Ten Foot Henry is another place in Calgary that’s placed their focus on small, shareable plates. The kicker here is that the menu is driven by vegetarian dishes, which must be a first for meat eccentric Alberta.
Cute outdoor sign advertising their sister restaurant, Little Henry.
Preach Henry, preach. All about being healthy.
The inside has a cute mural of Henry and his dog cutting up some pungent onions.
The interior is absolutely gorgeous but this is the hallway where you lounge while you wait for a table to open up. We made reservations for a late dinner Friday night and the place was bumping. Clearly, this was the place to be. The mix of picnic tables, booths and bar seats along with the hanging plants and open air concept makes for a cozy, hip dining room. Very similar vibe to Pigeonhole.
The original ten foot Henry figure. Get the name now? Interesting story from Avenue Calgary on the history/story behind Henry.
Dinner menu is a nice one pager broken down into three groups.
Closeup of the vegetable options. Nice to see vegetables finally getting the spotlight.
Closeup of the fish & meat and miscellaneous dishes. Bread is from Sidewalk Citizen.
Drinks menu which has wine, beer, ciders and cocktails.
There were four of us so we decided to share a bit of everything. When we asked our waiter for recommendations, he said everything was good (eyeroll). How helpful.
Crudo ($14.00)
Yellow fin crudo, chimichurri, sesame and chili. Yooo, this was delicious but you only get three TINY slices of yellow fin.
Omelette ($11.00)
Mushroom omelette, manchego and frisee. This was light, airy and way better than expected, especially coming from someone that isn’t obsessed with eggs. The sprinkle of truffle compliments the omelette perfectly.
Tomatoes ($14.00)
Tomatoes, fresh herbs, whipped feta and Sidewalk sourdough toast. The bread was great and liked how they grilled it slightly.
To be honest, everyone seems to love this dish but it was just average to me. The tomatoes weren’t bursting with fresh, summery flavour and the whipped feta was really, really subtle.
Adobo chicken ($21.00)
Braised adobo chicken, scallion, sesame lime salt and herbs. Interesting with the Filipino twist. The chicken was tender, juicy, moist but again, small portion.
Cacio e pepe ($16.00)
Bucatini cacio e pepe. Tomtom was in heaven with this dish and said he could have ate a whole plate himself. He’s a fatty 😉 The pasta was al dente, very cheesy and rich.
Dumplings ($9.00)
Handmade bread dumplings, borscht, sour cream and dill. These normally come in three but since there were four of us, the waiter suggested we order an extra for $3.00. Mistake! Three were more than we needed. Heck, one was good enough. It wasn’t what we were expecting. The “dumplings” reminded me of the ones you get at German restaurants (knödel) but TFH’s version was bland and pure gluten. Don’t waste your money on this one.
Your meal ends with a cute but somewhat random postcard. Is that water or beer in that tap?
Right now, I’m on the fence on whether I’m a fan of TFH or not. Some good dishes, some misses – I’d need to come back and try a few more dishes to get a better gauge on things.
Ten Foot Henry
1209 – 1 Street SW
Calgary, AB
(403) 475-5537
CHERRY BOB-OMBS 