Griffins, Vancouver

This street level brasserie at the Fairmont Hotel Vancouver is comfortable and relaxed, with an open kitchen / buffet concept and high arching windows through which you can enjoy watching Vancouver streetlife. (Although you will probably be more interested in the pile of great food on your plate!) Dress business casual. Reservations recommended, particularly for Sunday brunch.

Favorite Dish: Griffins is well know in Vancouver for it's Sunday brunch buffet ($35 pp, open 11:30 - 2:30) but it is equally well worth a vist to its other buffets: break fast and lunch seven days a week plus appetizer and dessert buffets each evening.

I went for dinner recently and it was awesome. The entrees all come with the dessert buffet, or for about the same price ($25) you can have the appetizer buffet and dessert buffet. Nobody opted for an entree in our group but there was a variety of basic options including pasta, steak, halibut, salmon, chicken and a very nice looking prime rib with yorkshire pudding which was showing off at its own station next to the buffet. We all went for the appies instead. Appetizers were all cold except for the two soups (red seafood chowder and cream of asparagus) and included two different types of smoked salmon, peel and eat shrimp, seafood salad, crab legs, and a number of other salad choices. The seafood salad looked great but had a very strange consistency, but everything else was very nice. The dessert buffet was even better. There was a real good selection of very high quality desserts including creme caramel, chocolate mousse cake, chocolate gateau, profiteroles and choc sauce, raspberry mousse cake, white chocolate mousse, rice pudding, apple tart, cheescake, and fresh fruit.