Méli-Mélo - January 2024
Petunia Town
When Michelle Williams and Jesse Harris were planning their move from Toronto, they told their young children they were moving to “petunia town” — the petunia being Gananoque’s town flower. And so, when the couple was looking to open a bar on the town’s main drag, coming up with the name was easy.
Bar Petunia is Williams’ and Harris’ first venture as restaurateurs. It’s a 20-seat space with a focus on wine and simple snacks “and the only bar in Gananoque that doesn’t have a TV,” Williams chuckles.
“For a small town,” Williams adds, “Gananoque really does have one of everything.”
But that’s now Williams and Harris filled a gap in the market for tourists and locals alike who wanted a casual spot to drop in for a nibble and a nice drink. With a succinct selection of snacks — things such as a cheese and meat plate, olives, fresh bread and pickled-beet eggs — the emphasis is on the list of rotating beers, wines and some classic cocktails.
Williams and Harris started dating while they were both working in the industry in Toronto, but neither claims to be a wine “expert,” Williams says, explaining that they’ve both been brushing up their own wine knowledge as they invite guests to come taste and learn with them. “We are trying our best to curate a wine list that makes great wine accessible and non-intimidating,” Williams says. “We wanted a list, and a vibe, that allows someone who has always felt safe drinking the same wine to feel comfortable and excited taking a chance on something new.”
Bar Petunia
47 King St. E., Gananoque
barpetunia.com | @barpetunia
Centretown's Cha Chaan Teng
For Tarek Hassan, offering a menu inspired by cha chaan teng — better known as a Hong Kong style-café in English — has been a long time coming. Even the tessellated hexagonal tiled floor at his Bank Street space was a nod to Hong Kong café decor.
Drawing on travels in Hong Kong, and his own upbringing in Egypt and the United Kingdom, Hassan has turned his five-year-old restaurant — Gongfu Bao — into a “café by day and a bar by night.” The new daytime business, called Gongfu Café, not only reflects the British influence on the cuisine of former British colonies, but also looks to reclaim it.
“It’s the notion of subtly familiar things,” he says. The pairing of ingredients important to British cooking (such as corned beef, eggs for breakfast, breads and cheeses) intersecting with Asian noodles and meat, for example, really resonated with Hassan. “I loved that shared reclaimed colonial heritage.”
At the heart of a cha chaan teng menu are the baked goods. Emily Wood, a Gongfu co-owner and pastry chef, has been tackling the “full pantheon,” filling the countertop display with fresh bolobao (cookie top milk buns with butter), Hong Kong-style egg tarts and other sweet and savoury treats. Beyond that, the café menu includes congee, wonton chips and dip, corned beef and vegan iterations of breakfast buns, Hong Kong French toast and lunch items such as a five spice fried tofu bun and braised brisket noodles.
Hassan and Wood have been serving bao from Gongfu Bao at the same address on Bank Street since 2018, and a large part of establishing the Gongfu Café was to “shake off the atrophy” of pandemic lockdowns and uncertainty amidst a changing market. Hassan had dabbled in “bursts of brunch” and was keen to expand the restaurant’s offerings, and was also looking to make better use of the pair's Centretown location.
“I hate the idea of having a beautiful central space and being closed more often than open,” Hassan says. “We want people to be able to make use of the space as though it’s a coffee shop.”
They’ve added wifi, they don’t have an espresso machine, but they’re serving ratio coffee (“like pour-over and drip had a baby and it looked more like pour-over”) and hand-pulled milk or lemon tea to go with the aforementioned baked goods. In the evenings, when the space reverts to its Gongfu Bao roots, the team is aiming for more of a snackbar vibe and it’s working on a cocktail program.
Hassan is no stranger to evolution at Gongfu; he started his business as a food cart in 2013. By launching Gongfu Café during the day he’s hoping to widen his restaurant’s offerings as well as provide a meeting spot for folks in the city before dinner time. “It’s two different places, in the same space,” Hassan says, a space that he hopes to see transition as a Centretown gathering spot from day to night.
Gongfu Café & Gongfu Bao
365 Bank St., Ottawa
gongfu.ca | @gongfucafe
Marché by à la Montréalaise
Chef Dominique Dufour is back at the helm of a kitchen, and she’s hoping to bring some classic French Canadian gastronomy to Ottawa’s historic ByWard Market. When the opportunity to open a new restaurant came after closing her previous space, Gray Jay, at the end of 2022, Dufour knew she wanted to open a Québécois wine bar. “I had a desire to do something snacky and unpretentious,” Dufour explains. “And I wanted to make it feel like you were in Montreal.”
What makes it “Montréalaise” for Dufour? “It’s a bit of an intangible,” she says, “but they say good service is seen, and hospitality is felt.” While the Montreal factor may be intangible, Dufour has ensured that design elements are tangibly linked to the city. She worked with architectural design firm Ivy Studio to nail her visions of a “Montreal Aesthetic” that include a colourful tiled floor, and light fixtures that make use of upcycled lamp post globes from Montreal. Dufour was also set on installing a U-shaped counter at the bar, which curves into the open kitchen. “It sets the tone for a collaborative environment; we really want to be connected to our guests.”
It’s not style over substance at Buvette Daphnée, however. The wine list has been compiled by sommelier Nicholas Leduc, a friend of Dufour’s who moved from Montreal to be a part of this project, and highlights producers focused on regenerative and responsible agriculture, principles that Dufour sees as an important link between the offerings from the kitchen and the bar.
Describing her menu as unapologetically French Canadian, Dufour notes that seasonality is a pillar of the cuisine. Given the changing nature of the menu, she says there are certain things that diners can count on seeing regularly: the croquettes de creton (the Quebec pork staple, breaded and fried) served with vegetable accents of the moment, and there will always be a duck dish available, whether it’s morel mushrooms stuffed with duck sausage or duck tartare. Dufour’s husband, Devon Bionda, raises ducks and is also the bread-baker for the restaurant. (His bread comes with decadent whipped dairy and maple gastrique.)
Dufour credits Jordan Holley, her business partner and the head chef at Riviera, as a mentor throughout this project. The restaurant’s name is a tribute to his grandmother, Daphne, and Dufour’s desire that the restaurant be called une buvette. “Right away it conveys a sense of congeniality,” Dufour explains, “you can pop in whenever.”
Buvette Daphnée
11 William St., Ottawa
buvettedaphnee.ca | @buvettedaphnee
