Going to the airport — whether you’re off for a vacation or business trip, or maybe you’re picking someone up — is more of a crapshoot than it’s ever been.
Flight delays have become normalized. Departure and arrivals times feels like suggestions, best-case scenarios that are flashed up on screens to remind us just how spoiled we’d become by taking air travel for granted.
In case you have time to kill at the airport, it’s worth the walk over to the adjacent Renaissance Hotel to have a meal at Halo Bar | Bistro. For one, if you have seats near the hallway, you can look over at the work being hung in the Wild Skies Gallery. The Old Fashioned is well made here, which already makes the process of waiting… better.
When I visited Halo, I had the herb crusted salmon, with green onion gnocchi. The salmon was perfectly cooked, with that salty-sweet crust that you need to have, but I was easily able to get through the fish without the aid of a knife. It was soft and delicate inside, and the pesto was a nice addition. I don’t always expect a lot from hotel meals — because so many of their menus are standardized, and aim for the middle ground in terms of taste. But, in terms of any meal I’ve had on the airport premises, this was the best.
Oh, and if you want to visit Halo and you don’t have a flight to catch, you can get your parking validated, as long as you stash your vehicle in the Renaissance’s lot.
And if you are waiting for a flight that, on the departure screen, has the big red “delayed” icon flashing next to it, have another Old Fashioned. Check out the gallery. You don’t have to go through security, yet.
HALO Bar | Bistro
Renaissance Edmonton Airport Hotel | 4236 36th E, Edmonton International Airport | 780.890.1420 | halobarbistro.ca
