Canmore Archives - Foodology

After passing the Banff Lake Louise area, we made a stop for the day at Canmore, Alberta before continuing our trip to Calgary. We stayed at the Grande Rockies Resort located right by the Bow Valley of the Canadian Rockies.

We checked-in with the front desk. The desk is hidden behind the waterfall in the lobby. We parked our car in their underground gated parking.

We stayed in a one bedroom condo style suite, which fits 4 people. They have fully functioning kitchens in there too.

When we got into our room, we found chocolate dipped fruits and a bottle of white wine from the resort to celebrate our honeymoon.

The living room has 2 couches, dining table, fireplace and a flatscreen TV. One of the couches has a pull out bed.

The kitchen has a fridge, oven, stove, microwave, coffee maker, and a dishwasher.

The kitchen seemed like it had all the tools. We didn’t use the kitchen at all since we ate out. I can see this suite being useful to people who are staying for more than a few days.

Out on the patio, there is a grill you can use too.

Out on the patio, you can view The Three Sisters, a trio of peaks in Canmore.

The bedroom is further down the hall and it has a king-sized bed.

There is a small TV and a desk. Too bad they didn’t attach a bigger TV on the wall to maximize space. Either way, it was good enough.

There is a washer and dryer with an ironing board and iron. This comes in handy if you’ve travelled for a while and need to wash your clothes.

The washroom has a sink and a shower.

The shower can be a bit complicated to start but once you start pushing the buttons on the control panel, you will figure it out easily.

There is a heated indoor swimming pool, hot tub and kids pool with waterslide that is accessible for all guests. There is also a fitness room as well.

Inside the resort, they have their award winning Habitat Restaurant and Bar. They have won the 2015 diners choice from OpenTable as well as Awards of Excellence from Trip Advisor from 2011 to 2015.

Their breakfast buffet starts daily from 7am to 11am. Sadly when we were here, their restaurant wasn’t open.

They serve casual Canadian cuisine & cocktails. Their dinner menu has a good amount of gluten-free options. A majority of the items sound super good.

Overall, it was a good stay. The only thing that annoyed me was that our keycard didn’t work, so we had to run back and forth several times back to the front desk to get someone to open the door. Apparently this happened to a few other guests too.

Address:
901 Mountain St, Canmore, Alberta

Websites:
http://www.granderockies.com/

Gaucho Brazilian Barbecue is located in Downtown Canmore and they serve up an all you can eat Rodizio dinner for $42 per person. You get access to their sides and salad bar. The servers will come to your table with racks of meat and serve you at your table.

Rodizio & Plates service included the following types of meat:

Top Sirloin – Alcatra
Rump Steak – Picanha
Pork Loin – Lombinho
Sausage – Linguiça
Chicken Wings – Asa de Frango
Parmesan Beef – Beef Parmegiano
Beef Ribs – Costela de Boi
Chicken Wrapped with Bacon – Frango com Bacon
Chicken Hearts – Coração de Frango
Lamb – Carneiro

Since I’ve never experience a Brazilian meal before, I thought it would be good to try it especially in Alberta since they have amazing quality of beef.

The interior is warm and modern. You can sit inside the dining room or in their enclosed patio.

The patio is much brighter and it is heated, so you won’t get cold.

Tropical Mango Juice ($4) is what M started off with.

We went straight to their salad and side bar where they had a good amount of items to choose from. I tried a bit of everything and nothing disappointed.

All the ingredients tasted fresh and I enjoyed it all. A good start before all the meat started arriving at the table.

Beef Ribs were my favourite meat item of the night. Since they cut it right at your table. It stays hot, tender and juicy.

It looks so good too.

They also give you some hot sauce and a vinaigrette to put on the meats. I went without the sauces since I enjoyed the meat on its own.

Since the servers do come often with meat, you are given a card to show if you want more meat or not. Most of the time ours was ‘Sim Por Favor, since we wanted to try all their meats they had to offer.

It’s best to flip it to ‘Nao, Obrigado’, even if you want to take a break for all the meat. If you want a particular meat item, you can just ask them for it.

At first it was pretty awkward having someone serve you at the table

They keep all their meat warm in their contraption.

They place the meat on your side plate

For our first Brazilian restaurant experience, it was great. Trying all the different varieties was fun and perfect for our honeymoon vacation. The food is pricey, but for an experience its worth it. If I had to go again, I probably wouldn’t return since I already know the cuts of meat I really enjoyed. I would rather want a meal with just beef ribs, pork loin and rump steak.