Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all restaurants in Ottawa are closed for dining-in. I will try to highlight local restaurants which are still open and offering take-out and delivery options in the meantime. NeXT has recently relaunched with a very enticing take-out menu. You can also get delivery via UberEats. For information on other restaurants which are still open for take-out and delivery, check out Local Eats Ottawa.
We visited NeXT just prior to the recent pandemic and physical distancing restrictions. I came to NeXT once for their famous brunch many years ago but this is Aaron’s first time so it was still very exciting. Their Sunday brunch is in high demand and I made sure to make reservations before going.
Location/Ambience
NeXT is located in Stittsville, west of Ottawa. They had plenty of parking behind the restaurant with a very large venue. Apparently they can host weddings here as well. That day we were seated in their main dining room with plenty of sunlight.
Drinks
We were offered some coffee/tea as soon as we sat down. You can also choose to have various juices with your brunch. If you want something special to drink, there is also the option of bottomless mimosas or handcrafted Nespresso drinks for an additional cost.
Food
While we enjoyed our drinks, we were given the rundown of our brunch experience today. All our food will be presented on a long board for 2. There will be 16 dishes with the hot items in the centre, which are to be to be eaten first and the cold and dessert items on the ends of the board.
Their menu today was slightly different from that on their website. For hot items, there was the Kapow Cauliflower, Piggy’s in a Comforter, Duck Confit Poutine, Banana Pancakes, St. Albert Tempura Cheese Curds, Blackie’s Crispy Chicken, 48-hour Braised Beef Brisket, Bacon, Salt and Gochugaru Humboldt Squid. Apparently Chef Blackie has worked and traveled in various destinations around the world including Hong Kong and Indonesia. I can see how he is able to master so many Asian-inspired dishes now. My favourite hot items were the Piggy in the Comforter, St. Albert Cheese Curds, Crispy Chicken and of course my favourite, the Gochugaru Humboldt Squid. I loved how crispy the pastry is housing the “piggy”. I loved the cheese curds but more so for the Sriracha maple lick that it’s paired with. We ended up dipping many other items in this. The chicken had a very South-East Asian taste with the sambal and kecap manis tang. The Kapow Cauliflower was also very good especially with their edamame paste. The beef brisket was not too special but I really enjoyed the corn and horseradish pudding. The winning dish for me was the squid. It was very tasty and super tender. I really loved the nam pal prik dip and baby boy choy kimchi that it came with. The weakest dish this morning was probably the banana pancakes.
Duck Confit Poutine @ NeXT 
Blackie’s Crispy Chicken @ NeXT
Then we moved on to their cold dishes. Their viennoiseries were good. The chocolate croissant was flaky. The green papaya salad was pretty authentic. It had a good amount of spice and we were impressed. I enjoyed the fried taro root for different texture. The fennel nappa slaw was very good as well. The weakest cold dish this morning was the compressed ginger-infused watermelon.
Bottom: Kapow Cauliflower, fried taro root, compressed ginger-infused watermelon
For dessert, we had the peanut butter and milk chocolate moose with macerated raspberry. This was heavenly and my favourite dessert on the board. We also had the tempura crisp apple crumble b&b pudding which was not bad. There was also a creme brûlée which I initially felt had too much of a ginger taste but the flavour was not as intense as we kept eating.
Service
The service was excellent.
Overall
Overall, this was an extremely enjoyable meal at NeXT. As mentioned above, they currently have a new take-out menu with many of the items mentioned on this post, so you can enjoy them in your own home. Also, stay tuned for our upcoming post on our special Valentine’s Day experience here!
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NeXT
6400 Hazeldean Road, Stittsville, ON, K2S 1S4
613.836.8002
https://nextfood.ca/
Bowsing Nom Noms | Ottawa-Based Food and Travel Blog 
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