From Eggs Benny to Afternoon Tea: Food for Celebrating Mom in Vancouver

Photo: Minami’s Mother’s Day Bento, Credit: Cody Chan

Especially this year, Moms deserve an additional round of applause for the amazing support and love they provide their families. Restaurants around the city are featuring all sorts of exciting and diverse menus for paying tribute this weekend to Mom. Whether you want to dine on a lovely patio or pre-order a takeout package, there’s sure to be an option that will make your Mother’s Day celebration joyous and delectable.

A Cuppa and Tea Sandwiches

Photo: Notch8, Credit: Leila Kwok

Afternoon tea and Mother’s Day have become synonymous. And this year offers elegant take home options, such as at Notch8 (Fairmont Hotel Vancouver, 900 West Georgia Street), which has Afternoon Tea To-Go available Saturday and Sunday. For $69 per person (includes tax, minimum 2 people), you get a variety of savoury and sweet items, including herbed chicken salad tea sandwiches, a sultana scone with citrus marmalade and crème fraîche, and cheesecake with fresh blueberries and mint. The package also comes with your choice of Lot 35 tea bag (e.g., creamy Earl Grey) or a bottle of iced tea per person. The ordering deadline is Friday at 5pm (while quantities last).

In partnership with Emelles Catering, the Shangri-La Hotel (1128 West Georgia Street) is offering Afternoon Tea To-Go ($68 for one; $136 for two). The delicious menu includes a steak and egg tartine, a caviar and salmon cupcake, and a pistachio blondie with passion fruit mousse. Two Leaves organic tea bags also come with your meal. Order at least two days in advance.

Eggs Benedicts and Mimosas

Photo: Cafe Medina

Restaurants across the city are serving elegant brunches for Mother’s Day on their patios, as well as crafting take home meals. Treat Mom to a four-course brunch ($39 per adult, $19 per kid 2-12 years old) at Glowbal (590 West Georgia Street). The meal begins with a seasonal berry smoothie and then baked goods (e.g., blueberry mini muffins). You next choose between items like a farm fresh parfait bowl and a young kale avocado salad, before brunching on a more substantial main of your choosing, such as Korean fried chicken with buttermilk biscuits. The brunch finishes with raspberry mille feuille. Even better, each Mom will get a complimentary take home present. Glowbal, in addition, has their famous Brunch Buffet ($80 for two plus tax and 10% tip) that you can enjoy at home; it includes banana bread, traditional eggs Benedict, turkey breakfast sausages, seafood mac ‘n’ cheese, and strawberry cheesecake. You can add on a seafood box ($50) or a bottle of prosecco or rose ($50).

Café Medina (780 Richards Street) will be serving brunch on their patio, in addition to offering impressive Mother’s Day brunch kits, such as The Medina Experience ($165 for two) that comes with ingredients for their popular fricassée, focaccia, Liège waffles with milk chocolate lavender sauce, a mimosa kit, a bouquet from Vivio Flowers, and a Medina matchbox. Available for pick-up or delivery May 7-8.

Homer Street Café (898 Homer Street) will be hosting brunch on their patio with items like the HSCB eggs benny with pork loin. Plus, they will be assembling a take-home Continental Brunch ($60 per package for 2 people) that comes with baked goods (croissant, banana oat muffin, coffee cake), bircher muesli with pumpkin seeds, apple, and raisins; fennel salumi, shaved ham, artisanal cheese, and a soft boiled egg; smoked salmon on a multigrain bagel with dill cream cheese, capers, and shallots; and a Hannah Brook greens salad with mustard vinaigrette and shaved veggies. Orders can be picked up May 8-9 from 10am to 4pm.

This Mother’s Day weekend, Ask for Luigi is adding a special Mother’s Day pasta to-go that sounds amazing: green pea ravioli, smoked bacon, fennel crema, and a poached egg ($24). Signature rose spritzes ($13) will also be available for order.

A Multi-Course Dinner

Photo: The Sandbar

Your Mom might be craving a night out with a multi-course dinner on a charming patio. If so, Water St. Café (300 Water Street) has a special three-course dinner ($49 per person), beginning with either roasted sweet corn bisque or smoked salmon and beet salad. Your entrée is a choice between portobello gnocchi with basil pesto cream or miso marinated sablefish with garlic butter broccolini, mushroom arancini, and smoked carrot purée. Dessert is either mont blanc cake or affogato with almond biscotti.

On Sunday, Seasons in the Park has their popular slow roasted prime rib with Yorkshire pudding ($39) available for takeout, in addition to a Mother’s Day three-course menu ($55 per person) that has Caesar salad as the appetizer, followed by rack of lamb or sablefish, and concluding with chocolate truffle cake or lemon pie. Their sister restaurant The Sandbar (1535 Johnston Street) has their own to-go prix fixe menu ($55 per person), which comes with a mixed green salad, sablefish with a miso marinade, and New York cheesecake.

With some easy reheating, you’ll have a very elevated Mother’s Day multi-course dinner at home, care of Boulevard Kitchen & Oyster Bar (Sutton Place Hotel Vancouver, 845 Burrard Street). The meal ($245-265) will feeds 4 people with corn bread, spring pea soup with Dungeness crab and chive cream, and either slow roasted prime boneless ribeye with sides (e.g., gratin potato), or boneless leg of lamb roast with sides (e.g., broccolini). Dessert is strawberry cheesecake with rhubarb compote.You can also pay extra ($50) for it to be ready-to-serve when you pick it up May 7-9.

Special Bentos

Photo: Miku, Credit: Cody Chan

The stunningly beautiful bentos at Miku (70-200 Granville Street) will be particularly gorgeous in celebration of mothers (available May 7-9). The premium bento ($75 per person) contains 6 pieces of chef selected sashimi, a range of specialty sushi (e.g., aburi spicy tuna oshi), half an aburi lobster tail, a 3 oz AAA sterling silver filet mignon, and a Mother’s Day pavlova.

Meanwhile, at sister establishment Minami (1118 Mainland Street), their Mother’s Day Bento ($75 per person) is equally as sumptuous, with a seasonal sashimi trio, a selection of sushi (e.g., aburi hotate nigiri), Brome Lake duck roulade, Nutrigreens Farms tofu salad, and baked saikyo miso-YK3 sakekasu sablefish and mentaiko udon. Finish with lemon yogurt white chocolate mousse and seasonal mignardises.

You could also order Tojo’s First Catch bento from the legendary Tojo’s (1133 West Broadway), a bento that brings together some favourites from the restaurant. The box ($65) encompasses spinach gomae salad with usuage tofu, shiitake, and toasted sesame; Pacific salmon sashimi with shiso leaf and shaved daikon; snow crab tempura with chicken karaage and sea salt edamame; grilled sablefish in soy marinade with seasonal vegetables; a spicy tuna roll, ebi nigiri, and albacore tuna nigiri; and house miso soup.

Family-Style Asian Eating

Photo: Torafuku, Credit: Leila Kwok

For an amazing collective feast for Mother’s Day, consider two take-home Mother’s Day Special Sets ($85 for two people) at Torafuku (958 Main Street). The highlight is a choice between sea bream/sea bass with truffle dashi beurre monté or Hainanese chicken with steamed chicken fat rice, housemade sambal, ginger scallion sauce, and shiitake. The other accompanying dishes are a Brussels sprouts salad, a sea urchin omelet, and grilled spring vegetables. Dessert is either a Basque cheesecake with blueberry yuzu compote or a madeleine with elderflower, seasonal fruit, and white chocolate. Available for preorder for dinner Friday and Saturday, and from noon to 8pm on Mother’s Day.

The Special Chef’s Menus ($55 per person, minimum two people) at Maenam (1938 West 4th Avenue) for Mother’s Day entail 3 courses of Thai dishes. The Signature Chef’s Menu starts with hot and sour soup with braised beef short ribs, before moving onto a grilled sockeye salmon salad, roasted duck panang curry, and an 8-spice crispy lingcod. Your meal ends with a hazelnut custard cake with coconut cream. There are also pescatarian and vegetarian versions of the menu. Preorder at least 24 hours before pick-up.

Lebanese Feasting

Photo: Nuba, La Feast

In hour of Mom, Nuba (207 West Hastings) is adding a bottle of prosecco and a half litre of orange juice for their La Feast ($90) and La Grand Feast ($120) packages. Both feed two adults and two kids, with the former including vegetarian items like Najib’s special cauliflower, falafel, Fattoush salad, hummus, and vegan stew; and the latter featuring beef skewers, spiced prawns, and chicken skewers.

Picnic in the Park

Photo: ARC

If the weather behaves, a picnic in a nearby greenspace might just be the way to fete Mom. ARC Restaurant (The Fairmont Waterfront, 900 Canada Place) has ARC in the Park, three takeaway picnic baskets packed with items designed for fresh, easy al fresco eating. The Hearty Salads ($35 per person) comes with guacamole, chipotle salsa roja, and corn tortilla chips; and a choice between kale Caesar or Cobb salad with your selected protein (e.g., chicken breast). A chocolate brownie is for dessert, and each order also includes one non-alcoholic drink.

The Eaten by Hand option ($35 per person) is similar (corn tortilla chips with dips, kale Caesar salad) but has an additional sandwich selection, such as a Green Goddess wrap, with accompanying potato chips.

Finally, the Granville Island Public Market Picnic ($65 per person, minimum two people) is for those who love artisanal cheese and charcuterie. Executive Chef Michael Pagnacco assembles the best of ingredients from vendors at the Public Market, such as Oyama Sausage Co., A Bread Affair, and Dussa’s Ham and Cheese. It comes with a non-alcoholic beverage as well, with the option of adding canned drinks and wines.

The first two picnics require two hours-notice, while the Granville Island one requires 72 hours.

Treat Her to Croissants and Cakes

Photo: Beaucoup Bakery, Credit: Rich Won

If your mom has a love for all things patisserie, she may be appreciative of treats from Beaucoup Bakery (2150 Fir Street) that are themed around owners Betty and Jacky Hung’s mother, who donned pearls for celebratory occasions when they were kids. The Mother of Pearl Collection features an orange raspberry passionfruit tart ($35), Mother of Pearl chocolate bonbons ($28) with two new flavours (raspberry jasmine and yuzu earl grey), and an Ispahan parfait ($46.95) with rose yogurt mousse, raspberry lychee gelée, and raspberry mousse. Very tempting is a pistachio strawberry madeleine gift box ($11.95) with four pistachio madeleines dipped in Valhrona strawberry couverture. You can preorder these items via the website for this weekend, with some quantities available daily. Bouquets from The Flower Petaler will be available for pickup on May 9 to add to your sweet present.

The Morning Pastry Box from Di Beppe (2 West Cordova Street) will be the perfect way for Mom to start the day. The Box ($478), available for pre-order, features two almond or pistachio croissants, two Sfogliatelle, two cranberry and orange scones, whipped butter, two chocolate espresso amaretti, and two bottled mimosas.

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