Pemberton, BC – The Pony Bakery (North Arm Farms)

Restaurant: The Pony Bakery
Cuisine: Pacific Northwest/West Coast/Cafe/Bakery
Last visited: July 20, 2012
Location: Pemberton, BC (Whistler)
Address: 1392 Portage Rd
Where I stayed: Four Seasons Resort (Driving distance)
Price Range: $10-20

1: Poor 2: OK 3: Good 4: Very good 5: Excellent 6: FMF Must Try!

Food: 4.5 (Based on what I tried)
Service: 4
Ambiance: n/a
Overall: n/a
Additional comments:

• Restaurant/Coffee Shop/Bakery
• West Coast/Pacific Northwest menu
• Very casual
• Family friendly
• Local ingredients
• Seasonal menus
• Sustainable meats/seafood
• Hidden gem
• Local favourite
• Very casual
• Family friendly
• Full service restaurant
• Brown bag lunches available
• Pizza + pint Thursdays
• Dine In/Take Out
• Mon-Sun 6:30am – late
• Breakfast 7am-11:30am
• Lunch 11:30pm-4:30pm
• Dinner 4:30pm-10pm

**Recommendations: The Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie, Chocolate Cookie, Carrot Cake

If you come here to eat, this will be your view.

Here is the bigger picture.

And this is what I wanted to run through, except that would mean damaging the beautiful North Arm Farm vegetable and flower gardens. Yes! This was North Arm Farm! Unless you’re a local food lover in BC, “North Arm Farm” may not mean anything to you, but it was a big deal for me. I’ve tried so much of their produce and I’ve always wanted to visit the actual farm.

It’s a 60 acre working organic farm that provides many of BC’s restaurants with excellent produce and exotic vegetables. I listed them in my 10 BC Ingredients and Products post. Many of the upscale restaurants in Vancouver feature their unique ingredients. The farm is open daily to the public and u-pick fruits and vegetables are an option. It reminded me of Krause Berry Farms in Langely.

It was Follow Me Foodie to Whistler and I didn’t realize how close Pemberton was. I was expecting to stay in Whistler Village the whole time, but realized that the first thing on the itinerary was a tour and tasting at Pemberton Distillery. It was about a half hour drive away and on the way to the distillery was North Arm Farm, so I just had to request for a stop. This is my sort of adventure.

The farm featured a very casual and small grocery store with surprisingly limited amounts of various standard and interesting ingredients. The farm itself is huge though and they even have a rather large restaurant in the back. I didn’t even know they had a bakery counter let alone a full kitchen, but the food and beverage provider for the farm is The Pony. It’s a local favourite in the area and they also do catering and host weddings on the farm. Fine dining restaurant Araxi in Whistler once hosted their longtable series here too.

The bakery was originally created to use the abundance of produce on the farm, and I couldn’t help but to be drawn to it. It’s probably my biggest weakness when traveling and I’ll commit everyday to visiting a bakery if I’m in a town known for its pastries. To be honest, it doesn’t even have to be known for its pastries, I’ll still make an effort to find one. I don’t know what it is, but I find the smell of a bakery incredibly intoxicating.

The baked goods were all nostalgic, rustic, old-fashioned and bake sale like classics. There was nothing fancy, but they were simple, good and made with fresh ingredients. I actually really wanted to try The Pony restaurant, but I already had dinner plans. I would visit next time though because the menu sounded fantastic and the baked goods were a nice teaser. The food seemed honest and if I can enjoy it on a blanket with a view like that – then where do I sign up?!

On the table:

**Carrot Cake – 4.5/6 (Very good-Excellent)

• With a cream cheese frosting $3.25
• Flour, butter, canola oil, carrot, brown sugar, honey, spices
• It was very moist, not too sweet, but still a dessert with a good layer of cream cheese frosting on top.
• It was made with good quality North Arm Farm carrots, local honey and pieces of walnut. I wouldn’t have minded more walnuts though.
• It was not heavily spiced, but I could taste cinnamon.
• I actually really liked this, but I’m not sure if it was memorable.

Lemon Coconut Bar – 3/6 (Good)

• $3.25
• Eggs, flour, lemon, coconut, sugar, vanilla
• It had no creamy lemon curd or custard so it was a bit drier and I found it more coconut than lemon.
• It was almost like a coconut macaroon and I liked that it was not too sweet, but I lost the lemon flavour.
• I liked the shortbread crust, but it was a bit hard in some parts and a bit soft and crumbly in others.

Granola Bar – 3/6 (Good)

• $3.25
• Oats, butter, honey, sugar, dried fruit, nuts, seeds
• It was on the sweeter side and quite dense and definitely more like a cookie than a healthy granola bar.
• It was made with oats, pumpkin seeds, dried cranberries, chocolate chips, sesame seeds and dried coconut.
• It was still soft and a bit chewy, but I couldn’t see or taste any nuts.

**Triple Chocolate Cookie – 5/6 (Excellent)

• $2.25
• It was good dark chocolate with perhaps espresso and it was nice and crispy and a bit crunchy around the edges.
• It was actually quite chewy in the middle and it tasted caramelized from perhaps melted toffee chips (?).
• It was a rich cookie that wasn’t too sweet and it was nutty and earthy with dark chocolate flavour.
• It was almost like a chewy and moist amaretti and I loved it more than I thought I would.
• For what it was, it was excellent.

Strawberry Streusel Bar – 4/6 (Very good)

• $3.25
• Flour, butter, strawberries, sugar, corn starch and vanilla.
• It was super moist and it tasted very fresh because it was quite soft.
• There was more crust to filling and it was almost like a gourmet fruit filled Nutri-grain bar.
• It had a very moist and soft bottom crust and a thin layer of naturally sweet North Arm Farm strawberry preserves.
• The strawberry preserves were very potent with only a little gelatin which I liked. It tasted real.
• There was a streusel topping with caramel and cinnamon flavours on top so it was almost like a pop-tart too.

**The Chocolate Cheesecake Brownie – 5.5/6 (Excellent!)

• $3.25
• Chocolate, butter, sugar, flour, eggs, cream cheese, vanilla
• It was rich, soft and fudgy with a crispy baked topping of cream cheese, but it wasn’t nearly as sweet as most fudge or brownies.
• The brownie had a bit of a chocolate crust and it was super moist and a hybrid of a brownie and fudge bar.
• It was so smooth and creamy and more like a brownie or a bar than a traditional cheesecake.
• The cream cheese was very mild and only added a bit of tartness to contrast the chocolate, but otherwise you could barely tell because it was baked completely. It was almost like a pastry crust.
• This was my favourite and I didn’t expect to like it that much.