Taste buds do a dance at Sunshine

Excellent dining and beautiful rooms await visitors

DAN MOORE

The Sunshine Mountain Village DAN MOORE/SnowSeekers

SUNSHINE VILLAGE, AB — Sunshine Village, located in Alberta's Banff National Park, offers an abundance of great places to eat; from the Java Express in the Day Lodge to Goat's Eye Gardens, located at the Goat's Eye Express and the fine dining experience of the Eagle's Nest in the Sunshine Mountain Lodge, there's choices for everyone. 

On arrival, we headed to the Mad Trapper's Saloon for a few sociables. It's a funky place with a real cabin-in-the-woods feel. As with any good pub, the food is delicious and straightforward - a perfect spot for grabbing a barbequed burger at lunch or a mile-high stack of nachos after a hard day's skiing and snowboarding.

Breakfast of champions

The Chimney Corner Lounge in the Sunshine Mountain Lodge is another great place for apres time, but the restaurant is also open all day which makes it the perfect place to fuel up before tackling any of the three mountains that make up Sunshine Village.

I would suggest tucking into a large plate of pancakes. They were delicious and I took my time, savouring not only the pancakes and the wide selection of toppings like blueberries, lemon sauce and cinnamon butter, but also the views out the panoramic windows that face the hill.

When in Alberta there is nothing like sitting down to a tender, melt-in-your-mouth choice of Alberta beef. Not wanting to miss any of the Canadian Briar curling that was being televised, at the end of the day, I headed back to the Chimney Corner for a classic steak sandwich – only there was nothing classic about it.

Full flavoured

I ordered the Alberta Ribeye steak – medium rare. It came between two slices of focaccia bread with caramelized onions and was so good that I had to call the Chef out to thank him. Chef Brad McCoullough let me know that a lot of the flavour I was noticing was probably coming from the reduced beef stock, which they use as a sauce – the reduction process taking approximately eight hours and was amazing.

After dinner it's always nice to indulge one's self with a special drink, especially a signature cocktail like the Chimney's Banff Cocktail. The bartender was kind enough to share the recipe, so I hope you enjoy:

 - 1/4 oz grand marnier

 - 1/4 oz fruit brandy

 - 1.5 oz Canadian whiskey

 - 1 dash angostura bitters

 - Shake with cracked ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with lime wheel.

The Sunshine Mountain Lodge has completed the 30-room addition to the hotel and it's impressive. With premium rooms and loft suites, there's plenty of top shelf finishes like in-floor heating which definitely adds some lux to the eco-luxury hotel. Living up to it's mandate of reducing it's footprint, the hotel has reduced it's water consumption and also it's energy use by capturing passive solar heat through high efficiency windows for maximum heat gain. 

Among other amenities, the ski-in, ski-out hotel offers an excellent games room and one of the largest outdoor hot tubs in Western Canada.

For more on Sunshine Village and the Sunshine Mountain Lodge, visit www.skibanff.com.