Abbotsford: a foodie breakdown

Delectable delights, culinary wizards and slow food don’t just exist in big cities like Vancouver, BC.  Take a drive an hour east on highway one and you’ll find yourself in an agricultural wonderland that a select few restaurants take full advantage of…and fresh doesn’t even begin to describe it.

Small towns never cease to amaze us when it comes to food and Abbotsford, BC was no exception.  We purposefully set out on an adventure to discover the best local and sustainable food possible.  Here are our favorite finds from this small farm town:

Our first gem had us with the name, The Roasted Grape…and yes, they do serve roasted grapes.  Okay, not by the bowl full but they did come on our salad and paired with several of the other dishes.   The grapes are sweeter from the roasting but still maintain the crisp juiciness you expect from a fresh grape.  Our favorite dish was the build your own cheese plate chalkboard categorized by local farmers.  We sampled a little of everything, or at least it seemed and were stuff to the brim!

Brambles Bistro looked like a typical garden and nursery when we first pulled up (to be perfectly honest we weren’t sure there was even a restaurant on site).  However, once we walked in the door we were surrounded by a quaint garden café.  Everything we tasted has a fresh citrus tang and sent our taste buds right back to France.  By far the best breakfast we’ve had in a while!

Restaurant 62 was by far our favorite food experience.  The atmosphere was warm and upscale with casual charm, the drinks are made with fresh juices and taste, flavor and freshness were present in everything!  They nailed it, 100%!  This is likely why there was zero hope of getting a table and why we “had” to sit at the bar.  Luckily, we prefer to sit at the bar anyway (it’s the most sociable and the best way to chat up the locals, which this bartender happened to be one of the owners) and our drinks always stay full!  Here we enjoyed the “Taste of Abbotsford” which is a special 3 course meal including the most fresh local and regional fare at a ridiculously affordable price.  Don’t hesitate to ask for local wine pairings as well, we enjoyed a great local and sustainable white blend that balanced our seafood dishes wonderfully.  We could go on and on about this experience but the bottom line: if you’re anywhere near Abbotsford it’s a must!

Of course, we had to find ourselves a local brew pub and luckily Mission Springs was just down the road.  They serve up traditional pub food that definitely requires a good brew to wash it down.  We took a quick tour through their brewing and bottling process and wow!  They have a hand operated machine that only bottles 4 beers at a time, now that’s hands on.  They’re probably one of the smallest micro brew operations we’ve seen and yet they have the coolest bottles!  Oh, and they give FREE beer samplers to first timers, so drink up!

Atilla (pub manager) had an awesome stash!  Needless to say we had a little stash envy… and Nikki grabbed a giant 6 pack to bring back to the states.

So, there you have it.  A couple of self proclaimed foodies top picks of Abbotsford BC.  Hope you’re hungry!

If you think we left something out, leave us a comment below.

Still want more?

Disclaimer:  While none of the restaurants paid us (sad I know) to write about them, mission springs treated us to dinner and a few brews (a big thanks), but our opinions are still our own.