Albertan, Aboriginal-inspired cuisine

There's this restaurant in the west side of Edmonton that I've been wanting to try for the past, I'd say, two years. My sister and I decided to do a double date dinner with our boyfriends the night before our birthday to celebrate and enjoy eachother's company. She suggested Murrieta's on Whyte, but the only time they had available was 8pm or later. My sister's boyfriend is an avid football fan so after 8 would work a lot better for him, given the Saskatchewan Roughriders were playing that night. That's when I suggested to my sister that restaurant in the west end that I so keenly wanted to try: Homefire.

The decor in this restaurant is similiar to the way it sounds; cozy and warm with a pretty fireplace in the middle of the restaurant. Sure enough, the waiter seated us right beside the fire (after waiting around for almost 5 minutes with no host/hostess to greet us). The lighting is dim and the decor has Aboriginal inspirations: silhouettes and stick drawings reminsicent of the culture.

All the prices on the menu were very affordable, surprisingly. Although I glanced at the website quickly to see their menu items, I did not expect a restaurant like this to be reasonable priced. The first item that caught my attention was the homemade bannock. Yum! That definitely reminds me of the times that I've visted Fort Edmonton Park as a kid to make bannock in an old-fashioned kitchen.



Bannock bread with whipped maple butter (L); creole creamy shrimp with pizza style bread (R)



Lamb burger with Saskatoon berry relish!

We all shared a basket of bannock bread for $7, served with whipped maple butter on the side. It was tasty, but I found the bannock to be on the dry side. I opted for the lamb burger with homemade Saskatoon relish (anything homemade always gets my attention first), veggies and mashed potatoes. The burger itself was delicious. The Saskatoon berry relish was delicious--tart and sweet, it was a great addition to the lamb. The mashed potatoes were a bit too salty, but were still good. My boyfriend ordered the stir-fry dish, an interesting option at an Aboriginal inspired restaurant. Although, you will find alot of stir-fry dishes at non-Asian restaurants. The sauce on his stir-fry was a little too sweet for my liking, but he's got a sweet tooth so it worked out for him! My sister's boyfriend opted for the same choice as me (the Saskatoon berry relish got him, too). My sister settled on the buffalo meatloaf, which I forgot to try because I was too busy working on my lamb burger!

No room for dessert right now. And, I already had dessert laid out for us because I had gone to the Downtown Farmer's Market during the day and purchased 4 cupcakes for each of us from Karen's Cake in a Cup, each one a different flavour for us to eat at home.

I recommend this restaurant if you want to try original, Aboriginal-inspired cuisine. The prices are reasonable and the atmosphere is cozy, just like the name suggests.

Verdict: scrumptious!

http://www.homefiregrill.ca/