Wallicer Stube (Lake Louise) 12/2010

lSeveral Fairmont hotels are built in the Swiss Chalet style and have restaurants in them, among others, that serve the classical Swiss dish Fondu. Stube offers a variety of meals including, a memorable 'Fondu Experience'
The meal begins with a garden salad
with a refreshing light vinaigrette dressing. This is followed by a cheese fondu.
There is a choice of shaved truffle and truffle oil, garlic and mushroom or plain using three cheeses, gruyere, emmentaler and alpenzeller. served in the usual pot with diced baguette.
We had the truffle with a little garlic as an added extra .
All the flavours were distinct without being overwhelming, with an extra fillip from the wine incorporated in the fondu. it was a great winter dish. There was then a choice of bison or seafood for the next fondu. Naturally we had one of each.
This came with a bowl of lightly cooked vegetables. Asparagus, beans, broccoli, beetroot, potato and raw mushroom. Two new pots were provided one with a fish broth and the other with a meat broth. The sea food included very fresh prawns, salmon, scallops and a white fish. It was very fresh, almost jumping off the plate. It required only a few seconds for very rare up to a minute or so to be more cooked. The bison was served carpachio style. It was remarkably tender and had a delicate taste with no hint of gaminess. It took only a few seconds in the broth to make a sweetish slightly umami flavoured delicacy the like of which We have never previously experienced. Both broths added considerably to the flavours. A tower of small containers of sauces,
a yogurt, a Spanish red sauce a creamed pepper, a sweet soy sauce, a honey Dijon and a piquant creamed horse radish sauce.The final course was a chocolate fondu. Once again there was a choice of white, milk, Toblerone or dark chocolate. We had a half Toblerone half dark chocolate mix. They offered a mix of diced fruit, marshmallow and banana cake for dipping.
For chocoholics it was heavenly. This is an extremely heavy meal after which it was hard to believe one would ever be hungry again. Everything was about as good as it could be.
We enjoyed a Henry Lagarde 2008 Reserve Malbec from Mendoza, Argentina. ($54/bottle, available by the glass), with the meal which was $79 plus drinks.
The service was efficient without being hurried, the tables were large enough to comfortably accommodate all the dishes and apparatus and the ambiance pleasant.
Score: 17.25/20