London is such a big city, it can be hard to find an establishment that you truly love. Certain places around the city can be too noisy, too main stream, or too big for its britches. Below is a list of some of the best hidden gems that are off the beaten path. These places are must-try essentials to discovering the best London has to offer.
- Cardboard Café
- Location: 114 Dundas St, London, ON
- Recommendation: three layered grilled cheese
- Legacy: great for any board game skill set, and people of any age
“We have over 800 games available, so there’s something here for any type of group, any type of person who comes in, any number of people.” – Owner, Josh Rivers
- Locomotive Espresso
- Location: 408 Pall Mall Street, London, ON
- Recommendation: Long Black or Smoked Mocha
- Legacy: specializes in third wave trade, and pays particular attention to the quality of their product
“Third wave is only using specialty grade coffees. So that’s beyond commercial commodity coffee that most cafés get off of the stock market. Specialty coffee is a higher quality coffee grown on smaller lots.” – Operations and Logistics Manager, Denice Baker
- The Bag Lady
- Location: 474 Pall Mall St, London, ON
- Recommendation: Bag Daddy’s Bag Stack
- Legacy: this is a quaint, 8 table restaurant that anyone can fall in love with
“It’s a happy place for sure. There’s a lot of fun things to look at, everything is recycled that we use. Everything is second hand, down to our dishes. It’s all the stuff that I love, so that was the inspiration. The thing that I think people like is that they recognize something from some point in their life: from their grandmother’s house, from an Aunts place.” – Owner, Jane Beattie
- The London Ice Cream Company
- Location: 43 Base Line Rd W, London, ON
- Recommendation: depends on if you like chocolate or vanilla. Also options or the lactose intolerant and vegans.
- Legacy: Home make’s ice cream, sending it across Canada. The London roots keep it a humble favorite for Londoners
“Our community is everything to us. We’re quietly involved with so many activities here in this city. We’re not looking for fame, were not looking for glory, but I think the community sees our product. We wanna’ stay grounded, that’s who we are.” – Manager, Abbi Lezizidis
- Western Meats and Deli
- Location: 241 Hamilton Rd, London, ON
- Recommendation: food options are best chosen by the customer
- Legacy: the butcher shop is able to customize meats sizes and flavours for individual customers, making them stand out against grocery stores
“We try to buy as local as possible so it’s all hormone and antibiotic free. Very local meat.” – Manager, Brianna Butcher
- CommonWealth Coffee
- Location: 478 Richmond St, London, ON
- Recommendation: turkey sandwich or avocado toast.
- Legacy: This coffee shop is known for making food in house and buys ingredients locally
“So great for me to see it full, and see people relaxing or studying or visiting or reading. It’s amazing.” – Owner, Kari Egan
- Edgar and Joe’s Café
- Location: 255 Horton St E, London, ON
- Recommendation: any produce and meat is sourced locally, and fresh
- Legacy: all proceeds from this café goes towards helping Goodwill Industries, and teaching unemployed people real job skills
“Edgar and Joe’s is a community café. We are an arm of Goodwill Industries where our mission is to be able to help individuals who face barriers within the work force. We bring them on-board, and we give them opportunity to have a job.” – Manager of food and Hospitality, Neil Burnett
