Eat your way around the world in Calgary
While international flourishes are the norm on the city’s casual-contemporary menus, new restaurants are specializing in global food and fusion mash-ups not previously available here. From African and Asian to European and South American, the flavours of world’s far-flung corners are yours for the feasting. This list features some of Calgary's top global-cuisine stops.
Mamak Dang Fusion Malaysian Cuisine
4604 12 St NE, Calgary, AB T2E 4R4You’ll find one of the city’s most unique Asian eateries in a strip mall just southeast of the intersection of Deerfoot Trail and McKnight Boulevard. Mamak Dang serves Malaysian street food that features elements of Thai, Indian, Chinese and Indonesian cooking. Dishes include satay skewers, roti with various sauces, and laksa, a coconut-noodle soup prepared with seafood, beef or pork. The spicy beef rendang is also highly recommended.
Jonas Restaurant & Bar
937 6 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2P 0V7Expect hearty, home-style meals prepared by husband and wife Janos and Rosza Jonas at the city’s one and only Hungarian restaurant. Open for lunch and dinner, it’s located downtown, next to Kay’s Food Mart on Sixth Street Southwest. Dishes are large, well priced and return-trip delicious. Choose from bestsellers such as beef-and-bean goulash soup, Hungarian-style cabbage rolls and chicken paprikash with house-made dumplings. Reservations recommended.
Marathon Ethiopian Restaurant Ltd
A longtime fixture in Kensington, Marathon Ethiopian serves traditional wat – a variety of beef, lamb, chicken and vegetable stews – paired with soft and airy injera bread, which is used as an edible utensil. Also try tibs, a spiced beef dish as well as marinated and vegetarian dishes such as spinach and potatoes and inguday tibs, a mushroom, onion and jalapeno-pepper dish. These are served with either injera or salad.
Mimo Restaurant & Lounge
203-4909 17 Ave SE, Calgary, AB T2A 0V5Hidden away in Forest Lawn, Mimo is Calgary’s lone Portuguese place, which makes it just that much more special. Loyal clientele return for the Da Costa family’s friendly service and gorgeous, fresh-grilled plates of quail, squid, cod and Portuguese steak as well as steaming paella pans and massive seafood-and-veggie platters.
Bolero
This Brazilian restaurant in the Smuggler’s Inn complex is warmly elegant, like a ranch house with a brick hearth and a well-stocked bar. Help yourself to side dishes at the buffet while the churrasco chefs visit your table to carve slabs of beautifully slow-roasted chicken, pork, lamb, beef and more. Your colour-coded cue card lets them know when you want more meat, and when you’ve finally had enough.
The Himalayan Ltd
2-3218 17 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T3E 0B3You may not be familiar with home-style Nepali cuisine, but you ought to be. At Himalayan, Sanjay and Soniya Rajbhandari serve hearty noodle plates, dumplings and spiced meat dishes. These dishes were born in the Himalayan Mountains and are lightly influenced by the food of China and India. Notably, half the restaurant’s mains are vegetarian dishes.
Cardinale
1-1204 3 St SE, Calgary, AB T2G 2S9Located in the stately brick and sandstone building in Victoria Park next to Cowboy’s Casino, La Vita é Bella is just a spaghetti-noodle’s length east of downtown. Suitable for casual occasions as well as business meals, the draw here is lovingly prepared, upscale Italian standards. Entrees include linguini with veal meatballs, Arctic char with rapini and fingerling potatoes and gnocchi with enoki mushrooms and wine-pickled onion. A full gluten-free menu is available.
Barcelona Tavern
501 8 Ave SW, Calgary, AB T2P 1G1As its name suggests, Barcelona Tavern is a Latin-inspired eatery serving tapas dishes. Within its lengthy Spanish-accented small-plate selection find short rib empanadas, Canadian oyster and mussel dishes, poached halibut cheeks and much more. Larger shareable dishes include charcuterie and paella. Located in the CORE Shopping Centre, this big and boisterous room features two open-air dining levels.
