Located in the Mount Royal Hotel, Brazen is one of the higher scale restaurants in Banff. We were early for our reservation so the staff was accommodating in letting us sit at their sidewalk café. The outdoor seating is nice located in the pedestrian district...with a beautiful view of the alpine scenes. The feeling changed when we went in for our seating the music in the entry way was a hectic jazz way too loud. The volume dropped some inside but still too much for our taste (we had to shout to talk to each other). Décor was clean, modern, dark tones
The menu offered some eclectic sounding tastes. One was Tomatillo Carpaccio-thin slices of tomatillo with whipped burrata, balsamic pearls and basil chiffonade. It was fresh, naturally acidic balanced by the creamy burrata. Quite good, best thing we ate here. Street Corn Pork Ribs sounded interesting-crisp breaded ribs with tequila lime crème fraiche, roasted corn kernels, manchego and cilantro. The “ribs” were in fact the small flat rib tips with a small amount of meat. There was more corn and cheese than meat. The flavors blended but more pork would have been preferred.
Duck Croquettes were shredded duck confit in a cornmeal crust similar to a corndog coating. The duck was very dry, the crust too thick. The truffle-dijon aioli added some flavor. The arugula /mushroom mix needed dressing.
The Ginger Beef is supposed to be their show stopping main. It is bites of steak in a breaded crust billed as an Asian themed crust with charred shishito peppers and onions in a ginger syrup. The show happens when the plate is brought to the table where brandy is heated with a kitchen torch, poured over the dish and ignited. Other tables watch with “Ohhs and ahhs” but that does not carry to the tasting. Not much Asian flavor, mostly tasting sweet from the syrup. More shisitos than beef and very few onions.
The worst let down was the charred broccolini side. Nice flavor but the broccolini had thumb sized, tough stems that needed a steak knife and could not be chewed. At first server tried to make excuses saying it should have just been cut smaller. No, just old and tough. Sent back to the kitchen. At least it was comped on the bill. Chef should have never served it, waiter should have caught it as apparently this was a repeat issue found by another customer, per the waiter.
Staff was very friendly, outgoing and willing to work with the situation. Overall, nice looking setting and menu but disappointing on the food. Perhaps got the name from being bold enough to present these dishes. I rarely leave one or two-star reviews, in this case it is warranted.
Reservations are required. Parking was not validated.More
