Bika Farm: It doesn’t get more local than this

Opened on July 26th in Saint-Blaise-sur-Richelieu, Bika Farm is the new project of chef Fisun Ercan. Here, the service is not like in a restaurant; the house offers you an out-of-the-ordinary but most memorable experience.

A little background for those who don’t know, Fisun Ercan was the proud owner of the restaurant Sú in Verdun until this year, when her dreams of buying a farm came true.

Originally from Turkey, Fisun was already planning to buy a country house in Crete, Greece, or in the South of France. As chance would have it, she finally found her dream property in Quebec, more precisely in Saint-Blaise-sur-Richelieu. She and her husband left the hustle and bustle of the city to establish themselves in the heart of an agricultural area and build a country space that reflects their image and is constantly evolving. “I stumbled upon it by pure chance on the internet, there were pictures of a house with blue shutters, it made me think of the Mediterranean and where I come from in Turkey. I immediately saw our future there. Never did I think that I’d find a place like this in Quebec.

The owner explains that it was love at first sight when she saw the farmhouse that she and her husband own today. While the home did require a lot of work and renovations, it was of utmost importance to the owners that they did so while preserving the character of the ancestral home. With the help of designer Alexandre Lafleur, Fisun and her husband created a space that blends the ancient with the modern, the antique with the contemporary. The centerpiece of Bika Farm? The beautiful, light-filled greenhouse that now houses the dining room.

Bika Farm is a true return to the roots, to the essentials; a concept that will be self-sufficient over the years, carried by an owner who is passionate about cooking, the art of sharing, and Quebec’s terroir. Halfway between a country table and a guest house, Fisun receives her customers as she would receive them in her own home – with generosity and in the greatest conviviality.

We come to Bika Farm to have an experience far from what we know from regular restaurant service. Here, there is no à la carte menu; it is the team that decides the tasting menu each day, according to the harvest, the daily inspiration, and the sublime and indispensable creativity of the moment.

Here, the concept of “garden to table” dining takes on its most literal meaning. Throughout the evening, we see a parade of products grown in the garden such as ancestral tomatoes, peppers, two or three types of squash, melons, watermelons, beans, onions, shallots, chard, lettuce, strawberries, apples, pears, cherries, blueberries… We’ll stop here because the list is so impressively long.

As the vegetable garden is always at the heart of the expansion project, the team turns to nearby producers to fill in the missing ingredients in the kitchen. Everything used here is entirely organic (that is, made from living matter) and helps to fulfill the mission of reducing waste as much as possible.

Curious about what’s on the menu? Here is an idea: a nice balance of proteins and vegetables, to which are added fish and seafood when available. The goal is always to highlight local products, prepared in their beautiful wood oven. The chef remains very attached to her Turkish and Mediterranean inspired recipes and, above all, to her spices, which she cannot do without when cooking. “I need my flavours, they are essential to the conception of my recipes,” she explains. Fisun also has plans to start making her own cheese, feta, and other fresh cheeses.

Another interesting feature of the restaurant is that Bika Farm does not offer alcohol, which is in line with the bring-your-own-wine concept. Diners are responsible for bringing the beverage of their choice to accompany the carefully reflected menu of the day.

Bika Farm, a kind of playground where creativity and freedom meet, is already proving to be a project as eco-responsible as it is gourmet. Congratulations for this new opening!

Written by Inès Duguen
Photography by Photos Daphné Caron

Last update: September 14, 2022

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