For the Love of...: ...Chef's Table at Kensington Riverside Inn (Calgary)

Overall - 9/10
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Food - 9/10
Service - 9/10
Ambiance - 9/10

Recently we had the good fortune of dining at Chef's Table at Kensington Riverside Inn. As the name suggests the dining room is quite intimate and has an amazing view of the open kitchen. With the attentive service and carefully prepared dishes you could be mistaken for thinking your table is actually the Chef's table.

Our meal started with an amuse bouche of sea bass ceviche. The citrus juice perfectly cured the diced fish and just barely cooked the outside surface giving the fish the sensation of being lightly seared. It was a great way to get our taste buds ready for the deliciousness to come!

Our starters from the a la carte menu included the Rouget and a Mediterranean octopus salad. The rouget is a little red fish that was pan fried and served with an intensely flavoured miso broth which gave it a nice light Japanese touch. The octopus on the other hand had components from all around the Mediterranean including a romesco (roasted red pepper and almond) sauce from Spain and a fresh panzanella (bread and tomato) salad from Italy. 

When I see rib eye on a menu I usually can't resist. Sometimes though the eye of the meat can become a bit dry by the time the cap is cooked through. To solve this problem the chefs here seared and roasted the bison rib eye and cap separately resulting in perfectly cooked meat all the way around. For those that don't know, the eye is on the leaner side while the cap has a bit more marbling and flavour. Served with a not too sweet homemade BBQ sauce and little deep fried potato fritters this was a satisfying stick to your ribs kind of dish that was quite refined at the same time. 

If there was a cut of meat that can rival the tenderness and flavour of rib eye it would be rack of lamb. This one was cooked to perfection and served with delicious fava beans and confit garlic. It also had that rustic but refined balance that made the bison rib eye so good.

For dessert we decided on the chocolate cake with banana fritter and vanilla ice cream. It was rich, dense and not too sweet. Thankfully the portion was just right after such a big meal and we left feeling very happy with our dining experience.