Café Medina

Lavender in the Latte, Merguez on the Plate

4 of 5

Downtown Vancouver does a lot of glass towers and a lot of people walking fast toward them. Café Medina, at 780 Richards, has been slowing them down since 2008 with a brunch that borrows from the whole Mediterranean rim and North Africa and makes no apology for it. The room fills early. The crowd waiting on the sidewalk has become part of the architecture.

Start on the savory side, because that is where the kitchen shows its hand. The Tagine brings poached eggs over a chickpea stew with merguez, the sausage doing the heavy lifting. The Fricassée is short ribs, eggs, potatoes and cheddar, breakfast for someone with a long day of hard work ahead. Les Boulettes puts lamb meatballs under poached eggs. For anyone raised in the Gulf, this tastes like a neighbor's kitchen rather than a theme park. Then the waffles. Liège style, dense and sweet, with toppings you pick one by one: dark chocolate, salted caramel, passion fruit, pistachio rosewater, lavender.

The lavender latte is the drink people come back for, and it is not the gimmick it sounds like. Brunch runs until three. Cocktail happy hour runs from nine to eleven in the morning, which tells you this place understands its audience. Go on a weekday, go early, order one savory plate and one waffle for the table, and let the staff turn the table when it is time. They have been doing this a long while, and they are good at it.

Order this: Tagine, Fricassée, A Liège waffle with pistachio rosewater, Lavender latte
The damage: $$
Go: A weekday morning, early
Find it: 780 Richards St, Vancouver, BC V6B 0C8