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| - After a month of being tempted by images and reviews of authentic Halifax-style donairs and garlic fingers on social media, I finally made my way to this new restaurant in Bridgeland.
Blowers and Grafton is a small, modern and tastefully decorated restaurant on Edmonton Trail. I went on a Sunday for an early lunch, shortly after the restaurant opened. Although me and my guest were the first to arrive, the restaurant was nearly half full by noon. On talking to the waitress, I was very happy to hear that much of the staff originated from Halifax and the restaurant either made their base ingredients in-house or had them shipped in from the east-coast.
Although the menu included several delicious sounding items including poutine and pizza, I had pre-decided that I needed a donair and garlic fingers: two items that are hard to find on this side of Canada. I'm from the Maritimes. I know what I'm looking for when it comes to these east-coast "delicacies". So, how does Blowers and Grafton stack up?
Donair: 9.5/10. The meat was perfectly seasoned with the slightest background hit of spice. The sauce was the perfect amount. Enough to flavour the whole donair without being excessive. The pita was soft and contained the heaping portion of meat well. By default, the donair comes with tomatoes and onions. Being a donair purist, I consider these the only appropriate toppings for a donair, so I was happy to see no mention of lettuce or other blasphemous toppings (although, cheese and pepperoni are optional add-ons). The only factor that knocked a half point off my rating is that I could have done with a touch more tomatoes and onions.
Donair sauce: 8.5/10. Yes, the donair sauce is important enough that it requires it's own assessment. Often times, places in Alberta make an attempt at the sacred sweet and garlic-y sauce calling it "sweet sauce". A good donair sauce is yellow tinged, sharp with garlic and is so thick it can stand up on its own. Here, the flavour was right but I found the sauce a bit runny.
Garlic fingers: 7/10. Although very good compared to what else is available in Calgary, I found myself slightly disappointed with the garlic fingers. The crust was crispy from a wood fired oven. Although this is a desirable trait in pizza, I prefer my garlic fingers with a "pouffier" crust. The stretchy cheese was generous, but I was missing some of the super garlic-y flavour that is key in a good garlic finger.
Overall, very good rating. It's so hard to find good Halifax-style dishes in Alberta, so I'm happy to have found a place that does it right.
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