New Montreal Restaurant Opens
Montreal, Que. – Mi’kmaw chef Norma Condo is opening what will be the only Indigenous-owned restaurant on the island of Montreal, according to Aboriginal Tourism Quebec. The restaurant, Miqmak Catering Indigenous Kitchen, will serve Indigenous dishes such as wild rice, a three sisters casserole of corns, beans and squash and her favourite, bannock, or luskinikn in Mi’kmaw.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Condo tells local media. “It’s been my passion. I’m here for all the other Indigenous people because I know there’s nothing like it around here.” Condo is from Gesgapegiag, a Mi’kmaw community on Quebec’s Gaspé coast, about 500 km east of Quebec City. She’s been running a catering company out of the restaurant in Montreal’s Pierrefonds borough since November 2018, and opened her small dining room at the beginning of summer. Laurence Lainé, a representative of Aboriginal Tourism Quebec, said she’s happy to see Condo’s business flourishing and for an Indigenous-run restaurant to open its doors in Montreal.
“Montreal is the main door for tourism, so to have a presence in this big city is very good for Indigenous tourism,” said Lainé. “There is not a lot of representation of culinary restaurants in the big cities, but it’s the right place to catch a lot of people’s attention and interest regarding traditional cooking.”
