As is typical for the middle of winter, this last week in Calgary has been bitterly cold with temperatures dropping below -30 C. A summer girl through and through, winter time makes me want to hibernate in my cozy home with the tea flowing, heat up, and a devilishly handsome cat to snuggle with beneath my pile of blankets. With my mom in town for a much needed mother-daughter visit this simply couldn’t happen and in our best efforts to make the most of our weekend together, we braved the cold. Only so long as to get from one building to the next, of course.
After an evening of food, movies and wine, we woke up slowly and made our way over to a popular restaurant in the heart of the city: The Coup + Meet. The Coup offers menus (adjusted for each season) for breakfast, lunch, and dinner that are all 100 % vegetarian and use as much local, organic products as possible. Not only are they an animal-friendly establishment, they’re environmentally conscious as well, composting all raw material, planting trees, recycling all that they can, and being entirely wind-powered. Definitely my kind of place.
The restaurant itself is small with uplifting blue walls and an always-lively chatter and energetic atmosphere. The waiting staff are more than welcoming, accommodating of dietary restrictions, and greet you with water served out of a tall, glass bottle.
I was infinitely more excited about the idea of this restaurant than my mom, who is definitely not a vegetarian and isn’t too keen to try vegetarian food. But even she lit up as we walked inside, sat ourselves down, and perused the menu. From the huge variety, choosing my tea was just as difficult as choosing my breakfast! In the end, we settled on green tea for mom and earl grey for myself, each served in it’s own piping hot mini teapot with a side of organic sugar.
For our mains, “the untraditional” for mom (2 scrambled eggs, muesli toast, rosemary hashbrowns, and smoked maple baked beans) :
… and “the iron board” for myself (gluten free waffles with coconut-banana-butter, cinnamon, banana, and a tequila shot of maple syrup)
Without much of a wait at all, our breakfasts were delivered and delightfully devoured.
This was my first time at The Coup but it certainly won’t be the last. If you plan to give it a go, I’d recommend arriving right at opening time for lunch and dinner. Rumor has it that fans of the restaurant will line up before opening time, particularly in the summer, as it can be filled quickly due to it’s small size. However, if there is a wait when you arrive, it is definitely worth it and there is a nice little area for you to sit and relax while you’re waiting.
For more information, you can click here for the hours of operation, here if you’d like to check out the menu before hand, and here if you wanted to take a look at some of their products for sale. They’ve got a cookbook available to purchase, which I am secretly trying to restrain myself from buying until payday.