Dining In: What is authentic Kanata cuisine? Answer: Vietnamese, French and Ukrainian culinary treats

Banh Mi Yes
101 Schneider Rd Unit 4, 613-867-7688, banhmiyes.com
Open: Wednesday to Monday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., closed Tuesday

La Maison du Kouign-Amann
101A Schneider Rd., 613-270-0505, lamaisondukouignamann.com
Open: Weekdays 7 a.m. to 7 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.

Zakuska Market and Deli
101 Schneider Rd. Unit 3, 613-668-7335, zakuska.ca
Open: Monday to Thursday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Friday 10 a.m. to 6 p.m., Saturday and Sunday 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

What constitutes the authentic cuisine of Kanata?

Please forgive the cheeky question. My even cheekier answer, based on treats brought home from an easy-to-miss strip mall on Schneider Road, includes sweet or savoury crepes or superior French pastries for breakfast, a sandwich of eastern European cold cuts for lunch, and then a Vietnamese banh mi sandwich for dinner.

For a mid-day indulgence or an exclamation point to the day’s eating, the super-buttery and irresistible mini-cake called a kouign-amann topped with salted caramel, dark chocolate or tart lemon curd, would be unbeatable.

A kouign-amanns (pronounced “queen-a-mahn”) is native to northwestern France. But compelling versions are made on Schneider Road at La Maison du Kouign-Amann. Now in its sixth year of business, La Maison makes and sells much more than its namesake.

It’s the anchor food-business tenant in the building, and its neighbours include Zakuska Market and Deli, a year-old retailer of Ukrainian, Polish and other Eastern European foods, and Banh Mi Yes, a kitchen that makes, above all, Vietnamese sandwiches. It moved to Schneider Road in January 2022 after operating from an east-end Ottawa location.

As different as their wares are, all three immigrant-owned businesses stress the authenticity of the food they sell.

Fran Brown, who trained in pastry making in France and then worked as a financial analyst, began making kouign-amanns as part of a career change more than a decade ago. “I thought it was the most amazing cake ever,” she says.

Brown sold her pastries at the Carp Farmers’ Market and to coffee shops in Ottawa, Gatineau and Montreal before taking over the space that would become La Maison.

Much enlarged over time, La Maison offers almost 20 kinds of French pastries, housed in showcases that make eyes widen with the beauty of their contents.

After COVID-19 prompted the nearby tech sector sent staff home to work and La Maison’s catering business slumped, the business re-invented itself, Brown says, so that walls of freezers now stock quiches, pies, pastries to made at home and more. Nearby, there are aisles filled with imported French products and gift baskets. La Maison, which now employs more than 20, has a small dining area for those who want a coffee-and-pastry break, or perhaps one of more than a dozen savoury crepes.

At a recent weekend breakfast, we preferred the Bretonne crepe, fully loaded with mozzarella, brie, bacon, caramelized onion and spinach to the other simpler savoury crepes. Better still was the the sweet dessert crepe that we split, and best were the kouign-amanns that we took home.

At Zakuska, which is owned and operated by Robert Wnek and Victoria Chechui, I’ve had superb ham, cheese and pickle sandwiches, pre-made for its lunch-time rush. I could also have ordered sandwiches made to order with the cured meats and cheeses that they stock.

While deli meats and cheeses are at the core of Zakuska’s business, its shelves brim with imported items including Eastern European pickles, salads, sweets, chocolates, cookies and snacks. Fridges in the back are stocked with smoked fish and frozen items including perogies and cabbage rolls made by a Kingston chef for Zakuska.

A sign on Zakuska’s counter reads: “Ask for caviar.” Wnek, who was born in Poland, says he stocks two kinds of salmon roe, one more fatty and flavourful, the other more salty. Plus, there’s prized Ossetra caviar kept frozen in the back, he says.

At Banh Mi Yes, owner Phoebe Ha outdoes the competition in Ottawa when it comes to making Vietnamese subs because she bakes her baguette marvels with thin, crisp shells and fluffy interiors each morning. Due to popular demand, her sandwiches come in small and large sizes.

You have to order Banh Mi Yes items online. Then Ha, also a financial analyst turned food entrepreneur, or a staffer brings your order out from the kitchen at a specified pick-up time. I’ve consistently enjoyed her banh mi at home, especially after warming them briefly in the oven. My favourite was the grilled pork banh mi, thanks to its depth of flavour and admirable char, although I wouldn’t turn down any of the other options, whether they featured grilled chicken or beef, or fillings such as Ha’s house-made pate, slices of fish cake or a Vietnamese version of pulled pork.

In all of my subs, the vegetables tasted freshly pickled, while Ha’s house-made mayonnaise struck me as a next-level condiment.

Banh Mi Yes has also broadened its menu to offer Vietnamese marinated and grilled drumsticks with sticky rice, grilled chicken wings and even grilled whole chickens. I ordered the more expensive free-run bird, which was chewier than expected and came with head and feet attached. Ha enlightened me after that those premium birds, brought in from a farm near Toronto, satisfy her Vietnamese customers who grew up eating such chickens and find the usual North American birds too soft.

Some good news for downtowners who think Kanata is too far to drive for exceptional banh mi: Ha told me this week that she is to open a second location in Hintonburg in 2023.

The businesses don’t think of themselves as competitors.

“Absolutely not,” says Brown, who feels that the successes of the three neighbours reinforce one another. “If Banh Mi Yes can attract some customers, people are going to see Maison du Kouign-Amann,” she says, describing exactly how I came across her shop.

“There is enough space for everybody. There is enough business for everybody. We have to stay unique in what we are doing,” Brown says.

Wnek tells me there could well be opportunities for synergies and collaborations with the three nearby breweries on Schneider Road — Big Rig Brewery, Calabogie Brewing Co. and Small Pony Barrel Works, which specializes in sour beers.

So, you could even bring home authentic Kanata beers with your authentic Kanata foodstuffs.

phum@postmedia.com

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