Foie Gras Me Brasserie Kensington!

Fondue

If you’ve read my blog for long enough, you’ll know that I am a sucker for foie gras in all forms. However I have a particular weakness for seared foie gras, which I don’t see as often as I’d like on menus. On the rare occasion a restaurant does have seared foie gras on their menu, I will inevitably order it.

Cool Rustic Fondue Post

I had been following Brasserie Kensington on Twitter for a long time and knew that they most definitely had foie gras, and in fact, even have a day of the week dedicated to foie gras in all it’s glory. The restaurant is located in Kensington, an area of Calgary that I’m not particularly familiar with, but have heard that it’s an area with a bunch of funky stores.

Lamb

The restaurant itself wasn’t exactly what I expected, with the music blaring so loudly that if you closed your eyes, you might think that you were in a nightclub instead of a restaurant. However with eyes wide open, the patrons of Brasserie Kensington most definitely did not resemble your typical bar type crowd, particularly the table beside us filled with a lively myriad of grey and white haired types demonstrating both their chair dancing and full out dancing skills in a very small space.

Steak with blue cheese

Appearances and atmosphere aside, their menu was extensive, with everything from snacks to full on meals available. We chose their fondue to start and were lucky enough to get the last order. Unlike your traditional fondue, this one didn’t come in a typical fondue pot but was instead presented in a rustic metal pot that looked like a smaller version of the old fashioned pots they used to hang over the hearth. The fondue was mildly peppery with a distinctive Emmental taste and just a hint of Gruyere detectable, well balanced and highly addictive. The portion was very generous and I was glad I was sharing it with the humans.

Foie Gras

The male human ordered lamb for his entrée and was not disappointed. The lamb was very tender, juicy and flavourful, while the raisins gave it a hint of sweetness. Meanwhile the female humans steak was perfectly seasoned, topped with a very pungent blue cheese, while the accompanying fries were perfectly crispy. The piece de résistance however was the seared foie gras, which was buttery, light and melted in my mouth with just a touch of sea salt to finish.

Foie Gras & Caramel Ice Cream with Bread Pudding

For dessert, I was curious as to how a foie gras ice cream would taste, although there was some trepidation, I wound up ordering it and wasn’t disappointed! The ice cream did taste like foie gras with a hint of caramel, but wasn’t overly sweet. Each bite tasted like foie gras to start and the finished with the taste of caramel. I was expecting these two flavours to become muddled together and completely indistinguishable, yet they worked and complimented one another well, while both remained distinctly detectable. The bread pudding itself was dense yet rich, with a subtle taste of maple and smoky bacon flavours.

Ice Cream Sandwich

The male human’s weakness for ice cream sandwiches was promptly satiated with an ice cream sandwich that came with chocolate sauce for dipping. The chocolate cookie was perhaps a tad too hard compared to the ice cream, making it a bit awkward to eat as a whole, as each bite resulted in squishing the ice cream out of the sandwich. However deconstructing the sandwich worked like a charm. The chocolate sauce was made of a dark chocolate, and was thick, rich, without being cloyingly sweet.

Overall I really enjoyed our meal at Brasserie Kensington and would most definitely return, particularly for their expertly prepared and cooked foie gras items including a somewhat strange but oddly delicious foie gras dessert.

Brasserie Kensington
1131 Kensington Rd NW
Calgary, AB  T2N 3P4
403-457-4148
Twitter: @The_BrassKens