Popup menu featuring Chef Joseph Shawana.
The Grapefruit Moon will be hosting its first ever pop up menu. The first in a series of pop ups, The Grapefruit Moon is excited to announce Executive Chef Joseph Shawana on Saturday September 14th. Chef Joseph will present us with delicious and well executed Indigenous cuisine inspired by his love of food; and his desire to highlight some of Canada’s Indigenous cultures finest delicacies.
Suggested group size: 2-4 (Max 4),
casual dress code
Menu and drink pairings to come.
1. Crispy Wild Rice Cakes with a Blueberry Preserve
2. Candied Squash and Apple Soup with dried Mohawk cranberries and puff Manitioulin wild rice
3. Smoked Georgian Bay Rainbow Trout with a roasted sweet corn and three sisters puree
4. Pine Needle and Citrus Sorbet
5. Pulled Elk leg tamales with wild rice and an elderberry gastrique
6. Roasted Quail with a sunchoke puree and ever green braised beans
7. Wild rice and Saskatoon berry ice cream
8. Sunflower and amaranth cookies and a Algonquin chai latte with a corn milk foam
Chef Joseph Shawana was born and raised on the Wiikwemkoong Unceded Territory located on Manitoulin Island, He moved to Toronto in 2006, and has worked in some of Toronto's finest restaurants. He opened Ku-Kum Indigenous Kitchen back in June of 2016. Upon opening the restaurant, Chef Joseph has won countless awards; ranging from Top Indigenous Restaurant in Toronto, to making the top 20 list of 2018 for the best restaurant in Canada. He also had several great reviews in the New York Times, The Toronto Star, and the Food and Wine Article. Forbes magazine has also done a few stories on him and the restaurant, as well as a glowing article in foodsim. Ku-Kum Kitchen won the "best world cuisine" in Ontario at this years Food Awards beating out over 33,000 restaurants. Joseph has not only eyes for the restaurant industry, but also created, and is one of the founding board members for I.C.A.N ( Indigenous Culinary of Associated Nations) under the Indigenous Tourism Association of Canada. I.C.A.N will focus on bringing Indigenous Food to many outlets including tourism, food sovereignty summits, and holding annual food festivals around Canada. Joseph has also been attending many Food Summits across the border, where he has been working closely with Sean Sherman and his Sous Chef team to highlight Indigenous foods across Turtle Island. Chef Joseph has been focusing all his efforts and resources on recreating his restaurant, which has moved locations to a more central and larger venue, to bring pre-contact foods to the front of the Toronto restaurant scene. He loves foraging and hunting for his menus, and loves spending time teaching his son about his culture and our cultural foods.