How We Choose Our Restaurants

One of the most common questions we get is: "How do you decide which restaurants to feature?" It's a fair question — and one we take seriously.

The short answer is: we eat there first. A lot. Before we approach any restaurant, we've usually been customers for months (sometimes years). We know the menu inside out. We know the vibe, the people, the story.

But there are a few things we always look for:

Independence matters. We only work with independently owned restaurants. No chains, no franchises. The restaurants in our binders are run by people who pour their lives into them.

The food has to be brilliant. Not necessarily fancy — just genuinely, memorably good. The kind of food you think about the next day.

They have to care. We want to work with chefs and owners who are proud of what they cook, and who want to share it. The best partnerships come from restaurants who are as excited about Locally Sauced as we are.

Location is everything. Each edition is built around a specific neighbourhood or region. The restaurants need to feel like they belong to that place — they're part of the local fabric.

Once we've identified a restaurant, we reach out, sit down with the team, and talk about which recipes would work best. It's always a conversation, never a demand. The chefs choose what they want to share, and we help them turn it into something beautiful.