Wild Poppy Market — Restaurant in Ladysmith

The best and the worst all at once.

This should have been a five star rating. But because of one of the menu items that was so bad, it could have been a one star rating. So I went in between.

Let me start by saying this place is absolutely cute and has a delightful ambiance. They have nice products and good service and hands down the best gluten-free bread I've ever had.

I have no idea how they got the height they did and the fluffiness because gluten-free bread as a rule is pretty dense without having a lot of fillers. And this doesn't have them.

Has someone with a reaction to the most common filler called microcrystalline cellulose, finding a decent bread without it has been more than a challenge. So this little gem was fabulous. Light, fluffy, I can't believe how well it toasts. It doesn't have a sour flavor, it doesn't have a cardboard flavor, it just actually tastes like real bread. Cue sounds of angels 😇

And this is coming from someone who has tried over 30. As in all the gluten-free bread options available on the market. Plus what's been made by other artisan bakers locally.

10 out of 10 on the sandwich bread.

They also have a huge selection of gluten-free goodies. Including donuts - remember donuts GF/DF people?!

I tried the chocolate pecan-tart, the jam thumbprint cookies, the chocolate sprinkled donuts and the gingerbread cookies. All of them were excellent although as an aside, I've never understood why bakeries feel the need to slather gingerbread cookies in sugar when they're already sweet. But that's a personal preference. I just scraped it all off again.

Now for the not so good. In fact the horrible. In fact one of the worst menu items I have had in years.😱

The falafel salad.

It looked good and fresh in the display fridge. And after a long car ride down to grab the bread it seemed like a really nice lunch idea.

But imagine instead of falafel you ended up with what looked like and tasted like uncooked dough.

Like little pasty (not pastry, but bland) dough balls that were slightly browned on one side and completely raw inside. And without any flavor. As in did somebody forget to add any spice mixture to this today? There was a speckle of parsley but no flavour or garlic, oinion or cumin or coriander or even pepper. It's supposed to be falafel! It's supposed to be cooked and crunchy on the outside and light and fluffy on the inside. Sometimes a beautiful green from lots of ground parsley. But nope

Literally tasted like besam (chickpea flour) and old oil.

I have no idea if this particular lot was accidentally put out without being cooked or if that's just the house recipe, but it was a profound and expensive disappointment.

There was probably a dollar's worth of lettuce, grape tomatoes.and 1/8th of a carrot underneath it, a little tub of what I think was supposed to be vinaigrette but was actually 80% oil, 15% sugar and 5% vinegar. Inedible.

And tahini which was pretty bland also.

I actually took it home and tried to cook them and it made no difference. Whatever was in this recipe was not savable.

I guess they're trying to have something for everybody but sometimes it's better to serve only your best and leave the rest.

Left a bad taste in my mouth. Literally and figuratively.

As an aside, there were many other options in the display case. However I don't eat bacon or dairy so this was my only choice. If you are open to anything - I highly suggest getting one of the sandwiches which looked brilliant.

So in the end I will say:

Did I drive 140 km to pick up two loaves of bread? Why yes. Yes I did.

What I do it again? Maybe. But I'll eat lunch before I go and also take a friend. As they have a limit of two loaves of bread per person. And frankly with how good it is, I can...

This is one of my favourite places on earth. As a celiac, I feel so safe with their gluten free offerings and always find something delicious to try.

The wait is never too long, the prices are clearly listed and often cheaper than other gf baked goods.

Stand-outs were the cinnamon sugar cake donuts, butter tarts, and raspberry cream cheese bar. The muffins are also always excellent.

For future suggestions, I’d definitely love to see them ask if customers would like their muffins/scones heated up, and perhaps offer some butter or jam for those who eat in. As someone visiting from Manitoba, we didn’t always have access to our own microwave or butter, so that would have been an extra treat.

This trip we also tried each of their panini offerings (turkey+Brie, bbq pork) and they were filling and good. I’d love to see a grilled cheese and Reuben offered one day, but I enjoyed the sandwiches they...

Uhh.. YUM! Omg. Where has this place been hiding? I usually come into Ladysmith for OTB but they were closed and this place was open another hour and I needed a coffee (which was great). I’m usually not big on s’mores but their s’mores bar looked so good I decided to partake. WHAT! It was amazing! 🤫 I’d take another one of these over my normal cinnamon bun across the street the next time I need a treat. So good. The quiche was yummy, too and I even grabbed some local milk - my normal creamery is only open Thursday to Sunday so that saved me a trip in a couple days. Aaand the sweet and bubbly gal behind the counter proactively offered me a bag for all my goods since I had baby in the other hand. They have a bunch of local goods for sale, too (candles, cards, foodstuffs, pottery, etc). What a fabulous stop - can’t wait to come back on my next time through! Thanks! Wow! What a...