There’s ladies that lunch and couples that brunch and I am a full patch member of both groups. On the weekends we have taken up the brunch ritual of late on what I call #brunchquest. We head out on our bikes or hop on the bus on less stellar days and spend some time over coffee, sometimes craft beer and perhaps even cocktails.

Yaletown is full of great spots and on a sunny day you’ll likely want to sit on the patio as we did a when we visited West Oak Restaurant. I first experienced Executive Chef Tim Cuff’s cuisine at Whistler’s Nita Lake Lodge a few years back and was pleased to find that he’s at this Yaletown haunt now.

The restaurant is a Peter Girges project, a reincarnation of Chinois that was shortly in this space. The change was the right move; it’s far better now.

Double cocktails such are the Moscow Mule or a Mimosa were tempting but coffee was really what we were after this particular morning and they do a good brew.

Burrata cheese has been seeing its fair share of listings on Vancouver’s restaurant menus. I love the stuff so the Burrata and Proscuitto dish with olives, fig jam, grainy mustard and grilled bread was a must order on this outing.  It was absolutely fresh and delicious as one would expect when using top quality products, the chefs mandate.

The crab cakes are among the best I’ve had. Chock full of crab without too much distracting filling. These were actually sampled on a previous visit but they are necessary in this post.

I went for a lobster benny as it was the feature that day since our local crab has become so damn inaccessible due to pricing issues. It was a generous portion of well handled shellfish and topped with a great example of how to make a hollandaise.

Michael, my partner and GLV’s consulting chef went for the baked free run eggs with sausage and white beans all dished up in a casserole and was rather pleased with his choice and could barely finish the rather filling portion. My few stolen bites confirmed it was a keeper.

Although we’d have loved to take them up on their offer of fresh baked cookies to end the meal, they were not feasible after our savoury feast. I’ve had them before though and they really are marvelous chocolate-filled delights. They will be mine on our next visit.

Thank god for biking to burn off the feast. Onward we went to more weekend craft beer adventures.