Past a nondescript door off a maintenance corridor in the Alt Hotel you’ll find a dramatic room, heavy on black, with a striking Douglas fir bar, set with just four stools on each of its two perpendicular counters. All sightlines align with the kitchen and its central black marble work surface. Eight stools and just one seating four nights a week — a seat here is a very hot ticket. Of Darren MacLean’s three restaurants, Eight is the most personal. While he’s known primarily for his Japanese-inspired cooking, here his culinary preoccupation is with Canada’s poly-cultural identity. Indigenous cooking has an important role, but so does that of Calgary’s Korean community, along with influences Chinese, South Asian — and French. Each dish he prepares is delivered with an engaging backstory. But the most compelling storytelling occurs on the plate. Spring is announced with a pea purée studded with sweet peas, topped with sashimi of geoduck dressed with buttermilk foam and black garlic. In autumn, expect a sashimi of lightly brined elk heart dressed with light sesame oil, raw garlic and binchō-tan charred shiso. Dry-aged kama-toro (collar) of P.E.I. bluefin is seared just enough to partially liquefy its fat, then sauced with ponzu and topped with caviar, pine nuts, pickled shallot and black dashi foam. The cooking is original and fiendishly complex, but the flavours always come through in harmony and with resounding clarity.

Absolutely AMAZING. Christina Chow