Bread Milk & Honey is a lovely, renovated lunch spot in Lethbridge, Alberta

Here’s another brave soul taking over a beloved restaurant personified by its longstanding owner. In this case, the location is Lethbridge, Alberta and the new restaurateur is Michael Knipe, who bought the Round Street Café a few years after moving from South Africa to Canada.

He takes over from Bonnie Greenshields, revered as much for helping feed the city’s homeless as producing superb sandwiches and pies. But after a decade, she wanted to sell.

The resulting Bread Milk & Honey, which opened in August, is a mix of new and old. The downtown restaurant has been thoroughly renovated, and a lovely space it is, with high ceilings, lots of light and gorgeous wood paneling along the counter.

Manager Susan Roberts and owner Michael Knipe

Knipe was smart enough to retain popular menu items like the signature chicken, brie and avocado sandwich. Just about everything is made from scratch, including daily soups (like Hungarian mushroom, cream and barley) and a spinach salad where the chicken isn’t grilled until the order is taken.

The chicken breast for this spinach salad isn’t grilled until the order is taken

One change is a decided emphasis on good coffee, whether it’s a carefully pulled shot or a pour over.The java goes down splendidly with a new item, a South African milk tartlet sprinkled with cinnamon.

The only thing I’m not wild about is the rather generic name, though apparently it’s the same as that of a café he started back home in Cape Town. But overall, I love the attention to detail and excellence, from the food to the décor.

Bread Milk & Honey
427 5 Street South, Lethbridge, Alberta
Weekdays 7 am-4:30 pm, Saturday 9 am-3 pm. Closed Sunday