Perch Cafe and Lounge in Kelowna’s Innovation Centre has officially reopened for the season today, but with a new concept in mind.

Devereaux Gatin is the new executive chef at the restaurant with the best view in the city, and he’s been working alongside some talented individuals to bring a delicious new menu and experience to their patrons.

This rooftop gem quietly reopened their doors for the season today, but the new team has been working hard behind the scenes for the past couple months on a brand new menu and dining experience.

“This year we’re focusing a lot more on the restaurant side of things," Gatin says. 

The Perch team has been working on improving both the experience and the efficiency of the space. They started to build the new operations team two months ago, and they’ve been holding dry runs to construct the new menu, inviting ambassadors of the community to come and taste the food.

“We really want to bring out the full potential of The Perch as a whole, not just as a good view. We want the food and drink menu to match the good view that we have from our space,” Gatin explains. 

They'll have a lunch menu available from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. complete with sandwiches, salads, soups, sides and some entrees.

There’s plenty of delicious items on the menu, like a new signature bowl that they’re calling The Nest. Gatin says this buddha bowl was a favourite in the dry runs and is now on the lunch menu. 

Like many restaurants in the Okanagan, they'll be using local, seasonal ingredients. For example, they're exclusively using bread from Sprout Bakery, based in Kelowna. 

Photo credit: Perch Cafe and LoungeDevereaux Gatin at The Perch.

For the evenings, Perch now has about 10 different tapas offerings and a couple entrees with a rotating pasta feature on a weekly basis.

The new menu will allow people to come in for dinner and stay awhile, enjoy the view, and watch the sun go down. In the style of tapas, you can order a few dishes to share and some craft cocktails or wine to pair.

Gatin says that the team is excited about the whole menu, but one of the dishes he thinks people will have fun sharing is the paella dish. Served in a paella pan, it includes saffron rice and some nice veggies, confit chicken, chorizo, prawns, and savoury clams.

“We really want people to come up there for the experience and come up here with friends and have their dining experience be more than just that half hour 45 minutes that you can get elsewhere,” he says. “We want people to be come spend some time here and be here for the whole sunset and be able to have snacks along the way as well as drinks to pair. It’s a very good destination spot to spend an evening with friends as opposed to a drop-in spot.”

Photo credit: Contributed

They’ll have something for everyone, with plenty of plant based options that they’ve made sure are just as tasty as everything else they serve. While the menu is ready for launch, but they’ll be adding in some seasonal dishes and more plant based items as they go.

Now there’s plenty of reason to go all the way to the top of the Innovation Centre, besides for an event or to take in the city from above.

Check them out on Facebook and Instagram, or visit them for lunch or dinner at 701, 460 Doyle Avenue.