Join award-winning chef, writer, and storyteller Caroline Ishii for an intimate evening of plant-based Japanese home cooking inspired by her latest book, Rendezvous: Stories of Love, Loss, Identity and Belonging.
Blending seasonal Japanese Canadian dishes, storytelling, and the joy of sharing food, this dinner explores food as a way to remember, heal, and connect across generations.
Caroline will share a menu rooted in comfort, family memory, and kokoro (food made with heart), alongside personal stories from her journey as a chef, writer, and third-generation Japanese Canadian woman. Guests will be invited to connect with others, share reflections, and ask questions.
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Sunomono
Cucumber salad with wakame seaweed, harusame (mung bean) noodles, yuzu-kosho vinaigrette
Inarizushi
Seasoned tofu pouches filled with sushi rice, topped with kinpira gobo (braised burdock root)
Agedashi Dengaku
Roasted tofu glazed with a miso-rhubarb-strawberry sauce
Japanese-Style Kare Raisu
Chickpeas, tempeh, and roasted seasonal vegetables in a rich, gently spiced curry sauce, served with fermented adzuki brown rice.
Tsukemono
House-made Japanese pickles
Matcha chocolate ginger truffle
Genmaicha
Green tea with roasted brown rice
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Caroline Ishii is a writer, award-winning chef, and storyteller whose work explores food, memory, identity, healing, and belonging. She is the founder and executive chef of ZenKitchen, Canada’s first vegan whole foods fine-dining restaurant, which was named Best New Restaurant of the Year. At Gold Medal Plates, she earned two silver medals and made history as the first woman chef to compete in Ottawa and as the first to present a vegan dish in the competition's history.
She was also the host of the 13-part reality-documentary series The Restaurant Adventures of Caroline and Dave, which aired on W Network, OWN, and the Asia Food Channel, and the author of Rendezvous: Stories of Love, Loss, Identity and Belonging, The Accidental Chef, and Canadian Vegan Recipes, published in Japanese. Through Rendezvous Kitchen, Caroline brings together food, storytelling, and meaningful gatherings that nourish connection, reflection, and belonging.
