Best Pastry

Make that two BOH golds in a row for Best Pastry for Dartmouth’s Two If By Sea Cafe. The Ochterloney Street favourite has been a must-visit for pastry lovers for 15 years now—long enough to become a well-oiled machine, says co-owner Josh Nordin.

“We’ve got six bakers, [and] a lot of them have been with us for so long, they’ve really dialed in the consistency,” he tells The Coast. “They work so hard. They know the amounts we need every day to keep everybody satisfied, which is a great deal—there’s a lot of pastries that go out that door every day. They’re the engine that keeps it all moving, for sure.”

TIBS hangs its hat on its mammoth-sized croissants, which manage to be both light and flaky, as well as satisfyingly filling. The pain au chocolat is a Coast favourite, but Nordin has a soft spot for the prosciutto and provolone: “The provolone gets a bit melty, and then, where the prosciutto is kind of peeking out of the edge of the croissant, gets crispy in the oven. It’s just so savoury. It’s delicious.”