Paul Bakery: Dine Out Vancouver 2022

Paul Bakery, Cafe & Restaurant opened its first location in Canada last year and has been very popular. There is always a lineup to buy pastries and the cafe is always bumping. I have been wanting to try out some of their pastries and food for awhile so we decided to check out their brunch menu during Dine Out Vancouver, a food festival where participating restaurants have special set menus at different price points.

Interior

The interior of Paul Bakery is really pretty. I love the high ceilings and in the back room, there’s a lot of natural open light. They also have paintings on the walls, which are really pretty and they kind of transport you to a cafe in France. Since we have dining reservations for their brunch seating, we were seated in the back area, which is quieter, brighter and looks prettier than the front cafe seating, which is slightly darker.

I like the seats, they have a combination of booths and plush chairs, both very comfortable. Table size is decent although if you are a table of 2, the table can be quite small. They use divider screens so expect to be sitting actually quite close to another table.

Food – Dine Out Vancouver brunch menu ($21 per person)

We are a table of 4 and the Dine Out Vancouver brunch menu for Paul Bakery starts at $21 per person (there are additional add-ons you may want to purchase).

Matcha latte ($6)

I order a small matcha latte and it actually ended up being quite big in my opinion. All of our drinks ended up quite large so I thought that was nice. The latte art wasn’t anything amazing (looks kind of messy) and the matcha taste wasn’t very strong so I would recommend probably their other coffee drinks instead of their matcha ones.

Hashbrown

For our “appetizer”, all 4 of us chose the hashbrown. The other choices were a fresh fruit salad or green salad. Now the hasbrown is literally just 2 pieces of hashbrown that looks like they are from McDonald’s, but they taste better than McDonald’s lol.

I don’t regret choosing the hashbrown, but I consider it more as a side than an appetizer.

French toast

For my main, I select the french toast. It comes with maple syrup, honey and powdered sugar. I was surprised at the presentation because they have the french toast cut up into little cubes in a skillet-like plate. It is very cute. The appearance of it is quite plain (looks just like bread) but it is quite sweet and all the sweet sauce is on the bottom.

French omelette

Two of us order the French omelette as their main. Now the French omelette option is just a plain omelette unless you add on customizations, which will cost extra. My boyfriend added the emmental cheese for $3 and bacon for $6. My friend also added the emmental cheese and sauteed mushrooms for $6. The add-ons turned us off to be honest because we are now paying an extra $9 just so we are not eating a plain omelette.

The add-ons definitely make a difference and the omelette is fluffy when it arrives. It looks small but we are actually quite full by the time we finish our mains.

3 mini macarons

For the dessert course, we all tried to choose 1 of the options so we could share. My friend chose the 3 mini macarons and they came in chocolate, matcha and vanilla flavour. They are small but tasty. The chocolate one is pretty basic though so it would have been nice to have a more special selection of flavours.

3 mini tartes

The 3 mini tarts come with a selection of fruit, lemon and chocolate. They are very small but kind of give you a taste of what their full sized pastries would taste like. Out of the 3, I liked the lemon one the most with the meringue. The fruit tart was also quite nice.

3 mini viennoiseries

I chose the 3 mini viennoiseries, which are like 3 mini croissants/pastries. They come in a selection of a plain croissant, one with chocolate and one with raisins. I liked the ones with the raisin and the texture of the bread was yummy. I actually couldn’t finish my last croissant because I was too full.

Flan ($7)

We order a basic flan from their pastry window on top of our meal because my boyfriend really wanted it. It’s a big slice of flan and tastes kind of like an egg pudding! It is a sweet pastry and has a jelly-like texture inside a pie crust shape.

Final thoughts

Loewe’s rating: ⭐⭐

For 2 people, we spent just over $70 after our drinks and add-ons. To begin with, Paul Bakery is on the pricier side and this would still be considerd pricier for brunch in Vancouver. I thought their Dine Out brunch menu wasn’t very impressive to be honest, as their regular brunch menu, although more expensive than $21 a person, looks much better with bigger servings. I would have preferred if they increased the menu price but included other items into the menu selection. Again, I really wasn’t a fan of the add-on prices for the omelette because I think it diminishes the “worth it” value of Dine Out.

Ambiance and service was great. Again, really beautiful interior and our server was very attentive for such a busy afternoon.

I was really full after our menu so we didn’t really buy additional pastries before we left, but there was still a long lineup to buy pastries the whole time we were there. I was actually hoping to buy a strawberry tart but they didn’t have it when I was there.

I think for Paul Bakery, it makes more sense to buy a drink and a pastry or a sandwich and eat in the cafe, rather than their actual brunch or dining menu.

Sincerely, Loewe