Elmridge is the fresh fruit and veggies centerpiece of the Seaport Farmer's market. They have a ton…read moreof selection during the peak summer months and at very reasonable prices, often beating the supermarkets in the peak season of a given item, and definitely beating them on freshness and quality. Selection obviously dips off in the fall and winter months to your various root vegetables and such, but this is the name of the game for local produce. I believe they are cash only.

From the owner: We are a third generation family farm located in the beautiful Annapolis Valley. Owned and operated…read moreby Greg and Suzanne Gerrits, their two children Gillian and James and a dedicated team of local and international farm workers. We grow a wide variety of fresh market fruit and vegetables, the majority of which are grown pesticide free. Pesticide free indicates that the item has been grown without the use of conventional pesticides by using natural biological controls and good management. Compost and green manure are used as our main source of fertilizer. After 25 years of adopting safer, more natural ways to grow our produce we have reduced conventional pesticide use by 95%. We continue to develop better ways of growing produce safely and naturally. Crops we have successfully grown pesticide free are labeled as such so our customers know exactly what they are getting.

Getaway is a great shop for your pork and beef needs…read more The belly bacon, when it isn't sold out, is fantastic. Thick cut, and I swear it loses less weight when it's cooked; not sure if this is because it's less fatty than regular commercial bacon or if that stuff is water chilled, but I'd say you're getting more bang for your buck in both quality and quantity. I think it clocks in at $8/lb. The breakfast sausages were a substitute for me when they were out of bacon on a recent visit. They have a fairly mild seasoning to them, and not quite that typical breakfast sausage flavour, which I am admittedly a sucker for. They're a bit more coarsely ground than most sausages, and could use a bit more fat added in as they are a bit on the dry side for a sausage.$7/lb. I picked up a batch of maple-cured English bacon on my last visit, which I'm looking forward to trying! Your more basic cuts of meat are fairly reasonably priced, but be ready to suffer some damage to your wallet if you're getting any of the high end cuts.

This is a great place to get local meats and the cows are grass fed. I have tried the ground beef…read moreand some of their sausages and both are delicious. I highly recommend the apple rosemary sausage. They also have maple sausage and banger sausage. You can see them cutting the meat in front of you so you know it's fresh. Their website goes into detail how they raise their cows and why it's better for the environment and the cows. I am happy to support this business at the Farmer's Market. Taken from their website about the importance of eating grass fed beef: "Grass-fed beef and lamb are now considered a health food of the highest order. Compared to grain-finished meats, it is higher in omega-3 fatty acids, beta carotene, and especially conjugated linoleic acid (CLA), an essential fatty acid largely missing from modern diets and found almost exclusively in the dairy and meat products of grass-eating ruminants (cattle, sheep, and goats)."

TL;DR/The Short Version: Cool market in a funky space. Lots of vendors and lots of delicious…read morefoods. The Long Version: If I lived in Halifax, I would be at this market every week. It's only open Saturdays from 8am-2pm. My husband and I made specific plans to check out this market on our most recent trip to Halifax and I'm so glad we did. It's in what would have been the outside space between old buildings, but that space has since been enclosed and now it's inside. It looks really funky and cool. They had so many vendors that interested me. Lots of food places to choose from. I had done some reconnaissance online and flagged 2 vendors I wanted to try: Mediocre Bakery and Snow Day Treats. I found Mediocre Bakery, but wasn't able to find Snow Day Treats. Luckily, I found a good substitute with Helene Cookies. Mediocre Bakery (funny and ironic name because they are far from mediocre) sells these spiral buns, like cinnamon buns but more spirals, lol, and both sweet and savoury. We got a Muffuletta bun ($6) to share. It was fantastic, albeit a bit greasy. It had olives and pickled vegetables in it. We loved it. We would definitely buy from this vendor again and maybe try a sweet one next time. I wanted to get the little crispy squares that looked like snow from Snow Day Treats, but couldn't find the vendor anywhere, but then I spotted the strawberry nougat from Helene Cookies, which isn't traditional nougat at all, and it looked like it could be a good substitute. It was a bit pricey at $15 for a small bag but after tasting a sample, I had to get it. Haha. The nougat has crispy parts and looked somewhat like it was covered in snow, lol. The owner was so friendly and welcoming. Offering us lots of samples and letting us know that all the items were his own recipe. I looked online and the strawberry nougat has marshmallow, Ritz cracker crumbs, dried cranberry, dried strawberries, butter, whole milk powder, and walnuts. How creative! They call them "Happy Cubes" on their website, which is a fitting name because they made me happy, lol. I think the Happy Cubes are proper cubes, while the nougat is the ends and broken pieces. Not as aesthetically pleasing as the cubes, but delicious nonetheless. The highlight of our visit was a place we stumbled upon: 175 Chicken. I saw they had Coffee Fried Chicken for $8. It's chicken pieces marinaded in coffee and deep-fried and served with salted caramel sauce. Sounded so weird, I had to try it. Let me tell you, it was amazing! One of the best things I've ever had. They fry it to order so it was piping hot and so crispy on the outside, tender and juicy on the inside with a coffee flavour. So wacky but so delicious. They also have regular fried chicken for those less adventurous. They sell sauces too. I also got a Blueberry Rose kombucha from Pickled Pink ($5.75). It was good and I enjoyed the flavour profile. I was intrigued by a flavour they had called Organic Forest or something like that. I inquired and the lady said it had flavours of spruce, pine and cedar. I was a bit hesitant to buy it even though it sounded interesting so she gave me a sample. It wasn't my cup of tea, so I asked to try the Blueberry Rose as I suspected I'd like that one, and I was right. Hubby got a drip coffee (medium for $2.50) at CTC and liked it. There were so many other vendors I wanted to try, but we had planned on going to the Halifax Seaport Farmers' Market immediately afterwards so I wanted to save stomach space, lol. In retrospect, we should have skipped the other market and just gorged on the food at the Halifax Brewery Market. Haha. If you're visiting Halifax on a Saturday and you like markets, I definitely recommend checking out this Halifax Brewery Market! (175)

Located at the north end of the market, across from the customer service desk there, Hillcrest has…read morea couple tables and a fridge mostly selling vegetables and eggs. They're my usual spot at the market for fresh eggs, as at $3.75 for dozen extra larges, they're the cheapest there.They don't have the big selection of Elmridge, but there's a decent amount of things to pick from. They also sometimes carry quail eggs, which are a fairly unique item. They're obviously much smaller than chicken eggs, and beautifully spotted. At $5 for 24, they're reasonably priced and are a neat ingredient to put in salads or other dishes.

Waaaaay too expensive for what it is…read more I understand it's suppose to be a farm to table concept but I literally could not taste the difference between what they served and regular supermarket food. The ingredients didn't taste especially fresh and it was 17 dollars a plate! What a rip off. I'm all about organic farming and fresh ingredients, but when you can't even taste the difference, I have to wonder, is it really what it claims?

The market has a ton of great places to eat, especially on the weekend, but no matter how much I'd…read morelike to, I can't have Humble Pies or Caribbean stewed meats all the time. No, sometimes you just have to get....a salad. Not a little scoop of coleslaw or sauteed veggies, but an honest to god salad, full of green things and stuff that should keep me from dying young. Luckily for you and I, there's Selwood Green. One of the permanent storefronts at the market, Selwood does it all with fresh veggies straight from the owners' farm, to prepared meals and baked goods. Today I was on the hunt for something healthy, so I went with a small salad, which is just prepared with what they have on hand that day. I perused the various goods they had for sale while I waited, and soon my name was called and I was on my way. I was happy to see that they either gave me a larger container than I should have gotten, or their small salad is the size of a normal 8x8 take out box. Either way, it worked out for me. Getting back to the office, I popped the top and dug into my rabbit food. First of all, it had a nice presentation. This wasn't a haphazard scooping of pre-made salad mix and then being sent out, this was actually constructed. It had a lot going on, and for salads, that's a good thing. Fresh greens, aged cheese, sprouts, blueberries, almonds, roasted sunflower seeds, hard boiled egg, apple, carrot, tomato; this salad was loaded. It was a great mix of flavours, especially the roasted sunflower seeds. I thought it odd there was no cup or packet of dressing, but it came lightly dressed in a tangy vinaigrette that brought everything together, but didn't overwhelm or make everything soggy. They also earn bonus points for using a paper container and not styrofoam. If you're in the neighbourhood any day of the week, you should definitely hit up Selwood for your healthy, or slightly less than healthy (but still local, of course) eats.

After Maritime Pasty left the Seaport Market, there was a gaping whole in my savoury pastry diet…read more Having being away from the market for a month, I recently ventured around the whole place instead of just hitting my usual spots, and came across Humble Pie upstairs next to El Gallo. Humble Pie recently opened a permanent location in Dartmouth, so it was cool to see them making the trip over to this side of the harbour still. Now I've never had a New Zealand meat pie before, but after the steak and cheese ($7) that I ordered, I definitely will again. Initially it might seem pricey, but these pies are meals unto themselves. At 5-6" in diameter, they're a decent size, and they're jam packed with their respective filling. My steak was sliced and browned wonderfully, with a great beef flavour. I'm not sure what cheese they use, but it was a white cheese that packed a lot more flavour than your typical mozzarella or the like. The pie crust itself seems like it was made to withstand the ooey gooey deliciousness inside - not too thin and not too thick, and more like a slightly spongy dough than a flakey pastry, but not in a bad way. Humble Pie definitely knows what they're doing and using some top notch ingredients. Now that I know that they have a weekend location in Halifax, I can come get my meat pastry fix as I please.

I haven't made it over to Humble Pie's Dartmouth location, but when it was in the Seaport Market I…read morefrequented it as often as I could. So when I heard they would be on the Halifax side of the harbour for Open City this year...I knew where my first stop would be. I had never been exposed to Nova Scotia meat pies before Humble Pie but knew that I loved meat pies in general so I was confident that I would enjoy my meal. I severely underestimated the tastiness of these pies. The pastry is flaky and buttery, the filling packed as tightly into it as they could get it. I've had both the steak and cheese pie and the mince pie. Oh boy. I don't know if I could choose which I prefer. The steak is sliced into strips for ease of eating (no forks and knives are needed here - I've always taken mine to go so I just bite right into them) and the cheese is slathered over it for optimal coverage. The mince pie is possibly tastier than the steak, and certainly easier to eat on the go (less chance of dripping from the cheese), but I honestly don't know. You'll have to try it out yourself to see ;)

With the farmer's market right next door to my office, I love to pop over for lunch once the…read moremorning crunch at work is done. There's lots of different types of cuisine available, one of which is Amin's Indian Food. Located at the southerly end of the market, Amin's is a mom and pop food stall serving up a handful of different Indian dishes. I went for what was advertised as their Christmas special - chicken curry, chick pea curry, rice, naan or a samosa, and a drink for $10, taxes in. I'm assuming that the price is what makes it a Christmas special, as those things don't seem like a traditional Christmas dinner, that's for sure. Even in India that's just a regular dinner. The price was right though, and I got it to go and took it back to the office. Plopping back down at my desk, I dug right in. The samosa is definitely side dish-sized, as it was much smaller than your typical standalone samosas which you will find around the city. And while it was sitting in a warming tray, the filling itself had a well seasoned potato and pea filling with a good texture. The chick pea curry came as advertised - a bunch of chick peas in a curry sauce. The chick peas were tender and not chalky at all, but the curry was a bit on the bland side and could have used more heat and flavour in general. I'm guessing they're trying to take it easy on the palates of Halifax, but let me assure you, we can handle the heat! Well, at least a little bit more. The curry chicken was a whole chicken thigh in the same curry as the chick peas. It was quite tender and moist, and cut easily even with plastic utensils. Again, it would have benefited from bolder flavours, but it wasn't bad. Amin's may not be the king of the hill when it comes to cheap Indian food in the city, but it's still a good option if you're hungry and only have a John A. MacDonald on ya. Or two Lauriers. Or a near absurd amount of loonies.

I'm from Toronto, and this is THE most amazing Indian food I've ever had. Their chicken kabobs were…read moretender and infused with flavour, and was just as impressed with their butter chicken. Not only was their food amazing, but the price was so reasonable! And to top it off, the owners are super sweet! Will definitely be stopping by the next time I'm in Halifax (and hoping that they somehow bring this over to Toronto).

You know what's a little embarrassing? Giggling and prancing about like a schoolgirl in love in…read morefront of your boss and several strangers after just discovering the glorious new Noggins Farm Market in Alderney. But at the same time, there's a glorious new Noggins Farm Market in Alderney so yeah, I'm going to get my prance on about it, okay? Open seven days a week (!!!!), this permanent shop has a full selection of fruits, veggies, cheeses, milk and gelato from Fox Hill (!!!!!), eggs, Made With Local bars, maple syrups and honey, and even a fantastic selection of Tideview ciders (!!!!!!!). I mean, it's absolutely fantastic. Just when you thought you couldn't be happier, you're walking out with a bottle of Tideview's Sparkling Pear. This is huge for the Dartmouth crowd, y'all.

Having only discovered the Alderney Farmer's Market this summer, this was my first visit during…read morewinter. And this is when I can really appreciate the presence of Noggins. Here is where I can find carrots that taste like they just came out of my own garden and plenty enough fresh and organic veg to get your good nutrients all winter long. Also a bonus that they are open every day, not just market Saturdays. They carry, not just fruit & veg but Foxhill cheese, milk & gelato, Old Dutchman cheese, Made With Local granola bars and Terra Beata cranberries, just to name a few.. Sure, you'll pay more then in the grocery store but it is so worth the fresh taste of naturally ripened, not dyed, organic goodness. And you're supporting local to boot, win win.