Wild Flour Bakery

Banff, there's so much talk about it.  I thought it would be some beautiful glamorous place.  But maybe because I didn't get a chance to hike that much, I didn't feel it. If anything the town of Banff actually felt more like a tourist trap than anything.  Yes, the scenery there was beautiful, because theres the mountains wherever you look, but I don't know if it's because I went to Iceland first, it can't compare to the beauty of Iceland.  It also didn't feel like any locals live there, I felt like I walked the streets with tourists surrounding me.  The people that work in the retail shops, most of them had Australian accents!  It just felt weird.

Embarrassing story time.  Because I knew we would be hiking on this trip, I wore my running shoes, and brought along my hiking boots.  Now I've had my hiking boots for many many years, probably since undergrad.  And i'll pull them out to wear to shovel the snow, or go snowboarding.  About 5 minutes of walking around Banff, I felt something funny, I thought I stepped on some gum.  I look down, and the right sole of my hiking boot has become loose!  It's flapping around like a flip flop.  I made the hubby chew on some gum to see if that will hold, and no it doesn't!  Bought some contact cement at the Home Hardware to see if it will stick.  That stuff apparently takes 24 hours to set.  Ughhhhh.  So we would have to drive back to the apt for me to change into my runners. But of course, before that, we needed to eat.

Food wise, there's a lot of chains, like Earls, the Keg, McDonalds, etc.  I avoid those like the plague.  For lunch we popped into a bakery named Wild Flour Bakery.  Even though we were there for a late lunch, it was busy.  All the tables were taken and there was a small line up.  The bakery sells bread of course, sandwiches, soup, croissants, cookies etc.  All made in house with local organic ingredients.  Even though we were there for lunch, I ordered a breakfast sandwich & latte, and the hubby ordered a combo with a veggie sandwich, soup, cookie & flat white.  My breakfast sandwich was just ok.  The bread was great (they make a great sourdough).  The 'breakfast' filling was a egg frittata and cheese.  I have a feeling they prep the sandwich ahead of time and just warm it on the panini press, because the insides was still a bit cold.  If something is supposed to be hot, I like it piping hot.

Breakfast Sandwich

The hubby's veggie sandwich, there was some miscommunication when he ordered thats why he got a veggie sandwich instead of a meat one, was actually pretty good.  There were roasted peppers, tomato, spinach, and some pesto type spread.  The soup was so good!  Curry lentil soup.  Cookie that he got was a spicy chocolate cookie.  Reminds me of Soma's mayan hot chocolate.  The cookie texture was a bit crumbly, didn't hold that well, but still good.

Veggie Sandwich, Curry Lentil Soup, Spicy Chocolate Cookie

Coffees were good, a little bit weaker than what I would like but still good.  If i wasn't so full I wanted to buy a croissant and focaccia to try because they looked so good, but we said we would come back the next morning for breakfast on route to Lake Louise.  That never happened.  So if you ever come to Banff, skip the chains and check out this bakery, while it's not necessarily cheap, it's most likely more affordable than the other places around.

Latte and Flat White

Wild Flour Bakery
101-211 Bear Street,
Banff, Alberta,
T1L 1B4

Phone:  (403) 760-5074

Hours:  Monday - Sunday 700a - 400p

http://www.wildflourbakery.ca