Best of Orleans

Author

Ralf Joneikies
April 22, 2025

Good morning,

The healing has begun. I managed to spend a few sunny hours in the garden this Easter Sunday and it was glorious. It was just a clean-up up but I enjoyed the flitting of the juncos, sparrows and cardinals as they assessed my proximity to the feeders.

For our holiday edition, we’ve compiled a number of notable Orléans restaurants for your spring dining pleasure. A word to the wise: some people have mentioned they haven’t been able to find our stories after they’re published. You can find them on our website at www.capitaleats.ca.

Let’s begin.

Ralf Joneikies, food and drink editor. [email protected]

BEST OF

The Capital Eats guide to eating in Orléans

Jamaican Homestyle Cuisine

Ox tail

Jamaican Homestyle Oxtail. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout

It’s somehow poetically appropriate that a modest Jamaican cuisine be served out of a modest, retrofitted house. The pleasant surprise is that the food is a very fine example of Island cooking.

I’ve enjoyed Jamaican cooking in cities throughout Canada and Maxine Dwyer is doing right by her patrons, sharing her delicious recipes.

Tortilla Maker

I recently hosted a small dinner party using several Tortilla Maker products. For those who are well-travelled, this is the only source for the most authentic of Mexican flavours.

They added tamales to their line-up last year and if you’re a fan, you’ll understand that these are first-rate and the best examples in Ottawa.

Nagi Sushi

Nagi sashimi

Nagi sashimi. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout

Moriyuki Hiroha spent 30 years doling out some of Ottawa’s finest sushi at C’est Japon a Suisha. Now he recreates this fine Japanese dining at his own restaurant Nagi Sushi.

Chopp Chop

Chopp Chop Hat Yai wings

Chopp Chop Hat Yai wings. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout

  • Name + address: Chopp Chop, 5929 Jeanne D’Arc Blvd S.

  • Website:www.choppchop.ca

Chopp Chop opened late last year and hearing about a new Thai restaurant, I made my way to Orléans the next day.

While the flavours were still a little too mild for my palate, they go out of their way to keep things real and not offer some North Americanized fast food version of Thai cuisine.

They do a very credible Pad Thai and the Hat Yai chicken wings are a tender and well-marinated delight.

Divisoria

Divisoria Pancit Bihon

Divisoria Pancit Bihon. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout

  • Name + address: Divisoria, 3621 Innes Rd.

  • Website: Facebook

This is a restaurant where you definitely want to bring the family. Comforting Filipino home cooking that offers dishes for meat eaters and vegetarians alike. The portions are very generous and the prices are modest. 

The service here is also just so attentive and they are very keen to help the uninitiated navigate the menu. It’s casual dining, but the people are lovely.

Caravela

Caravela grilled calamari

Caravela grilled calamari. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout

There are precisely two Portuguese restaurants in Ottawa and Caravela is a standout. 

No matter when I’ve gone, I found the seafood to be very fresh and the cooking accomplished. It’s a very popular restaurant and I learned the hard way that even at lunch you may want to make a reservation.

Occo Kitchen

OCCO cod cakes

OCCO cod cakes. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout

Occo is another very popular spot for all ages dining. The menu is broad in what it offers and they make an effort to be a little creative with some standards. It doesn’t always work.

Then there are items that are just wonderful. The salad for example, is not just artful but something that you want to eat and the cod cakes are a winner any day of the week. Fluffy, fresh and well crafted, these rank among the best fish cakes I’ve eaten.

Bite Burger House

Bite Burger Bite Me burger

Bite Burger Bite Me burger. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout

Bite Burger House proudly uses only AAA Canadian Angus beef for their 18 burgers. The Bite Me burger ranked as one of the best of 2024 and the accompanying fries make this one of the great combos available in Ottawa.

Hà Nội Phố

Hà Nội Phố pork/whelk dumpling

Hà Nội Phố pork/whelk dumpling. Ralf Joneikies/Ottawa Lookout

For those who enjoy Thai or Vietnamese food, it’s always refreshing to find menu items that are a little out of the ordinary.

Hà Nội Phố has a few items you may want to explore: spiced honey roasted quail, shrimp galettes, shaking beef and minced pork and whelks steamed in banana leaves.

While on my visit, the Pho was a little too salty, you’ll find better than average Vietnamese cooking at this strip mall restaurant.

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FROM THE ARCHIVE

Hitting culinary heights at Everest Cuisine

Originally published September 2024.

Everest Cuisine opened its doors six months ago and over that time a number of readers have written suggesting I pay them a visit.

I’m a little too direct at times and I admit that I avoided Everest because they weren’t just content to offer Nepalese cuisine with Indian and Chinese influences, but also sushi. What? Sorry, but this is taking the idea of fusion too far.

Nonetheless curiosity got the better of me and I made the trip with the idea that I would stick to the Nepalese side of the menu.

QUICK BITES

  • A government agency has ordered a Toronto Café to destroy its stockpile of vegemite. [YouTube]

  • Happy Belly Food Group have announced the opening of their latest Via Cibo Italian restaurant in Barrhaven. [Globe and Mail]

  • With the Ottawa Senators in the playoffs, Ottawans shared their favourite spots to catch the games. [OBJ]

FROM THE LOOKOUT

People’s Park saved from freeway expansion

It’s a sunny spring day in Old Ottawa East and a group of sunbathers have gathered at what’s known as the People’s Park. Nearby, a man plays fetch with his dog. There is a quiet hum in the air as birds return after a winter away and the water of the Rideau River roars past. Its levels are high due to snow melt. 

This piece of urban oasis has been saved from development. A longstanding plan to build a freeway through the greenspace has been axed. It’s welcome news to the community. 

The cancelled project was part of the Alta Vista Transportation Corridor, conceived of as a four-lane freeway running from Walkley Road to the Queensway. Part of the city’s Official Plan since 1966, it would have run across the river and through the greenspace which borders 170 Lees Ave. The proposed highway would have been the size of roughly 187 football fields. 

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