Plant-based Banff

We haven’t discussed our dietary habits on our blog yet, but we decided to finally incorporate it into a blog post. Why? Simply, because a lot of other people have similar diets, and traveling has a tendency to make dietary choices difficult. Our diet is plant-based. If you’re not familiar with that, a plant-based diet, it is a diet that consists of foods only based on plants—fruits, veggies, nuts, and grains. It’s similar to a vegan diet. We do not eat meat, eggs, or dairy, because all of those foods come from animals. 

If you have a plant-based or vegan diet, you are familiar with the struggle.  And, if you’re not, that struggle is real!

Before we left for Alberta, Michelle spent time checking all of the restaurant options to see where we would be able to dine. This took a bit of extra time, because we were there over New Years, which typically involves a reservation with a special set menu for that evening. After determining all of the different restaurant cuisines and vegan options, I started calling around to determine where we could dine for New Year’s Eve. This ended up bringing me to Balkan. Balkan is a fancy Greek restaurant, with exceptional food. We booked New Year’s Eve reservations there because the restaurant was having a party with a belly dancer and plate smashing—-and smashing it was. 

Balkan

While in Banff, we decided to give Balkan a try for lunch one day. Michelle had a falafel bowl and I had a traditional falafel gyro. We were pretty pleased with the falafel. It wasn’t too dry or overcooked. Since we eat a lot of chickpeas, we know how they should be cooked for our desire. The lunchtime service left a bit to be desired, but we didn’t let that ruin our expectations for New Year’s Eve. 

For New Year’s Eve, Balkan had its set menu that included vegan options.

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Starter: Garlic herb bread

Appetizer: Greek salad

First Course: Spanakopita (which we substituted with more garlic bread)

Main Course: Side Salad, Dolmas stuffed with Beyond meat, stuffed peppers, falafel, hummus,and puréed beets

Dessert: Lemon sorbet 

The dinner at Balkan did not disappoint. The food was prepared well. The presentation was fantastic. And, best of all, the portion size was normal rather than the inflated servings Americans have grown accustomed to.

Nourish Bistro

Nourish became our go to restaurant in Banff, and this isn’t because Nourish is the only strictly vegan restaurant in Banff. The food and drinks at Nourish are all outrageous. The night we arrived in Banff, we had the Nourish nachos, which were fully loaded with all the plast-based veggie goodness you would expect, but the flavor was elevated to another level with their 27 ingredients. We also had poutine, which was perfect, because you can’t travel to Canada and not eat the staple of Canadian delicacy foods. Unlike typical poutine, this one was made with vegan gravy. I can’t tell you Nourish’s secret, but rest assured it’s worth the try. For drinks, Michelle had a home brewed kombucha drink and I had an infused cocktail. Both drinks were what you would expect from a vegan bistro.

Since we enjoyed the food so much, we headed back to Nourish in the morning for breakfast. The only downside to Nourish breakfast is that it’s only offered during the weekend. We shared a vegan country skillet, which was a giant hot plate consisting of a chickpea omelet, faux meat sausage, various veggies, guacamole, toast, and pico de gallo. From my perspective, you can’t really get a better vegan breakfast.

Wild Flour Bakery

Wild Flour became our go to for coffee and breakfast (when Nourish was closed). This coffee shop had tasty vegan pastries and some really good coffee. There is a Starbucks across the street from the Mount Royal Hotel, where we stayed, but I prefer local coffee shops whenever possible. Wild Flour did not disappoint. They had a variety of non-dairy milks and coffee syrups made in house, rather than those sugar-filled bottles you’ll find at most coffee shops. Our go-tos for breakfast were the granola bar, loaded with fruit and chocolate chunks, and the wild seed bar.

Indian Curry House

Indian food is usually a pretty safe bet for vegan and plant based dieters. Indian Curry House makes it even easier for you since there is a section for vegetarians. So, all you have to do is discard the dishes with cheese. We had Aloo gobhi and eggplant bharta as our dishes, with biriyani rice and roti instead of naan, because naan is not plant based. Another nice thing about Indian Curry House is that they do not have those ridiculous margins on their wines. So, if you’re looking for inexpensive, good wine by the glass or bottle, Indian Curry House is for you. I had a nice glass of red wine and it was only like $4.00.

You probably wouldn’t expect to see a tavern on a plant-based foods list, but then you’ve probably never been to Banff either. There are a few pizza restaurants in Banff, but they don’t do pizza like Bear Street Tavern. Bear Street Tavern is known for its pizza and for good reason. Our pizza is obviously not your run of the mill pizza. We don’t do those meat lovers pizzas or even the BBQ chicken pizzas. With a plant-based diet, we’re limited to veggies, which is totally ok, because we love veggies. We also can’t eat cheese, which means that our pizzas have to have a vegan cheese alternative. Those are typically made with nuts like cashews, for instance. Now that the semantics are out of the way, we found out that Bear Street Tavern has a vegan cheese alternative, so we knew we wouldn’t be prohibited from trying it. 

Bear Street Tavern

The first time we had Bear Street Tavern’s pizza, we grabbed a couple seats at the bar as well as a local cider while we waited. We shared an Extremely Vegan pizza, which happened to be amazing as it was served. But, Bear Street Tavern goes one step further. They give you a plate with a mixture of garlic oil and honey as a dipping sauce for your pizza. Just a little bit of caution here with that, because if you do eat the Tavern’s pizza with its special dipping sauce, you may never be able to eat pizza without the dipping sauce again. 

You can probably already guess that we went back to the Tavern for more pizza. This time, I picked it up after a long day on the hill. We were way too exhausted to go sit down to eat. This time it was one of the meatless pizzas, but we substituted the cheese for vegan cheese. Again, this was amazing—just as good as the first pizza.

Other Alberta Eateries

The Mad Dog Cafe & Market in Canmore specializes in vegan food. The owner of the cafe has Indian heritage so you’ll find a lot of gourmet curries and other Indian fare. Michelle had the Two Curries Platter, which consisted of her choice of two of their curries (she had a potato curry and a lentil curry), rice, cucumber and tomato salad, and vegan naan. I had a falafel wrap, which was everything you would find in a traditional falafel in pita, but rather than pita, it’s put into a tortilla and pressed like a panini. We both really enjoyed Mad Dog Cafe and recommend it to anyone who is driving through or in Canmore.

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Hearts Choices Cafe Market in Calgary isn’t just a restaurant, but a small market that sells prepared vegan foods too. Michelle ate the Plant-based Pad Thai and I had the Kung Pow Chik’n. The Kung Pow tasted exactly like traditional Kung Pow Chicken, but obviously used a chicken substitute. The substitute was seitan (rather than satan), which can cause some occasional stomach gas, but I don’t recall any feeling of discomfort after eating there. After our dinner, Michelle and I split a coffee flavored cupcake. I don’t usually go for sweet dessert foods, but the cupcake was quite impressive. There were many cupcake flavors to choose from and other desserts like cheesecake.

I hope this post will be helpful if you’re also vegan or have a plant-based diet and looking to take a trip up to Banff. Let us know if you try any of these restaurants.

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