Änkôr

After visiting this spot, my boyfriend and I had a post-review discussion in the car and without hesitation, we both agreed that this is one of the best restaurants that we've ever been to. This was our last restaurant that we had the pleasure of visiting towards the end of our Banff National Park trip, and we definitely ended up saving the best for last.

I chose this restaurant as the spot to celebrate my boyfriend's 30th birthday because I wanted it to be special and it definitely delivered!

First off, the service at this spot is impeccable. They truly hire professional, genuine, skilled, and crafty people here who really care about food and the experience. It was very telling and we wanted to highlight that observation.

Secondly, the cocktails. During our trip, we were lucky to have Josh as our bartender and not only did he truly know the ins and outs of the liquor and the ingredients that he used, you can tell that he has really perfected the craft at creating a beautifully presented cocktail, and this was already noticed by the way he cuts an orange. The drinks here were basically like an art piece and had some of the most creative presentations I've ever seen. My ‘cantaloupe island’ even had an herb popsicle in it and the ‘after noon’ had mint sorbet incorporated into the presentation too, which was none like I've had before.

Food-wise, they start you with a complimentary palette cleanser, which was a mini donut topped with fennel and caviar. It was exquisite and enhanced the experience for sure. We then chose the foie gras, root salad, and mackerel as our smaller dishes and the duck and cod as our main course dishes. I swear to you.. each dish that we tried, we looked at each other in awe because we were baffled that something could taste that wonderful and look so aesthetically pleasing at the same time. Our favorite was the cod main course, which happened to be the newest menu item at the time. We also got the baked alaska for dessert since we wanted to complete the entire course, and that was beautifully presented and flavorful as well.

The main chef/owner, Danny Beaulieu, and his team absolutely killed everything on this menu, and we were even able to meet with the owner and to speak with him during our visit here. It was a truly lovely experience and we are big time rooting for the restaurant's success. We are really thankful that we were able to experience Ankor and appreciate the love, care, and effort put into this spot.