Dinner at The Bison.

Danny and I finally both had a night off together tonight and decided to make the most of it by going out to dinner just the two of us! I honestly don't think in the last two weeks we have had a chance to spend any proper time together, it's just been so manic. I have been working a ridiculous amount and Danny has been training at work too so it's just been crazy. But finally a night came up, Danny picked the restaurant and that was that.

My God was it good. Oh man it was incredible and I was so incredibly full walking home. Obviously we started off the evening with a large glass of wine and beer. I think Danny is a bit put out that no such thing as English ale exists here in Canada but a beer will suffice if necessary. Shame it costs so much to ship ale out here otherwise that would be his Christmas and birthday presents sorted for the next two years! My pinot noir was awesome. It's wine, so of course it was.

But onto the important thing, the food. We had Kung Pao Quail and Gnocci Poutine. I've never had quail before and it was pretty damn good; spicy, so it was an obvious choice for Danny, but the real winner of the night was the gnocci poutine! So for those of you who don't know poutine is like Canada's national dish. It is chips with gravy and cheese curds, real basic comfort food. But being in a fancy restaurant they switched it up a bit and traded in the chips for gnocci, which I've also never had before, and added elk; again, which I've never had before. Oh my days it was sooooo good. I could eat it every night for the rest of my life and be quite happy ending up obese as a result. It was delicious, I need say no more.

And as for the mains. Well, they were rather delicious also. I had Brome Lake Duck Breast which came with a pear and thyme strudel, bacon, napa cabbage and a blood orange reduction. The duck was so tender and juicy and the strudel worked so well with it. My only complaint is that there wasn't enough of it, I could have eaten it twice over it was that lush! Danny had venison with cocoa chili rub, squash puree, brussel sprouts, king oyster mushrooms and jus. Of course that was incredible too. Topped off with a second glass of wine and a clementine creme brulee I was more than happy with the nights choices and will 100% be going back.

I wish we got the name of our server as he was absolutely brilliant, So friendly and chatty with really good recommendations and explanations of the dishes. I had no hesitations in giving him a 20% tip, he earnt every cent!

So if any of my friends in Banff are struggling for somewhere to go out for dinner, you should totally go to the Bison. It's fancy, the food is fancy, the service fantastic, but you don't get stumped with a ridiculous bill at the end of it. Treat yourself in the New Year. And Nan and Pop, if you ever come to visit, this is where we are going - there are lots of maps in the menu explaining where the food comes from, Pop would have a field day!