A delicious mix of French, Vietnamese and Thai flavours in the city’s southeast at Colonial.

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Colonial Fusion Cuisine

On Google Maps, Colonial Fusion Cuisine exists somewhere in the mysterious, partially mapped neighbourhood of Quarry Park just the other side of “Here be Monsters.” Despite the restaurant’s location on a virtual blank spot on the website’s digital parchment, my wife and I stow enough provisions for the long drive to the city’s middle southeast, set sail upon the Deerfoot and, with a bit of good luck and a mean tailwind, find the Vietnamese fusion restaurant that opened in October.

Colonial’s name works on two levels. The restaurant is part of the growing colonization of Calgary’s outer reaches by upscale, independent eateries (for example: Concorde Restolounge in Aspen Woods and Flight Deck International Bar and Grill in Harvest Hills). Its cuisine also features the influences of Vietnam’s former colonizer, France, and, just to be neighbourly, Thailand.

We have plenty of time to enjoy the restaurant’s curvilinear layout, softly inviting colours, floral table decorations and comfy faux-leather chairs. Our waitress is sweet but no fireball. Half an hour after she takes our order, she returns to ask if we’re “ready to order” yet. Happily, our appetizers arrive shortly after.

Colonial offers three types of spring rolls, each a unique take on this Vietnamese standard. We go for Colonial fried spring rolls ($14), which come diagonally sliced and arranged around a small bowl of sweet and sour sauce. The rolls are made with bean curd and stuffed with pork, prawn, vermicelli, taro, carrots, mushroom and onion. The bean curd provides a hint of crunch, and the filling is dense, moist and begs to be dipped. The sauce is quite sweet, but this balances the hotness of its chili component while accentuating the smooth taste of the rolls.

Our second appetizer is the night’s best dish: scallops carpaccio ($14). Beautifully presented, spread on a long, white serving dish, the thinly sliced scallops are topped with orange roe, and drizzled with garlic oil as well as pomegranate and lime vinaigrette and a few pomegranate sections. The dressing is a mellower second cousin to the spring roll dip, and in combination with the slight pop of the roe, sets the scallop slices up for a slam-dunk taste.

Our entrées are also beautifully presented in large, flat-lipped bowls, each adorned with a single orchid. The mahogany quail ($23), though undeniably delectable, suffers from an ingredient substitution. Two halved, honey-lacquered quail are pinwheeled atop a hill of plain vermicelli noodles that was supposed to be coconut rice. The honey glaze does indeed give the quail a magnetic mahogany glow and also has a subdued sweetness that plays up the slightly wild flavour of the bird. It’s so nice, I spend quite a long time gnawing every last bit of meat from the bones. As mouth-wateringly good as the sweet grilled bird meat is, the noodles drag it and the accompanying steamed vegetables (broccoli, snap peas, peppers) down a notch.

The green papaya salad with lobster ($28) has the reverse problem. The flavourless lobster meat doesn’t hold up to the rest of the dish, which is crunchy, lightly tangy and satisfying. Made of hearty papaya, carrot and cucumber with accompanying mint, rum and garlic-chili-lime vinaigrette, the lobster chunks simply get lost. This one would be better downsized as an appetizer and served without the lobster.

Just as we’re about to ask for the dessert menu, we’re given two complimentary desserts and a polite apology for the wait (our meal is two-and-a-half hours long). The two crème brûlée ($8 each), one chocolate and one mango, are served in narrow eye-shaped dishes and topped with sliced strawberry. The sugar crusts on both are thick. The mango is extra fruity and the chocolate is smooth; an excellent finish to the evening.

Though there were minor hitches, our Colonial meal held the spirit of adventure its name implies and the successful fusion of cuisines it advertises.