Everyone else ordered the pulled pork sandwiches. General consensus: the house- smoked Tannadice Farms pork was tender but lacked flavour, perhaps overpowered by the red cabblage slaw. The plates came overflowing with superbly cooked shoestring potatoes. Steve chose the seafood chowder soup as a side and once his palate adjusted to the strong smoky paprika, the flavours of the seafood were able to come through and the soup was given the thumbs up. Everyone agreed that my roasted wild mushroom and goat cheese pizza drizzled with truffle oil was the overall winner. Even the twins gobbled down a piece each. That’ll teach me for going safe; these kids would’ve have been much happier with a more adventurous dish like the thin crust pizza that had generous amounts of mushrooms and garlic.

Best part of the day though was stopping in at the Cumberland Village Bakery for a donut. The donuts were still warm and everyone oohed and ahhed over how fluffy and plump they were. Definitely worth the short drive from Courtenay.

From good to bad: we were disappointed with our purchases from Cakebread Artisan Bakery. At first I was thrilled to see a macaron this side of the Rockies but the excitement was shortlived as I bit into the oversized chocolate macaron and had it disintegrate in to a crumbly pile. There was macaron shrapnel everywhere. And to make matters worse, it was rock hard and had no taste. The same went for the hazlenut meringue (pictured above with the macarons), but the sourdough bread at Cakebread is stellar. Too bad about the macarons; I got all excited there for a moment.

Breakfast this morning was at the Union Street Grill and Grotto on 5th Street, and as it turned out, one of best breakfast experiences we’ve had in ages. The products are fresh, local and the dishes just edgy enough to be different. The Tannadice Farms pork sausage was so good, Steve ordered a second serving. My West Coast Benedict totally rocked with perfectly done eggs overtop fresh crab and spinach drizzled with a silky homemade hollandaise. The children’s serving of French toast is just a smaller version of the adult’s, made with artisan raisin bread soaked overnight in some magical mixture. Simply delcious.

Out of all these retaurants, I would go back to Union Street Grill with no hesitation whatsoever; the dinner menu looks even better.