Crab and Avocado Eggs Benny at Botanist. Photo by Lindsay William-Ross/Vancouver Is Awesome
Decisions, decisions: Where to have brunch this weekend in Vancouver? There's a new brunch menu and deal, though, that will make deciding where to go oh-so-much easier. It's a way to have an upscale multi-course weekend brunch - with cocktails - in one of the city's most beautiful dining rooms.
Botanist, the award-winning restaurant inside the Fairmont Pacific Rim, has just launched their new Brunch Punch menu. For $62 you can slide into their peaches-and-dreams upper-floor greenery-draped dining room, be handed a glass of bubbly, then sit down to enjoy two course of elegant eats with a delicious boozy (or non-boozy) punch cocktail.
Brunch Punch at Botanist begins with a glass of bubbly. Photo by Lindsay William-Ross/Vancouver Is Awesome
The Brunch Punch menu is divided into easy-to-navigate sections, though it will be hard to decide what to get for a starter (here called "Morning Stretch") or a main (aka "Harvest & Hunt"). If you've savvily brought along a friend or two or more, divide and conquer then share would be the winning strategy, since their plentiful options cover a lot of tasty territory.
Under "Morning Stretch" your options range from a very Vancouver avocado smash toast to a Brioche French Toast or the restaurant's signature Hand-Cut Beef Tartare - the latter always an irresistible choice for anyone who may have tried this dish before (yours truly raises her hand) thanks to the tender morsels of beef blanketed in a creamy parmesan sauce crowned with smoked egg yolk.
Botanist’s hand-cut beef tartare. Photo by Lindsay William-Ross/Vancouver Is Awesome
When it's time to switch to your main, the decisions get exponentially harder thanks to the spectrum of dishes that veer from breakfast-y to lunch-y. Power down on a decadent Wagyu burger on a pretzel bun, tuck into pasta with veal ragu, or get a little adventurous with their fish and chips done with a squid ink tempura - so, yes, that means it's black.
Classic dishes include a selection of three Eggs Benny dishes (Crab and Avocado, Peameal Bacon, or Vegetarian Slow-Roasted Onion), bacon and eggs, or Cinnamon Pancakes topped with streusel and a cream cheese glaze. Those in the Venn diagram crossover areas of seafood lovers and brunch traditionalists will appreciate how very crab-forward the Crab and Avocado Benny is, and how silky and rich the Hollandaise is. The Cinnamon Pancakes will please any sweet brunch eats lover, including any little ones in your brunch group.
Cinnamon Pancakes at Botanist. Photo by Lindsay William-Ross/Vancouver Is Awesome
While the little ones will get to sip on the non-alcoholic punch option - don't forget, this is Brunch Punch! - the imbibers will have a couple more to choose from. The punch options are seasonal and will rotate, but they will consistently be fun to receive table-side when your server pours the good stuff over a logo-stamped tall custom ice cube. Oh, and they'll swap out that welcome bubbly for something non-boozy by request, too.
The Kay Rissy on the punch menu does indeed pack a punch - it's got rum, brandy, apricot, lemon, chai tea, and maple. Take note, Waterfront Station is an easy stroll to and from Botanist, for those who want to get punch-ed but not drive sauced.
The Kay Rissy punch. Photo by Lindsay William-Ross/Vancouver Is Awesome
Brunch Punch at Botanist is available Saturdays and Sundays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The a la carte menu is also available at that time.
Botanist is located at 1038 Canada Place at Fairmont Pacific Rim in downtown Vancouver.
Inside Botanist restaurant at the Fairmont Pacific Rim. Photo by Ema Peter/courtesy Botanist
