River Cafe (Big Taste YYC 2016)

Part of the Big Taste Foodie Festival held by the Calgary Downtown AssociationRiver Cafe offered a $15 three-course lunch!

Located by the river on Prince's Island Park, River Cafe cooks up Canadian cuisine using fresh local ingredients. It has a rustic interior and it a great spot to catch up with a friend over brunch.

Driview Farms Lamb - Beck Farms carrot, coriander, Lyalta watercress, 
Three Farmers camelina oil, pumpkin seed

We started with the Driview Farms Lamb and it was a great starter course. The crispy granola and pumpkin seeds played well together with the lamb and charred carrots. A decent and refreshing Spring dish!

Main course was a wood grilled albacore tuna. Some great things about this dish was the smokey flavour the tuna had from the wood grill, perfect soft poached egg and the creamy potato puree. If you had the Big Taste menu during the weekdays, it didn't come with the poached egg. A soft poached egg always elevates a dish by making it rich and creamy.

Wood Grilled Albacore Tuna - Venturi Schulze verjus, brown butter parsnips, 
smoked poplar bluff potato purée, preserved pear, soft poached egg
 

Cookie To Go - Highwood Crossing Oatmeal, maple syrup

For the dessert, we were give the choice of having it to go or in the restaurant. We took it to go to take advantage of the amazing weather Calgary has been experiencing. The cookies were soft and chewy from the oatmeal and had a strong maple syrup taste which I love.

Overall I would go to River Cafe again to try out their lunch menu during the summer time. I found all the dishes very refreshing and light, perfect for a hot day.

Recommend: Driview Farm Lamb, Albacore Tuna

Price: $$$$$

Taste: 3.5/5

Environment: 5/5