Food From the Heart

Photo by Brendan Burden
Based on her "memories and travels around Canada," Wapokunie Riel-Lachapelle chose to share this dish of barley and wild rice risotto, topped with pheasant that was cooked in Belgian beer with wintergreen, red clover blossoms, cedar, sage gooseberries, cranberries and mushrooms, topped with smoked mussels.
Self-taught chef and owner, Wapokunie Riel-Lachapelle, opened Nikosi Bistro Pub in Wakefield in 2017...
...serving a menu that is reflective of her Indigenous roots, local ingredients — farmed and foraged — and time spent on the West Coast.
Located along Chemin Riverside, Wakefield's main strip, facing the Gatineau River, the patio was a must-have addition to the restaurant.
At Nikosi, the bannock is made fresh daily. “I love bannock [top left] and it was a tradition in my family,” Riel-Lachapelle says.
“We do a lot catering and we ‘fusion’ the bannock. We did a Jamaican-themed catering the other day so we did a jerk duck with a coconut-curry bannock. We do a blueberry-orange zest French toast with some candied bacon on top for our Sunday brunches.”