When asked what my favourite foods are, my usual answers are “cheese” and “fresh bread with really good butter.” Understandably, Cowichan Bay is one of my favourite places to go, because not only is it charm-your-pants-off-good-looking, but it’s also home to a local cheese shop and bread bakery.

Hilary’s Cheese is family-run, with a café serving lunch and display cases filled with international and local cheeses, including their own. It's made on their nearby farm, one of many in the picturesque Cowichan Valley.

We enjoyed a roast beef with Hilary's Yoo Bou Blue sandwich, and a capicollo grilled cheese with garlic scape aioli. If you’ve never added pureed garlic scapes to your aioli, you should.

Next door to Hilary’s is True Grain Bread.

They utilize locally grown grains that are milled in-house (including Red Fife) for their loaves, and also sell bags of the freshly-milled flour.

Mounted on the wall is a map of Cowichan Bay's Cittaslow Community, a designation by Slow Food International highlighting the predominance of locally grown/produced foods available in the area.

It’s a truly remarkable place. Here are some more photos from our afternoon there, and we’d highly recommend visiting the area if you can.

Especially, if you love cheese and bread as much as I do.

-LA

Canada is famously eclectic, so it makes sense that our food would be, too. It doesn’t get much more eclectic than two guys with Anglo-Saxon last names opening up a German currywurst parlour in the heart of Vancouver's Chinatown. For this reason, we decided we definitely needed to check out Bestie.

We first discovered Bestie while researching for our Indiegogo campaign, and completely fell in love with their pitch video. We were totally impressed by the duo’s fervour for sausage, and the uniqueness of their ambition.

Bestie’s opening was much anticipated by the community, and the wait was worth it! We ate there during their first week and witnessed a steady line up all through the lunch hour.

The prices are good, the portions are hearty, and the food is a fine balance between classic and innovative. They offer locally-produced sausages made from 'happy' meat served in a variety of ways, and many choices for sides. Get there early if you want a table, but takeout is also very easy.

We ordered the kolrabi kohlslaw, beets with horseradish sour cream, and the house salad of the day with roasted potatoes, greens, bacon, and a mustard vinaigrette. We each had the Pork Thuringer sausage, and tried it both ways: as a currywurst—make sure to ask for house made mayo--and served with sauerkraut and fries.

And then there are the pretzels - ooooh the pretzels. I don’t know of anyone who can turn their nose up at a soft, salty pretzel and a stein of beer (liquor-license coming very very soon), but if they do, they're crazy. Before the beer arrives, we suggest the iced tea, made daily with tea from their neighbours.