504 Patricia Street, Jasper
There are only a handful of restaurants in Jasper, and I wasn’t really feeling pub fare, so I opted to go to The Raven Bistro, one of the few restaurants in Jasper that offers higher end of dining. We were having a staycation so we splurged a little bit and went with the fondue as an appetizer to share, which is a whopping $49. For our mains, we went with the braised lamb shank, and the lemon sesame schnitzel.
The Fondue comes with Rosemary focaccia, black forest ham, roasted brussel sprouts, apple slices, twice cooked Kennebec fries, and balsamic pickled pearl onions to dip in your choice of either a Classic Swiss Fondue of gruyere and emmental cheese simmered in a dry white wine or, with smoked applewood cheddar and aged white cheddar simmered in Three Ranges Brewing Derailed Pale Ale.
We opted to go with the gruyere. This dish was not too bad. The cheese was quite sharp, which I like, and generally enjoyable to eat. I expected the quality of the ham to be a bit better, given the price of the appetizer. If I were to come back, I’d probably opt to go for 3 of their other appetizers and pay the same price. The fondue isn’t worth it for the price.
The braised lamb shank is balsamic red wine braised lamb shank served with a smokey eggplant caponata, goat cheese polenta and mint pinenut gremolata. The lamb was perfectly cooked and tender. The ingredients worked well together and this was a pretty good dish.
The lemon sesame schitzel was definitely the lesser of the two mains. It’s a pork cutlet, breaded with lemon zest, sesame seeds, and panko, deep fried and then served with warm chorizo potato salad, and crispy parsley and a rhubarb date chutney. The pork cutlet was uneven and the thinner parts were over cooked and quite dry. The potato salad was pretty good, but my portion was a single potato cut in half. Overall a dry dish, and not very enjoyable to eat.
Overall, my experience at The Raven Bistro was disappointing. Everything was relatively expensive, but the quality did not reflect the price. I definitely could have gotten a better meal for less money at a different place. Give this place a try if you’ve exhausted and are tired of the other options in Jasper, but be prepared to eat mediocre food for a high price.
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