FFWD Weekly
Copyright © 1997. All Rights Reserved.
East meets West where 10th meets Memorial
Kensington's newest restaurant combines taste and style
By Patrick RenggerRudyard Kipling is a much reviled and maligned man these days, but in truth he gave us a literary heritage that is undoubtedly a mixture of good and bad. He did after all give us The Jungle Book (a Good Thing) and the wonderful vernacular verse of the Barrack Room Ballads (also a Good Thing) as well as the dreadful imperial apologia The White Man's Burden (a thoroughly Bad Thing). Also, among the many quotable lines Kipling provided literature with, was the much quoted "East is East and West is West and never the twain shall meet." This verity has held up for a long time but then Kipling never went to Baraka, where East and West truly do meet on a menu that is as eclectic as it is excellent.
The Baraka Kensington Cafe, (102-10 St. N.W.)) is a new restaurant café and bakery occupying what had formerly been the home of a natural food store and is an exquisite combination of foods from Europe and Northern India, with a few other mixtures thrown in for good measure. The owners have spared no expense in redesigning the interior of the building on Memorial Drive and no trace of the quaint, if overly crystal crunchy, natural granola former tenant remains. Half of the café is now a patisserie style bar and the other given over to an elegant dining room complete with the now compulsory forno oven, without which no trendy dining establishment is complete. But Baraka (I was informed that the word is a form of greeting) is as much substance as it is style, and while the meals are presented with as much élan as anyone could wish, they also - and more importantly - taste excellent as well.
My companion and I spent a good deal of time negotiating our choices of appetizers, since the menu is the delightful sort that requires you to read not just the name of the dishes but also their ingredients in order to fully appreciate the possibilities available. However, we finally selected the Scallops Baraka ($7.95) and marinated chevre with twice baked melba toast ($6.95). There was no contest between these two, for while the chevre was quite tasty and its sauce piquant, the Scallops Baraka was absolutely delightful, coming with a superb sauce and deliciously baked brie.
The main courses presented the same dilemma of fascinating possibilities, including a full assortment of pizzas and pastas as well as entreés that ranged from mahi mahi and swordfish to steak and Moroccan rack of lamb. Most of the dishes also came with an intriguing array of chutneys, for which I am always a sucker, and the choice of saffron rice, black pepper fettucini or pommes Anna. After considerable debate, my companion opted for the crab and spinach pizza ($11.95) while I decided to take my chances with the Curried Chicken Kashmir ($13.95). Neither of us were disappointed. The pizza was on a light but crisply baked crust and Baraka uses real crab meat, instead of the vile and plastic crab sticks that one so often finds. The chicken curry was equally fine - the chicken breast was succulent and, while bland on it's own, when put in the combination of fruit and chutney was extremely good. Accompanying this was a glass of organic Cote du Rhone and a red Zinfandel, which, while falling short of the "incredible" label on the wine list, was nonetheless a delight, especially served chilled.
Kensington has many fine things to offer, as well as many only mediocre ones, and all establishments in the area suffer from the limited parking that is the district's curse. Baraka is another excellent (if hardly budget) addition to both Kensington's and Calgary's cuisine scene.
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