"What's an allergy?"

This is probably a question you don't want to be asked if you have a serious allergy (amongst others which we'll post about).

A few weeks ago, we had a fun getaway to the mountains and travelled through a couple of touristy towns.  Since we were somewhat on a schedule, we decided to bypass the food in Banff for the food in Lake Louise.  Now, if we were dining at the Fairmont Chateau Lake Louise, that probably would have made the wife's day but with our limited budget, we went to the Lake Louise Village Grill and Bar instead.

Although the husband had eaten here in his past, we noticed that something must have been different this time around.  With a Chinese food menu and the husband being the only Caucasian person in the whole restaurant, we wondered how the experience would turn out.  Normally, we avoid Asian restaurants because of the copious amounts of seafood and the greater likelihood of cross-contamination.  We feel we can speak about this with authority because the wife is of an Asian background and is all too aware that the word "allergy" is not part of the Asian vocabulary.  Just ask her relatives.

That means that we shouldn't have been surprised when our waitress asked us, "What's an allergy?"  At that point, we were ready to head out of the restaurant; however, after a long travel day and having already left another restaurant because of their menu, we didn't have the energy to find another place to eat.  It even got to the point where the husband mentioned that the wife should stick her EpiPen on the table in case anything happened (we know - we are not suggesting this idea to anyone else even though we did just that).  Thankfully, another waitress came out with a more comprehensive understanding of English and asked us what we were allergic to which we were immensely grateful for.

Overall, we got more out of this story at the restaurant than the meal itself.  The husband had a greasy lasagna and the wife had an average burger so we're not anxious to return here.  With seafood on the Asian and Western menus, we were really taking a chance (though the wife is still alive so that was a good sign!).  There probably aren't too many other dining options in Lake Louise but we'll likely pass on this one.  Also, we didn't take pictures of our food which should be understandable given the stress of the situation ("Am I going to die here?!").

Seafood-free friendliness: Not very; however, the wife didn't have a reaction to anything she ate so they must have kept her burger and fries away from the seafood.  We imagine and hope there are other restaurants in Lake Louise that would do a better job in handling patrons with allergies.  We've learnt not to take risks like we did in case anything does go wrong.