$0--&$5*7*5 r$0..6/*5: HALO CHEF: UNIVERSAL FOOD AND A RICH CULTURE
ANDREW COPPOLINO andrewcoppolino@gmail.com
It’s a unique restaurant on Rockland’s main street and one that has plans to grow: Halo Chef, specializing in African- and Caribbean-inspired coo- kery, has been open on Laurier Street for approaching three years now, and, according to the family who owns the business, they’re looking ahead to further opportunities. “One thing about the restaurant business is that there’s more to it than just preparing food. There’s marketing the business, the financial projections, investments. All of that. Right now, the team is getting their rhythm in terms of operations but thinking about expansion, more exposure, possible fran- chising and investment so we can revamp,” according to Gorcky Mukendi. Mukendi takes care of the restaurant’s financial matters, and the “team” he refers to includes Halo Chef co-owners Justin Mukendi and Christine Mukendi, his parents. Adding food culture to Rockland Christine Mukendi, who in early July led the Halo Chef team to Afrofest in Toronto’s Woodbine Park to serve their food – and thereby get out the restaurant’s name – does the cooking, which she might describe as something like her love language. “Cooking is my passion,” she says. “Pre- paring food and cooking for people is the thing that I love to do the most. I started when I was back home in Congo when I was younger, and I haven’t stopped. I simply brought the culture to Rockland.” As business evolves and grows – that includes catering functions too – Halo Chef opens five days a week in the late afternoon only, at least for now. Customers, says Gorcky Mukendi, range across demographics in what he describes as “actually an almost equal spread.” They are considering working toward engaging with a third-party delivery company like Uber Eats, but they need the numbers to balance first; on occasion, they have themselves driven food orders to some of their regular customers. As for the name Halo Chef, it seems to ring out as “Hello Chef!” but the family came up with name as way to blend, in a playful manner, a sense of “angelic” perfection when it comes to delicious food and chef, Christine, cooking it. Husband and business partner Justin says Christine’s cooking started out as a hobby that reaches back to her childhood. “Friends asked why she isn’t running a restaurant,” he says. “We said, okay, it sounds like a good idea.” The idea took root.
Halo Chef, situé à Rockland. (Andrew Coppolino)
The restaurant now has a dedicated fol- lowing – several customers came in to collect dinner orders in the short time I was visiting the dining room – that returns often for the popular smoky charcoal-grilled chicken. I have thoroughly enjoyed the earthy viande de chèvre, and the menu includes makayabu saltfish, along with deep-fried plantain (aloco), and rice that is packed with flavour and colour from heady turmeric. Kwanga, a traditional dish prepared in De- mocratic Republic of Congo and throughout Central Africa, is another Halo Chef signature dish: cassava (or yuca) is made into dough, wrapped in a banana leaf and steamed to make it tender and slightly sweet. There is also a dish called samoussa, a variation of samosa, which is a dough pocket stuffed with spiced peas, potatoes or meat and deep-fried; for dessert, you can have a waffle or a pâte à choux (pastry dough) beignet. Universal foods differentiated by spices According to Justin Mukendi, the food at Halo Chef has a “universal” quality that in essence makes it familiar. “A chicken is a chicken, right? The diffe- rence between chickens from different parts
of the world is only based on ingredients and the spices added. Cooks use different ingredients, for instance, at an Indian or Pakistani restaurant,” he says. It speaks to Christine’s experience cooking at home when she was a kid in Kinshasa: the ingredients she incorporates into the Halo Chef menu selections create the unique flavours in a dish that is made with common poultry. The seasoning for the goat, a popular African and Caribbean protein source, is proprietary however. “The ingredients for our goat are a secret,” Christine says. “We marinate the meat for a couple of hours, and then cook it on charcoal. That makes a difference from how other cooks make it.” The saltfish is rinsed several times in water and then cooked with bell peppers and onions and is served with kwanga. There are also Congolese pondu (feuilles de manioc on the menu), a stewed dish of finely chopped cassava leaves, as well as fumbwa, African wild spinach stew; both are staples in Central African cuisine. Charcoal is a defining feature In answer to the question of which is her
favourite dish to prepare, Christine Mukendi is hard-pressed. The chicken, goat and the ribs are right up there, she says, primarily because of her long history cooking them in the family – but the charcoal seems to be the defining feature. “The barbecue with charcoal, that’s what I’ve brought here. It reminds me of the way we cooked it back home. Slow cooked and not rushed is the way the flavour is created.” That flavour, according to Halo Chef busi- ness plans, will, the family hopes, create more profile for the business as they focus on capturing the palates of the local com- munity and eventually beyond, says Christine Mukendi. “Rockland and its demographics are growing but also Ottawa. People are more interested in African charcoal cuisine.” Halo Chef is open Tuesday to Friday 4 p.m. – 8 p.m. and Saturday 3 p.m. – 9 p.m. Food writer Andrew Coppolino lives in Rockland. He is the author of “Farm to Table” and co-author of “Cooking with Shakespeare.” Follow him on Instagram @ andrewcoppolino.
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