Brunch in Vancouver/Western Canada

[Ling]

Has anyone had the brunch buffet at Fleuri? Their Sunday buffet price is 41 dollars this month. How is their Chocoholic buffet?

Any other buffets you'd recommend? (Like Griffin's? Cafe Pacifica?)

Just looking to stuff myself with huge amounts of food this holiday season. TIA.

Edited December 3, 2003 by Ling (log)

[Coop]

Forty one dollars, it better be good! The buffet at Swan-e-Set golf couse is very good. A bit of a drive though. We usually go in December and then after brunch check out what's on sale in the pro shop. This is like christmas morning for me. If you decide to go phone ahead and reserve.

[Rhea_S]

My younger brother and his girlfriend just went to Cafe Pacifica this past Sunday and thought it was heaven on earth. He's normally very fussy about his food and difficult to please (except when it comes to fast food), but he raved about brunch. He even called our mom right after brunch to tell her how good it was. How often do guys do that? I thought he said that it was about $50 per person this month. (Just looked up the price online and it's $43)

[Redhead]

We had a very good family brunch in the restaurant at Northlands Golf club in North Vancouver (on the way to Deep Cove). They price the kids by age ($5 for 5 year-olds, $8 for 8-yr-olds and so on) and ours found lots of items they liked and could customize the toppings for their pancakes, or just get a nice slab of meat from the carvery. I don't think the selection is as huge as Swan-e-set, but the room is very nice, the scenery is pleasantly woodsy and the servers aimed to please. A good choice for North Shore residents.

[Sam Salmon]

I've had the Chocolate Buffet and it's divine.

We walked back over the Burrard Bridge and that night while sleeping I felt as though I was flying, flying....

[Ling]

I've seen the complete brunch buffet menus for Fleuri and Griffins. (Griffins looks to be the better of the two. ) Cafe Pacifica only has a vague description of what they're offering posted online.

Prices, if anyone's interested:

Fleuri $41

Griffins $42

Cafe Pacifica $43

Both Fleuri and Griffins offer turkey, prime rib, smoked fish, and seafood. Fleuri has an omelette and french toast station, cooked to order. Griffins has dungeoness crab legs and what appears to be a bigger selection of desserts.

So...I think I'll book a reservation at Griffins, and perhaps try the Chocoholic buffet at Fleuri too!

[Derek Diggler]

Check out Showcase at the Pinnacle Marriot on Thurlow and Hastings. A fine brunch if there ever was one, only $30 or so. Innovative, lots of variety and quite casual for a hotel environment.

[Hue]

Any recommendations for brunch buffets that are not in hotels?

[Johnathon]

Other than Monk McQueen's I am unaware of any in the Vancouver area. The Brunch Buffet has always been the domain of the hotel circuit. I practically grew up on the Brunch in the Garden Lounge at The Four Seasons when it was in full bloom. Used to love those sleepy Sundays of three hour buffet binges!

[Ling]

Check out Showcase at the Pinnacle Marriot on Thurlow and Hastings. A fine brunch if there ever was one, only $30 or so. Innovative, lots of variety and quite casual for a hotel environment.

I just looked at their brunch buffet menu and it looks terrific! Might have to cancel my reservations at Griffin's.

[chocomoo]

I went to Griffin's last year for Dine Out Vancouver, and wasn't all that impressed. I guess it was a good deal, being a buffet and all, but overall, the quality of the food wasn't that great. I had a portobello mushroom entree and really disliked it (it had a red pepper crust, or something, but it wasn't actually "crusty"--more pasty, more like...something that didn't taste good--I think I didn't like the herbs). And the dessert part--it may seem like a lot of desserts, but I found that I didn't really like any of them. It kind of reminded of slightly higher class Uncle Willy's, with more comfortable seating and less jello.

[Coop]

Uncle Willy's, that's funny!

[Ling]

It kind of reminded of slightly higher class Uncle Willy's, with more comfortable seating and less jello.

Thanks for the warning. I thought that maybe Showcase would have better quality food, judging from their buffet menu.

Here's the link if anyone's interested:

http://letsgofordinner.com/mainb.cfm?detail=82&area=2focus

I especially like how you get to choose an entree.

[skyflyer3]

Hello - We're going to Vancouver tomorrow and staying at the Westin Grand downtown. We already have dinner planned, but I need slots filled for breakfast Saturday, lunch on Saturday, dinner on Saturday, and breakfast/brunch on Sunday. I want to try the following restaurants:

L'Emotion

Chambar

Parkside

but I'm open to suggestions. We've eaten at Lumiere and West, Cioppino, GloBal, Vij's, Kirin, and Tojo's, and of all of these (acknowledging that food type varies greatly), Vij's was my favorite in terms of a consummate experience and knock-my-socks-off food. I'm desperately seeking the best of the above for dinner and lunch, and good brunch/breakfast places (Raincity Grill? Diva at the Met?) - or if my options are limited there, I'll just hit Kirin for dim sum on Sunday morning. Thanks so much for your help!!!

Edited September 23, 2004 by skyflyer3 (log)

[Daddy-A]

Hello - We're going to Vancouver tomorrow

Ummm ... thanks for all that advance warning!

If you've read the posts here, you know where we stand on Chambar & Parkside. I haven't been to the former, but trust the opinions of those who have. Parkside has been terrific every time I've gone.

I've been told Aurora Bistro (2240 Main Street) does a great brunch.

I'm not so much a brunch person as I am a honkin' big breakfast person. For that I like Helen's Grill (Main & 25th) - very old-school, complete with little juke-boxes at each booth - and Big C Grill (3941 Main). Apparently the guy at Big C (full of attitude) also does his own corn beef for corn beef hash. Haven't tried it yet, but the regular breakfasts at both places are good.

Artiggiano downtown is your best bet for coffee.

I think everything else has been covered well elsewhere.

Enjoy your visit ... looks like sun.

A.

[skyflyer3]

You rock! Thanks so much for helping me out, and I apologize for the short notice. I just figured I would do a simple search today to find out where to go, but with so many new and wonderful places to try, it seemed easier to just ask.

I love breakfast, so anyplace with a kick-ass eggs benedict is awesome, although that corned beef sounds good too. I think Chambar and Parkside will be it - I just hope Chambar has the steak frites for lunch. Thanks again for the suggestions, and if there are more, keep them coming!

[stovetop]

Well, breakfast is my specialty, I am partial to the West Side, cause I lived there, I did not have a car so in all the years living in Van, I pretty much stayed on the West Side and parts of East Van.

Sophie’s Cosmic Cafe; if you want to be entertained, have a few hours to kill, and be part of a fun time; but if you are in a hurry swing over to Joes Grill and get a great eggs any style that rocks and is cheaper then Sophie’s, quite and speedy service is what Joes is known for, it is all the things that Sophie’s is not, the two restaurants complement each other in the area they occupy in Kits.

Another great long time breakfast joint is Zen cafe, it has been a kits Institution for a long time, down on Yew street in the Heart of Kitsilano right beside Kits beach, what a location, have breaky and go for a walk on the beach, what more could you ask for in life.

In the old days just around the begining of the previous mentioned restaurants the Fringe Cafe was the closet place for me at the time, I lived at West Fourth and Collingwood, so all the way up to Arbutus is a long walk, so I was always in the lookout for a closer restaurant, the Fringe over time opened later and later every day, now I think they are opened like no earlier then three in the afternoon, but I used to really like their omelet’s, the space was always quite and the tunes where assume, have a beer after breakfast, it was my day off, they had Big Rock Pale Ale, which was assume, nobody else had it, they sold it as their Ugly Boy beer, which was a feature beer, it was given the Name as Ugly boy, most of the time it was Big Rock, they were a big supporter of big rock beer, hey I am from Alberta so I love big rock beer.

Cafe Barney up on Granville and 14th?, what a great place, it is just another consistent breakfast place, cross the street and cruise into the Ouisi bistro, maybe some cool jazz, dig into some Creole or Cajun Magic.

Van is breakfast Capital of Canada so many cool places to eat, or if you have money burning a hole in you pocket there are a few places that can help lighten your money for you.

steve

[Edible Vancouver]

Stopped in and had dinner at L'Emotion last night and was dissapointed. The room is very nice and the menu sounded impressive (4 course Prix Fixe) but the food was average at best although Minna Benoit was the consumate host as always. I would recommend Chambar and Parkside hands down!

As for brunch (and since you mentioned eggs benedict) I would strongly suggest Feenie's as he does a lobster eggs benny that is to die for. At least that is what my wife tells me everytime we go and she orders and extra side of hollandaise (which she says is the best in the city). The also have the regular versions with ham and salmon.

Diva at the Met still offers the best "hotel" breakfast in the city if you are in that area.

Hope this helps!

Eric

[Coop]

You should skip the Raincity Grill IMHO. You could add Fiction and Cru to your list. Also Rangoli, Vij's new casual place. it's interesting to hear all the recomendations for breakfast. I am always lost when looking for somewhere.

[Shellback]

A couple of other brunch suggestions closer to your hotel:

Glowbal (in Yaletown) - menu somewhat similar to Feenie's - Grilled Half Lobster Benedict, Dungeness Crab and Asparagus Omletter, Kobe Beef Burger with Brie, etc. I had brunch there a couple of months ago and thought it was very very good. Website: http://www.glowbalgrill.com/menu.cfm

Fiddlehead Joe's - Nice casual spot on the water. Saturday and Sunday Brunches from 9:00 am. I haven't tried their brunch, but dinner was very enjoyable. http://www.fiddleheadjoeseatery.com/brunch.php

[skyflyer3]

Just wanted to post my trip report for this past weekend. We tried to go to Guu for lunch, but found it was only open from 11:40 a.m. - 1:40 p.m. (odd hours), so we headed to Ichiban-kan instead. Dinner was at Chambar - a beautiful space, great frites, good steak, albeit chewy, and fine desserts. I had the house-made vanilla ice-cream with chocolate sauce, and my husband had the chocolate mousse. The ice cream was ok, the chocolate sauce was great and the mousse was divine. I'm not sure if I'd go again, with so many other wonderful places to try in Vancouver, but I'm glad I could cross this one off my list.

The next morning we had brunch at Feenie's, and thank you for this recommendation! I had the ham eggs benedict with a side of frites and husband had the french toast. Everything was amazing - those frites blew Chambar's out of the water. The hollaindaise on the eggs benny was perfect, the potatoes on the side were perfect, the french toast was perfect - I think I'd eat there every day if I could. Service was impeccable - much better than when we had dinner at Lumiere, about a year ago. And even though the type of dining is different, I preferred the food here than at Lumiere's. Of course, those frites made the meal! They were incredible.

Thanks again for all of your great recommendations, and I'm definitely going back to Feenie's, although Go Fish and Parkside are next on my list. Until then, I'll be thinking of those frites with a heavy heart....

[taryn]

My family and I plan on going for breakfast/brunch on sunday for my dad's 51st birthday. Any reccommendations?

[stovetop]

Sophies Cosmic cafe

Fun for the whole family

steve

[Daddy-A]

My family and I plan on going for breakfast/brunch on sunday for my dad's 51st birthday.  Any reccommendations?

←

Taryn,

You'll likely get more/better responses if you give us a bit more details:

• How many people?
  
• How much do you want to spend (per person)?
  
• What part of town are you looking in?
  
• Any particular type of food?
  

Help us out and we'll help you!

A.

["T"]

Aurora Bistro on Main.

Great brunch in a nice room. After brunch if the weather is dry you can walk around and hang out in Vancouvers hippest area.