Janelle’s Vegan Kitchen offering something new
New Amherst restaurant filling niche market
Operating her own restaurant has been a new experience for Janelle Simpson. But the Amherst resident feels nothing but gratitude to be doing something she loves.
“I’m not saying that it’s easy, but it’s not work when it’s your passion,” she told The Cumberland Wire. “I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ve learned. I am able to wake up in the morning with a pep in my step. It’s not like I’m dreading going into the place that I work or the place that I operate.”
Simpson is the owner of Janelle’s Vegan Kitchen, which opened this August.
As its name suggests, the restaurant serves entirely vegan and vegetarian cuisine.
It has a set menu of nine items, including stir fries, sweet and sour “unpork”, tofu, roti, burgers, sandwiches and wraps.
Simpson also introduces a soup of the day and a daily special based on different ideas she experiments with at home.
“We make it our own, we taste it, we see if we like it, we might give it to some people to say, ‘Hey, what do you think about this? What do you think about these flavours?' and if for us it’s good ,and we love how it tastes, then that’s something we would introduce as a special in the restaurant,” she explained.
Simpson and her family are all vegans and vegetarians. They sought out a vegan/vegetarian restaurant when they moved to Amherst in 2021.
There were restaurants in town that included those options, but they didn't find a place dedicated solely to vegan or vegetarian.
She realized this was a niche she could fill.
In Aug. 2022, the Portlander Jamaican Restaurant provided her the opportunity to operate out of there and sell her vegan and vegetarian meals on days it was closed.
It was a chance to showcase their food and Simpson says they got “amazing feedback.”
She was grateful to Donna Gogan, Portlander owner, for providing them a space to start.
“Donna, the owner, is such as sweet woman, and we are so grateful that she was able to see what we wanted to do and the type of business that we wanted to grow,” she said. “She afforded us that foot in the door to be able to do that and we will be forever grateful to her for giving us that opportunity.”
Since opening her own space, her clientele has carried over and she has added new customers who keep coming back.
There are people who even travel 45 minutes from New Brunswick to try her food.
“It just means a lot that we’re able to offer this for those people who are living that lifestyle who just want to have healthier, but tasty and delicious and wholesome food,” said Simpson.
She adds anybody can enjoy her food, including meat eaters, simply because of how tasty it is.
Trying new things
Simpson has always cooked at home.
“I’m a home cook, I have a passion for cooking and I always have since I have been a little girl.”
She believes her love of working in the kitchen was inherited from her father, a baker.
“I do have little pastries that I make here and there, but cooking has always been number one for me,” she said.
Simpson has always possessed a great curiosity and drive to expand her culinary horizons.
She has a voracious appetite to devour new recipes, frequently searching culinary magazines and the web for new ideas.
In the kitchen, she will often experiment, concocting new recipes on her own.
Simpson grew up in the
Caribbean island St. Lucia before her family moved to Ontario when she was 10.
With her background, she was exposed to a variety of cultures. Furthermore, her husband Dave is an ex-professional soccer player.
His travels around the world, playing for teams in Europe and Thailand, exposed them to different cuisines.
Thus, she draws from a variety of culinary backgrounds in her kitchen to create something new.
“Essentially, Janelle’s Vegan Kitchen is a fusion of a lot of places that we’ve traveled,” Simpson explained. “A lot of the foods that we love in these places, foods that we like to eat from our own background, Caribbean to Thai to Persian. Our food is really a fusion of all of these places, all of the foods that we love to eat that we recreate to make our own.”
A family business
Simpson gets up early each morning to plan for the day. It’s important, she says, to know in advance everything you need, to pick up ingredients at the grocery store, to manage money and to be organized. She has been able to do so with the support of her family.
Her husband Dave, children Jaya and David and motherin-law Ann are all lending a hand in what is, ultimately, a family-run enterprise.
While Simpson is the primary cook, Ann comes along in the morning to help her prepare after the kids are off to school.
Dave will drop by after work and help with some of the dishes during her busier hours. And the kids, she says, are always eager to learn in the kitchen as well.
Janelle’s Vegan Kitchen is located 10 Lawrence St. and is open Tuesday to Friday, 11:30 a.m.–6:30 p.m.