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Primrose Restaurant – Rimrock Resort Banff

It was our anniversary and we knew we wanted to celebrate by going to Banff – so we did and had dinner inside the Rimrock Resort at one of their dining rooms called Primrose Restaurant. The service was excellent here, and the servers attention to detail was spectacular!

Once we sat down and ordered our drinks, a bread basket came out with some neat butters and dips! I actually forgot what they were, but I believe it was something like a mint butter, balsamic vinegar and olive oil and the last was like a blueberry butter. Regardless of what the butters were, they were very tasty!

We only ordered one starter as I prefer a dessert instead of an appetizer – my husband is the opposite! So, he ordered a bowl of Local Beef Barley Soup which was really a nice soup, tons of flavour and just enough barley to be nice!

For my entree, I chose their Lobster Pappardelle which was as pasta with tons of seafood consisting of lobster, salmon and crab with a Creamy Mascarpone Reduction with Egg Noodles. This dish was actually the winner of the 2012 Food and Wine Festival, which was one of the reason why I had to try it! And, it was a winner in my books as well as everything was perfectly cooked and delicious! Generous portions of both the egg noodles and the seafood!

My husband ordered their Cowboy Pan which was a delicious mixture of Beef & Lamb, Marinated with Smoky Herbs & Spices, with some vegetables. The meat was topped with an onion garlic yoghurt, which was really a great balance with the meat! All the meat was tender and juicy and cooked to perfection! It was a great pan!

My dessert was their Milk Chocolate Creme Brulee which is a chocolate creme brulee (obviously) with toasted coconut meringue and sour cherry compote. It was great as the sour cherry compote really helps to cut the richness of the chocolate brulee!

Overall, we had a wonderful time! Parking can be tricky as there wasn’t too many… they have guest parking but if you’re a guest, you need to park on the street and walk on over! The prices were within reason, ranging from $20 o $25 per entree, but they were large and tasty!

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Primrose Restaurant

198 Mountain Ave
Banff, AB
(403) 762-1865

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BeaverTails – Banff Alberta

I’ve been hearing nothing but good things about BeaverTails in Banff. Weirdly, every time I’ve made it to Banff, something happens – one thing or another, and I haven’t tried BeaverTails… until now! This little store front is located right on Banff Avenue and it’s easy to find as it’s often the one with a huge line up!

This little place offers tons of options that all sound good – from ice cream/gelato/sorbets to french fries/poutines and much much more! Of course, with the name being BeaverTails, I knew that was what I wanted! I decided to try an Apple Cinnamon BeaverTail which was a deep fried dough with butter brushed on it… dipped in their cinnamon sugar mixture then topped with Apples and their apple sauce (kind of like a warm jam).

If you love apple pie and cinnamon bread… then, this is your snack! It’s like a fast food apple pie kicked up a few notches and it’s fresh! There’s nothing you wouldn’t like about this! It’s not over sweet, it’s not too messy (if you keep it horizontal like a pizza). If you’re not into treats like this, then I think you will enjoy their frozen treats (it’s the next thing I’m going to try!)

As mentioned, I really love this place. I think it’s perfect for any season. When it’s cold out, you can enjoy a BeaverTail and when it’s hot out, you can enjoy a frozen treat… and everything in between! So, believe me, I will be back every time I go to Banff!

BeaverTails on Urbanspoon

BeaverTails

120 Banff Avenue
Banff, AB
(403) 760-0606

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Pad Thai – Banff

I never really make reservations while I’m in Banff as I never know where and when I am going to be anywhere. We stumbled into the Clock Tower Mall right on Banff Ave and found this Thai food place called Pad Thai. There were tables inside and outside of the restaurant (all indoors of the clock tower mall) which is kind of dingy, but that’s okay with me!

We were one of the first tables to arrive and we were allowed to sit anywhere. We chose a corner inside and by the window and it was nice! You are still “in” the restaurant and you can watch people go by and other customers! We started our lunch with a plate of their Thai Dumplings which they call “Saw Moing”. It came on a plate with 4 purple flowers. It tasted a lot like some other Vietnamese “snacks” I’ve had as it has minced pork inside and you dip it in a sauce which is kind of a mix of plum sauce and Nước chấm.

In Las Vegas, I fell in love with a dish of curry with BBQ Duck, so to my excitement, they had Red Curry with BBQ Duck and I knew immediately that it was what I wanted, with coconut rice! The portions was quite large for a lunch but it was jammed pack with thinly sliced BBQ duck in this great Thai curry sauce. Over the coconut rice, I was really satisfied.

To top everything off, I ordered one of my favourite fried dishes, which is Pad Sa Hew which has tons of different spelling for. I commonly see it spelled as “Pad Si Ew”, but regardless, it’s the same thing – my favourite thing! Basically it’s fried rice noodles with soy sauce and they make it exceptionally good here. They use nice high heat in a wok – you can taste it (there’s actually a Chinese term to describe this) but it’s one of the reasons why I love this dish from here. Tons of smoke flavour, tons of seasoning flavour, tons of goodness and the noodles weren’t all broken into little pieces.

Thai food has always had a special place in my heart as it’s food I just love as regular daily food. This little place make it quite accessible and it’s delicious! The portions are huge and the price is a tad on the high side but it sure is delicious. This make it totally worth it in my books! I’m sure I will be back sometime soon!

Pad Thai

110 banff av
Banff, AB
(403) 762-4911

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Rimrock Resort Hotel Banff

I had the lovely opportunity to stay at night at the famous Rimrock Resort in Banff. It’s a beautiful resort that is tucked away from the tourist of Main Street Banff. I love how the resort is built into the side of the mountain and offers spectacular views all around! We stayed in their regular Standard Guest Rooms which was still spectacular! The room was quite large and spacious complete with working desk space, seating area, and mini fridge.

My favourite part about the room was the seating area, as it’s right by the windows – which where punched out so you can lots, close and in the distance! We didn’t have too much view as we were quite low at floor 3. The neat thing about this resort, the hotel lobby was on the 7th floor and it sometimes confuses me to go “UP” to the lobby!

I love hotels that offer king size beds, so I loved this bed! It was quite comfortable as well, and the blankets was the perfect thickness for the season. The thermostat was a little weird as you had to push the “up” or “down” button for awhile before it changes. If you set it higher than 22C, the heat stays on constantly and it’s a tad noisy so I had to turn it down a bit and grab the extra blanket as I like to be really warm.

The bathroom was nice, it was huge and had toilet paper on both sides of the toilet, so I guess it can please all guests! 🙂 I’m not sure, it was honestly a little weird! I love the huge counter top for me to put stuff on – and I don’t even have lots, but it’s just nice to spread out. Our room had the standard tub with a shower head. The tub is quite strange as it curves at the bottom, so there wasn’t too much “flat” standing space, but we made do with what we had.

This resort did use nice bathroom amenities, as they offered Pharmacopia amenities and they smelled really nice! They used their Verbena product line which lightly scented and it’s an all natural and organic product!

Overall, we loved our stay here at the Rimrock and glad we made a weekend trip with a stay here! Check out below for my room walk-through to see it all!

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Seoul Country Korean Restaurant

During winter, we went to watch the Santa Parade that takes place on Banff Avenue just as the skies turn dark. Right after it, it appears to have a huge swarm of people and families looking for food. On top of the regular crowd, there’s also Christmas parties that are being held in Banff, so there seems to be twice as much people. We didn’t make a reservation for dinner anywhere, and when we walked by Seoul Country Korean Restaurant, and smelled how wonderful the place smelled, we decided to walk in. We were lucky as the the place had tons of tables and so there was room for us!

We decided we wanted to do the Korean BBQ style, and we ordered the Seafood Combination and the Barbeque Prime Rib Eye Beef and it definitely was enough food for 2. Once you order, it comes with a huge array of kimchi’s and I love kimchi, so it was great to eat alone or with rice. Shortly after that, we got our dishes to the table and the Beef was in a huge steak where they sliced it through a little to help it cook evenly and quicker.

Right beside it, but added a little bit later was the Seafood, and to my surprise, it actually tasted great! It was really fresh and didn’t have any fishy smell or taste to it. This combination platter has a huge assortment of seafood, such as mussels, shrimp and scallops!

Overall, the dining experience here was great! Be warned though, afterwards you do smell like bbq!! We tried doing Korean BBQ at home before and it was too much smoke to do at home as the smoke alarms kept going off… so, if you enjoy doing that, here’s a great place to go!

Seoul Country Korean Restaurant on Urbanspoon

Seoul Country Korean Restaurant

215 Banff Ave
Banff, AB
(403) 762-4941