Oktober Fest at Braidwood Tavern - Four Seasons Whistler Resort

 

When in Whistler, you dine at the Braidwood Tavern the restaurant situated inside the Four Seasons Whistler Resort! Now until October 16th is the Oktober Fest menu and it is everything German beer, meat and potatoes. The team at Bradwood Tavern makes everything from scratch in-house with a modern take. 

To start we did the Charcuterie Board, but I would argue it is more of a tower. A three-tiered wooden tower arrived laden with dry cured meats, salami, cold cuts and various accompaniments. Two large Bavarian pretzels still warm from the oven topped the tower. There were two types of grainy mustard to enjoy the pretzels with. To balance the salt from the meats, there were pearl onions, caperberries and those tiny little pickles I love called cornichons. 

I was going to stick to the Oktober Fest menu, but the Poblanitas caught my eye and I could not help myself. Fries smothered in a rich poblano pepper tartar sauce, thinly sliced pickled jalapeno and cotija cheese. The sauce was creamy, it was spicy and I have always loved pickled jalapenos and these ones were extra thinly sliced. Literally craving it right now and am tempted to drive up to the Four Seasons Whistler so I can have another cast iron pan of the Pablanitas to myself. 

I am not the biggest meat eater, but I was not going to stray from the Oktober Fest menu again. I went with the classic Wiener Schnitzel, thinly pounded, breaded and fried veal cutlet served with sauerkraut, cranberry sauce and a warm potato salad. The Schnitzel was well executed, but it was the warm potato salad that stole my heart. The potatoes were sliced thin similar to what you find in a scalloped potato and were dressed in a buttery vinaigrette and grainy mustard. 

The Schweinshaxe is a smoked pork hock, sauerkraut, German bread dumplings and beer gravy. That was a massive pork hock! The skin was crispy and the meat was juicy. Not a fan of the German bread dumplings. 

If I had the stomach capacity to eat more, I would have ordered the Spatzle, a German pasta. The Spatzle noodles were coated in a cheese sauce and topped with crispy fried onions, like a German Mac & Cheese!

The night finished on a sweet note of Warm Apple Strudel and Black Forest Cake. The pastry had a nice flaky texture and the apple filling was lovely, but I wish the apples had some more bite to them. The Black Forest cake was rich decadent chocolate counterbalanced by an airy whipped cream and tarte cherries. The gold-dusted chocolate curls were an elegant touch. 

The only thing missing from the Oktober Fest experience was a pair of Lederhosen, but there is always next year! I think the Braidwood Tavern needs to keep the warm potato salad and apple strudel on its regular menu. Especially the potato salad because words cannot describe its deliciousness. It should also go without saying that I paired the meal with a flight of German beers because it would not be very German-approved if there was no beer involved. 

BYES