The District is the latest of Calgary's attempts at the 'food court fine dining' concepts seen in cities with a far more established food scene. Six counter-service spots in one large room, seating available at the counters/at longer communal tables/restaurant-style tables for 2 to 4. It's certainly ambitious, boasting projects from some of Calgary's more well-known culinary names.
Ambiance is questionable, like they aren't sure what they're trying to do with it. It's rather dark, which seems to clash with the food hall concept at large, but the light fixtures are pretty and the colours and design of the whole place together is attractive -- just a bit confusing and at odds with itself in context.
Walking in sees a strip along one side. First, Takori (by Duncan Ly of the nearby Foreign Concept restaurant) with pan-Asian-Mexican fusion offerings of the taco and burrito variety. Their crispy chicken skin dish was one of the most intriguing offerings and it looks promising overall. Past that is Oishidesu offering ramen, rice/poke bowls and a fair few appetizers; there are a few locations around the city. Roy's Korean Kitchen (by its namesake chef who runs its flagship in Mission and also headed the now-closed but much lauded Anju restaurant) has some of the more refined dishes in the hall. We noted several tables trying out their Korean chicken sliders but were attracted to such menu items as the soy maple brussels sprouts & congee. Finally along the strip is Modern Burger. The most familiar name to the casual foodie, this branchoff of Modern Steak and Modern Ocean restaurants is a classic burger and shake spot with a bit more potential to empty your wallet than the McDonald's down the street.
The centre of the hall is occupied by the remaining 2 food counters -- Shrub Bloom cooking up a somewhat random menu of vegan dishes and its neighbour Greenfish (by Darren Maclean, driver of Calgary's true fine dining scene with Shokunin and Nupo under his belt just to name a few) for 'sustainable sushi'.
We can only speak directly to the quality of the food at Oishidesu, which is where the experience truly fell flat. First we discovered that several items on the menu were unavailable and that the employee wasn't even aware they were supposed to be offered. The prices seem excellent if you're a habitual eater of ramen/donburi/poke (all under $15) but the reason for that became clear when we received our half-filled bowls, and even clearer upon digging in to what were strikingly poor-quality vegetables and fish. Corn had no flavour and seemed to have been tossed into the bowl from a recently thawed Green Giant bag. Salmon in the poke was discoloured and hardly recognizable as fish in its flavour. Pork and sauce in the donburi were good, but since we finished our dishes in about 10 bites, it was hard to get a great assessment of everything.
The District has potential and certainly set itself up to thrive. Hopefully its big names can back it up over time. For now, we'll wait awhile before returning, as they aren't even settled in enough to provide everything that they advertise on the written menu, let alone provide the quality and refinement that is expected. read more