On our recent trip to Alberta, Canada, we visited Nourish Bistro. Nourish Bistro is an entirely vegetarian/vegan-friendly restaurant in Banff, which we had to try out. I love it when restaurants know what “vegan” means and I like to support restaurants that are 100% vegetarian/vegan.
LOCATION/ATMOSPHERE
Located at 110, 211 Bear Street in Banff, AB, Nourish Bistro is one block west of Banff Avenue next to a few other restaurants. There is a cute outdoor seating area which accommodates a few tables in the front patio area.
We were seated out on the patio where a little tray on our table held napkins, silverware, and bottles of water for us to use.
MENU + WHAT WE ORDERED
I had researched Nourish Bistro before we came so I was pretty familiar with their menu. I had seen mixed reviews on the very popular Loaded Nachos with 29 different toppings including strawberries (?). I wasn’t quite ready to try the nachos (which just didn’t sound good/like nachos to me), so as appetizers, we opted for an order of A Savory Affair (made vegan), and the Gyoza.
A Savory Affair was my favorite of the entire meal. It had a sampling of so many things which was a perfect way to try everything. There were three different kinds of flavored cashew cheeses, raw crackers, bread, olives, hummus, smoky blazed carrots (so good), and a little side salad.
The Gyoza were good, but they just kind of reminded me of the ones I get at Trader Joes.
Almost everything on the menu can be made vegan except for the Wild Mushroom Ravioli which must be pre-made or else they would probably be able to substitute the cheese for one of their cashew cheeses.
For our main dishes, we asked about the lasagna and if it was vegan, but they were out for the day, so instead we ordered the Bear Street Burger with Curry Wedges, and a half order of the King Kong Noodles (each made vegan).
When the Bear Street Burger arrived at our table, it was hot and tasted great. It has those smoky blazed carrots that I loved from the A Savory Affair, but as it cooled, it kind of lost its flavor for me. And the patty itself was a softer consistency than I like so I wasn’t thrilled with my choice.
The King Kong Noodles reminded me of a Thai coconut soup which used to be one of my favorites before I found out it wasn’t vegetarian. I liked the soup but wished there was a little more spice to it and more noodles. I expected a lot more noodles with a name like King Kong.
For dessert, Nourish Bistro has a few different options to choose from and we got the Cheese-less Cheesecake.
I didn’t have any of the Cheese-less Cheesecake, but my husband liked it and we are constantly searching for good vegan cheesecakes.
OVERALL EXPERIENCE
The service was a little slow, and I’m not really sure why since we went at a kind of an off-meal time. However, this is the only 100% vegetarian/vegan restaurant in the Banff area, so it’s a definite must-try if you are looking for that type of food. My favorite dish was A Savory Affair because there was a lot of variety and each item was delicious. If you are looking for vegan food in Banff, definitely check out Nourish Bistro.
