Lake Louise in December

 We had our company Christmas party at Chateau Lake Louise in lieu of a bonus. While I really would've preferred cold hard cash, I really appreciated the experience.

We  had our dinner at the Walliser Stube, which is famous for their fondues. Unfortunate for us, they refused to let us do a fondue for our dinner. We found it strange as a separate party, roughly the same size as ours was allowed to have the fondues. We were drooling over their meals.. Next time I guess.. Next time.. 

We had our bread baskets, they had their fondue pots..

French onion soup... This was piping hot! I couldn't understand how some people drank it so fast, I burned my tongue a little from the soup. But it was really good! The cheesy was stringy and the bread pieces just soaked up the sou. The soup alone made me sweat like a pig. My only complaint is that it was a tad on the salty side. 

 Main course was the Schnitzel. I really didn't like it. The schnitzel taste like it's been fried for way too long. It was kind of hard to cut through the crust. The crust was really crunchy and it was slightly acidic from the lemon juice. Each bite was cutting into my mouth just a little bit. I ended up pairing the lingonberry sauce with every bite to soften it a little bit.
The vegetables, on the other hand, was wonderfully done. It was the perfectly seasoned to highlight the sweetness of each vegetable.

Chestnut souffle tart with  rum raisin ice cream 

This was a beautiful plate of  dessert but an odd dish. It was a lukewarm tart with a cold scoop of ice cream. Instead of melting on the tart, the ice cream just stays as a giant chunk on top of the tart. 

I don't think this was a very good souffle tart.. When I think of souffles, I think of something that is very fluffy. Whereas this tart was very dense and the filling separated from the crust. Don't get me wrong, I liked the filling. It feels light in that it doesn't taste like there is very much creams and butter in it. Instead, I just taste the light sweetness of chestnuts. But the fact that my filling separated from the crust after a couple of bites just ruined the tart for me. I ended up only eating the filling.

The carnage

The meal wasn't bad per say, but fondue would've been a better choice. It honestly wasn't worth it for the price but I understand part of the price is  the atmosphere, which is wonderful. But if I had a choice, I would pay the price for the fondues instead. Can  you tell that we all just wanted the fondues and not the set meals?

Now, why am I grateful for the experience? Well.. Even though I live so close to Lake Louise, I only ventured up to the lake in the summer. So  the winter was such a different experience!

Even though it was above zeros in Cow town, there was snow crystals and ice every where! I managed to take some great photos (see below). The temperature was also  low enough that the lake stayed frozen. That gave my friend and I an amazing opportunity to walk on the lake. I know I know, it's just walking on a frozen surface.. No big deal! But it was a big deal to us! To be able to stand on the lake and take pictures of the beauties surrounding us was a wonderful experience. I really enjoyed it.

 

The skating rink!