By Michelle Poirier
Freshly prepared foods, desserts and drinks can be found at one of Keswick’s hidden gems, Oh!Nest Café, located at 672 The Queensway S. for dine-in or take-out.
While the restaurant has been open since February 2022, Ed Heider, Owner of Oh!Nest Café, says they often get customers coming in who live right around the corner and had never heard about them before.
“We look forward to more people visiting,” he said.
It’s a family affair at the café, with Heider’s wife Hana Heider baking some of the treats and their son Ronnie Heider managing the restaurant.
“We try hard to do everything in house; from baking to cooking, preparing sauces, like the Italian sauce for chicken parmigiana, the marination for the chicken souvlaki, Ronnie does fresh salad every time a customer orders one,” Heider said.
“We make food fresh every time, we don’t have a hot table, we cook when you come in. So, in about 20 minutes maximum you can have a fresh meal. That is the concept, we cook when you come.”
Heider said their menu includes a variety of options geared toward satisfying most residents of Keswick.
“It’s homemade food, we offer different tastes than the rest of the places around,” Ronnie Heider said.
“My dad makes the tzatziki, he makes the salad dressing, he makes the tartar sauce, the marination for the souvlaki, he makes the hummus, he makes the eggplant dip, and it’s good quality, it’s fresh and uses good ingredients, he even makes his own spices too.”
The family has experience in the industry, with Ed having a background in accounting and management and Ronnie having worked in other restaurants, they owned a restaurant in Newmarket, Aubergine Kitchen & Bar, which they had to sell during the pandemic.
Heider said they took a break after selling that restaurant, but when they felt the pandemic was starting to ease, they were on the search for a new location.
“We decided on this location, and we developed everything here for scratch, and we chose the name, the menu, everything,” he said.
Heider said they decided on Keswick because of the great location and fond memories they had of bringing their kids to the beaches of Georgina when they were younger.
He describes Oh!Nest Café as cozy with a variety of offerings for every type of person.
“We are not serving particular, we are serving the public, the neighborhood,” he said.
Oh!Nest Café is open Tuesday to Sunday from 12:00 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. and they can be found on UberEats, SkipTheDishes and DoorDash.
They also offer catering and will be launching holiday gift baskets soon.
