Fairmont Pacific Rim, picnic in the park

Do you like the idea of a picnic in the park? But the thought of packing the food and supplies, finding an ideal location and driving out to it, then setting up and eventually taking down your picnic; has you already tired, before you have even started!? Then leave all the work to Fairmont Pacific Rim, this summer.

Back for another year, this luxury hotel’s courtyard has been transformed into an oasis of faux greenery and colourful blossoms. A picturesque scene where friends, family, and coworkers can gather for the easiest picnic in the park that you will ever have.

Walk-ins are welcomed, but reservations are preferred for larger groups. You pick your seat amongst numerous picnic benches, each equipped with its own golf umbrella for shade.

You place your order with staff at hand, and everything is assembled out of the parked food truck adjacent. The menu consists of small bites, refreshing cold pressed juices, sandwiches and dips, as well as alcoholic options. The latter of which includes canned ready to drink cocktails, mixed to order cocktails, wine by the bottle and the glass.

For the full picnic experience, I recommend getting the set that comes in an actual picnic basket. This is the Picnic Basket for Two and it is served with your choice of two sandwiches, shareables, two house-baked cookies, and two mineral waters. Here, we also added on a bottle of wine to share.

It is brought to your seats, along with all the necessary dishware and utensils. The majority of it is finger foods, in keeping with the theme.

We started off with a bottle of Red Rooster sparkling. A wonderfully effervescent, red fruit forward wine that tickled the tongue. It was light and joyous like our lovely picnic to come.

The following shareables are available in a set and comes with the picnic for two.

The Farmers Market Vegetable Crudité was sliced up colourful carrot and celery sticks, along with crisp sweet pepper sections. The perfect vehicle to dip into the Roasted Red Pepper & Feta Cheese Dip, that had the consistency of hummus.

The Summer Pesto Pasta Salad was a well seasoned, dry and chilled side of spiral noodles topped with sweet tomato, basil, and parmesan. A lovely palate refresher and neutral side for the sandwiches below. Creamed tender spirals intermingled with bit of crunchy vegetable.

And if you are still hungry or wanting some protein there is also two salty and chewy Artisanal Pepperoni Sticks, that were on the gristly side.

There are four different sandwiches to choose from. Nothing new, just familiar proteins between a toasted bun. We passed on the vegan Green Goddess Veggie sandwich, although in hindsight this would have went well with the pepperoni sticks with cucumber, avocado, and sprouts. I wanted something lighter so also looked passed the Pork Schnitzel with shaved cabbage slaw and spiced mustard aioli.

Instead we had the Organic Chicken Salad sandwich with apple, celery, cucumber, and arugula. I don’t often see a chicken salad sandwich on the menu, so when I do, I am always sure to order it. I have never had one that I did not like, and this one was delicious. As light and fresh as I wanted it. And not only did it matched the theme of our outdoor adventure, but it paired well with our bottle of sparkling as well.

By comparison, our other sandwich was a lot more dense and oily. Braised Beef Short Rib with caramelized onions, fontina cheese, and roasted garlic aioli. Packed full of fibrous meat. I could have used some acidity in the form of pickles, or even a tangy aïoli of some kind. This was heavy, which had me reaching for the vegetables and dip.

The sandwiches are available a la carte, and each served with a carton of Yukon Gold Sea Salt Potato Crisps. In the classic regular flavoured, they added a nice crunch after each bite of sandwich. Here I don’t have the chips for their flavour, but enjoy them for their added texture.

And for dessert we had two cookies to share. One was a homemade salted chocolate chip, the other oatmeal raisin. I am not a fan of sweets, however found both delicious and worth saving room for. So good that when unattended, a crow took the opportunity to swipe an entire cookie from right off our table. To which the staff apologized for, which is not even their fault. But they did replace both for us, as the other may have come in contact with the crow during his burglary.

In conclusion, this was a fun experience and a unique way to enjoy a meal downtown. A unexpected picnic spot surrounded by metal and glass skyscrapers. This experience is around for the summer season, as the weather permits, so I suggest you check them out sooner than later.

Fairmont Pacific Rim
1038 Canada Pl, Vancouver, BC V6C 0B9
(604) 695-5557
fairmont.com/pacific-rim-vancouver