Cafés
A Steveston Village fixture since the late 1990s that roasts organic single-origin beans on site and sells them by the bag alongside the espresso. Locals drop in for a white chocolate mocha, a breakfast muffin sandwich and a bench out front.
Roasting on the premises changes what a cafe is for. You can drink an espresso and leave with a bag of the same beans, which is the actual argument for walking to a roaster rather than to whichever counter happens to be closest. Steveston Coffee Company works that way on Moncton Street. A counter, beans by the bag and a door onto the street adds up to a complete offer for a village of this size.
Steveston supports more coffee options than a place this small ought to, which is what happens when a tourist season lands on top of a resident population. The ones that last are the ones that work in February, when the visitors are gone, the rain comes in horizontally off the strait, and the only customers are people who live within a few blocks. That is a harder test than a July Saturday and a considerably better one.
Moncton Street runs flat through the middle of the village toward the waterfront, and it is one of the few genuinely walkable commercial streets in this city. Everything sits at street level. Summer weekends fill it completely, and the gap in pace between a Tuesday in November and a Saturday in July is hard to overstate to anyone who has only seen one of them. Anyone coming down for the dyke trails will find this end of the village the obvious place to start or finish, since the West Dyke and the harbour are both a couple of minutes away on foot. The street rewards arriving without a plan.
In the Steveston neighbourhood of Richmond.
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Other cafés and nearby businesses in the Richmond directory.
All-day cafe on Moncton Street doing brunch, fusion paellas, eggs benedict and handmade Shanghai dumplings. Fans of Once Upon a Time will recognize the frontage as Granny's Diner. Family-friendly with a kids' menu and a private room for groups.
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Steveston bookshop and cafe in one room, stocking mostly secondhand titles with some new releases. You can trade in your own books for store credit, and the espresso bar means people settle in rather than browse and leave. Separate kids' and adult sections.
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French-leaning cafe set just off No. 1 Road at the quiet edge of Steveston Village, doing savoury and sweet crepes, sandwiches and proper coffee. A calmer option when the Moncton Street cafes fill up with weekend visitors.
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The most serious coffee bar in Steveston, pulling espresso, siphon and cold brew from beans the company roasts itself. Bright and busy a short walk from the boardwalk, with pastries and sandwiches for people who cycled or walked in.
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A tiny family-run shop on Chatham Street making proper Liege waffles with pearl sugar, real butter and honey in about a dozen flavours, from vanilla through matcha and yuzu. They also take custom cake, pie and creme brulee orders for pickup.
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A bike-friendly stop at London Landing on the dyke route that rotates its beans through different BC roasters every few months. Cyclists and runners coming off the trail fill the seats, and the baked goods come from small local producers.
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From the blog
Longer reads from the editor, with the places worth a detour linked inside them.
The Night Market's final season is the loud story. The quieter one: free admission at the Cannery ends Monday, Britannia keeps summer hours through Sunday, and Steveston does sunsets better than anyone.
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Nothing on Alexandra Road is a secret. It is just in a strip mall with bad signage and no patio, which is why visitors never find it. Here is how I actually use Richmond's plazas and food courts, which specialists are worth the drive, and when not to bother.
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The West Dyke Trail is about five and a half kilometres of flat gravel between Terra Nova Rural Park and Garry Point, and I ride it most mornings. Here is what is actually at the north end, which way to walk so the wind is on your side, and why winter is the better season for it.
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