Ranchman's Club, Calgary, Canada

Ranchman's Club, Calgary, Canada
Friday 11 January, 2002

Calgary is cowboy central - it is such an eye opener to see actual cowboys walking down the street. The boots, massive belt buckles and checked shirts - it's so different to outback Australia - this is a city!

The Ranchman's Club is a reciprocal club of a club I belong to at home. It is a men's club that has a long history - generations of families belong to this club and it looks very prestigious with a large circular driveway leading up to the main building.

We were treated like long lost friends the moment we walked in and were provided with a tour of the club and its history - it's over 100 years old. One bar had wall hangings of all the family ranch brandings over the years and another had old photos from the early 1900's. It was steeped in tradition and the next room showcased the heads of wild animals mounted on the walls and bronze statues of ranchers, horses etc.

Our maitre'd was extremely friendly and kept us talking about Australian wine - he was a little obsessed. The food was wonderful, we both had sliced duck roasted on a bed of rice with port wine sauce for entree and I enjoyed the grilled sea bass with wasabi mashed potato for main. The food was innovative and the service was excellent.

We could have stayed there for hours chatting to the staff, but called it a night as we were heading off to Banff the next morning.