprenticeship program the Springs now offers to cooks. “When I first came here we had 10 apprentices. Now we have 30. We receive 90-100 applications a year.” The three-year program rotates cooks between 13 restaurants, the butcher shop, garde manger and the pastry shop. Cooks who stay with it (and most do) become accomplished chefs who go on to great things. “We want them to go on to travel; we have three to the Savoy this year,” he says.

“The hotel didn’t do their own butchery when I got here. Now we go through two full animals a month. We need that in order to have our own tomahawk steaks for 1888, which we dry age for 45 days. We also operate a teaching greenhouse and staff do the Banff Farmers’ Market too.”

Mary Bailey photo

The Stanley’s Smokehouse menu combines well-executed renditions of clubhouse fare (such as a clubhouse sandwich, burgers, fish and chips, nachos and chile) with southern barbecue—St. Louis ribs, smoked brisket, chicken and pulled pork. A better-than-most-golf-clubs wine list, on-tap beer offerings and a clever cocktail list, including non-alcoholic offerings such as house-made ginger ale and a cucumber soda, round out the offerings. The views, looking down the Bow Valley, are spectacular, even on a rainy day.

One of my favourite spots on the Spring’s property is the Waldhaus, nestled away in the woods, the original golf course clubhouse. Now the focus is fondue, cheese-based in three flavours: Swiss, smoked cheddar or shaved black truffle and the hot oil fondue with beef and vegetables. Or, have the wurst plate, an excellent pan-fried trout, choice of schnitzel or a very good striploin. If you have climbed a mountain that day you deserve the Waldhaus experience: a salad followed by the cheese fondue, then the beef, ending with chocolate fondue, all with wine pairings. The pub downstairs serves a very good breakfast which you can tuck into with relish.

Keep in mind that if you cannot make the stroll down to the Waldhaus for fondue or to Stanley’s Smokehouse on the golf course, there is a shuttle every 15 minutes. If you miss the last shuttle because you are in the pub, somebody may pick you up in the Lexus.

No time like autumn to hit the Springs. Albertans get special rates! fairmont.com

Food and wine writer Mary Bailey didn’t spend all her time that weekend eating. There was a bit of drinking too.