Where to go for Mother’s Day in Ottawa

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Planning where to take your mom or other loved ones out for dinner on Mother’s Day?

Whether you’re looking for fancy fare, takeout, vegetarian or halal options, here are Ottawa Citizen restaurant critic Peter Human’s 10 suggestions to suit a variety of tastes (plus recommendations for where to go if your first choice is fully booked).

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1. Brunch in central Ottawa: Aiana

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Aiana, the posh fine-dining destination in the Sun Life Financial Centre, will serve a California-inspired Mother’s Day brunch for tables of two, four or six people. Some of the offerings on the menu will be Tartine bread, avocado toast, eggs Benedict with Acadian caviar and smoked sturgeon, yuzu blueberry sourdough pancakes, and Baja hash. The brunch is priced at $74 per person.

If Aiana is booked: North & Navy, Cantina Gia, Gongfu Bao and Cafe

The Italian fine-dining restaurant North & Navy in Centretown will serve a Mother’s Day brunch, as will its sister restaurant, Cantina Gia in the Glebe. For a less traditional but no less artisanal choice, Gongfu Bao and Cafe in Centretown serves very enticing Hong Kong-inspired breakfast items every Sunday, such as Instagram-worthy custard-stuffed French toast and an exceptional corned beef sandwich.

2023: Dining Out: Cantina Gia opened in the Glebe during dining lockdowns. Luckily for pasta-lovers, it survived and is thriving

2023: Dining Out: Gongfu Bao’s Hong Kong-style breakfast and lunch dishes are as crave-worthy as its prized steamed buns

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2015: Dining Out: North & Navy sails in style

Hong Kong-style French toast at Gongfu Bao on Bank Street in downtown Ottawa.

2. If you’re looking for brunch in the west end: Tirweka

Tirweka in Kanata makes what is arguably the best Middle Eastern brunch in the city, and the fresh, flowery setting is nothing if not Mother’s Day-friendly.

2022: Dining Out: Tirweka brings Middle Eastern breakfast fare to Ottawa’s west

If Tirweka is booked: Pür & Simple

The rapidly proliferating Quebec-based breakfast-and-lunch chain Pür & Simple has a location in Kanata Centrum.

3. If Mom wants brunch in the east end: Mandarin Ogilvie

Since the Chinese restaurant Mandarin Ogilvie is closing in early June after 36 years in business, its dim sum, now ordered a la carte rather than from carts that pass by, gets my nod for a Mother’s Day brunch outing in Ottawa’s east end.

If Mandarin Ogilvie is booked: Le St. Laurent, Fraser

Le St. Laurent, the penthouse restaurant that overlooks Beechwood Cemetery, will offer a three-course Mother Day’s brunch at $60 per person, while in New Edinburgh, the weekend brunch at Fraser, which I used to know as Fraser Cafe, looks fabulous.

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2019: Dining Out: Dishes and views at ritzy Le St Laurent impress

4. If you’re looking for a fancy delivery/takeout brunch or dinner near Stittsville: NeXT

NeXT chef-owner Michael Blackie has multiple-course Mother Day’s brunches and dinners to go, and delivery might be an option if you live close enough to the Hazeldean Road restaurant-event space.

The brunch, available May 11 and 12, includes five cold items, five hot items, three desserts and peach-vanilla bellinis, and costs $65 per person.

The seven-course dinner, also available May 11 and 12, includes such choices as potato cheddar dill soup, dark and stormy pork belly and beef striploin, and costs $89 per person. For details and to order, go to nextfood.ca. Of course, NeXT will also serve a $72-per-person Mother’s Day brunch on its premises on May 12.

If NeXT is too far away: Beckta Dining & Wine, Les Fougères

One option is Beckta Dining & Wine’s Curated by Beckta meal kit (The Elgin Street restaurant will be closed on Sunday, as per usual.) Also while the dining room of Les Fougères in Chelsea will be closed on Mother’s Day, it will offer take-home fare from its store, for pick-up on Saturday, May 11 and on Sunday, May 12 from noon to 5 p.m.

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2023: Dining Out: With a new chef at the helm, Les Fougères extends its winning ways

5. Heading out for high tea: Vanitea Room

If it’s a tea tower that Mom’s craving, that’s the specialty of the Vanitea Room in Centretown, where the going price is $50 per person.

2019: Dining Out: The Vanitea Room’s dainty ambience belies some filling, indulgent meals

If Vanitea Room is booked: 

Zoe’s in the Fairmont Château Laurier is a time-honoured setting for high tea.

6. If Mom prefers deluxe tasting-menu dinners: Perch

Let’s say that Mom would rather be treated to a deluxe dinner than a brunch, perhaps a day or two before Mother’s Day. Ottawa has quite a few posh spots where the point is to spend a few solid hours eating a recondite course after recondite course that features chi-chi ingredients and a kitchen brigade’s burgeoning creativity and technique. If that’s Mom’s thing, take her to Perch on Preston Street, where chef-owner Justin Champagne-Lagarde offers two tasting menus — the slightly smaller early-seating tasting menu and the full-sized tasting menu.

If Perch is fully booked: Stofa, Black Tartan Kitchen, Atelier

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You could try Stofa on Wellington Street West, Black Tartan Kitchen in Carleton Place, or the stops-out, 40-item tasting menu at Atelier on Rochester Street.

2022: Dining Out: Black Tartan Kitchen offers relaxed, hyper-local take on fine dining

2022: Dining Out: More than ample culinary thrills and value at Perch

2020: Dining Out: Spectacular dinner at Atelier proves it’s still the best in the game

2017: Dining Out: Delights are in the details at splurge-worthy Stofa

7. If Mom likes spicy flavours: Katha

Some like it hot and would likely enjoy the spice-forward but refined and accessible eight-course tasting menu at Katha on Preston Street, which is developing a following for its Indian take on fine dining.

2023: Dining Out: Kathā on Preston Street makes a persuasive case for Indian fine dining

If Katha is booked: Coconut Lagoon, Thali

Award-winning chef Joe Thottungal’s Coconut Lagoon on St. Laurent Boulevard and its more casual sister restaurant Thali, downtown, should also do the trick for fans of Indian food. At Coconut Lagoon, Thottungal is serving a brunch buffet on Mother’s Day, with two-hour seatings at 11 a.m. and 1 p.m., with a la minute cooking stations doling out butter chicken, pepper lamb, shrimp moilee and more. The buffet will be $45 ($22 for children under 10 years old), and it includes complimentary mimosas for Moms.

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2022: Dining Out: Coconut Lagoon’s most lavish iteration — yet

2019: Dining Out: Thali’s distinctive, satisfying Indian fare takes a minute to make

8. If Mom wants some well-chosen wines and small plates: Buvette Daphnée

Buvette Daphnée on William Street in the ByWard Market really nails that special cosmopolitan Montreal wine bar vibe, and chef Dominique Dufour is turning out some of her best dishes since she arrived in Ottawa before the pandemic.

2023: Dining Out: At Buvette Daphnée, saucy dishes and special wines were a winning combination

Left to right, wine director Nicholas Leduc, chef and co-owner Dominique Dufour and co-owner Jordan Holley of Buvette Daphnée restaurant and wine bar on William Street in the ByWard Market

If Buvette Daphnée is booked:

You could check out Arlo Wine & Restaurant or Fauna, both in Centretown, Supply and Demand on Wellington Street West, or Amuse or Aperitivo, both in Kanata.

2020: Dining Out: Arlo offers natural wines, simple but stellar dishes on its idyllic patio

2019: Dining Out: Fauna a contender for best restaurant dinner in Ottawa this year

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2019: Dining Out: Six years after opening, Supply and Demand remains exemplary

2018: Dining Out: Amuse Kitchen & Wine has gourmet appeal in Kanata South

2017: Dining Out: In and beyond Kanata Centrum, Aperitivo’s small plates and hospitality stand out

9. If Mom eats halal food: Turkish Kebab House

Among Ottawa’s wave of recently opened Turkish restaurants, I think highly of the high-volume and modern Turkish Kebab House in Kanata North, which weeks ago spun off a second location on Bank Street south of Heron Road.

2023: Dining Out: Turkish Kebab House an instant hit for carnivores in Kanata North

If Turkish Kebab House is booked: Karahi Point

In Kanata Centrum, the Pakistani restaurant Karahi Point is a large and potent new restaurant. It would also appeal to spice-loving Moms.