About Holly's Kitchen
Lagos Mainland now Toronto
A Nigerian cook from Lagos Mainland, taking orders out of Toronto.
Holly's Kitchen
01
Holly's mother ran a catering business out of their house on Lagos Mainland. There was always a pot on the fire, always someone pounding yam, always trays going out to a wedding or a naming ceremony. By the time Holly was ten she could grind pepper for stew without watching her hands and tell when the jollof was close to done by the smoke.
She moved to Toronto and missed two things: her family, and the food they cooked together. She started cooking for friends on weekends. Then for friends of friends. Then for full owambes. Holly's Kitchen has been taking orders, working out of Toronto and delivering across the GTA. A storefront is on the way.
We cook the same way her mother did. Small batches. Cooked the day they go out, never held over. Spice we toast and grind ourselves. Yam we pound by hand because it tastes different than the kind you make from flour. Every tray that leaves the kitchen gets the attention you would put into a Sunday meal at home.
Chef Holly
How we run the kitchen
Three rules we do not break.
01
Cooked the same day
Pots go on the fire in the morning. Whatever is left at close gets donated, never held for the next day. If it was not cooked today, we do not sell it.
02
Spice we make ourselves
Yaji and suya seasoning are blended in the kitchen, from peppers we toast and grind here. We source peppers from West African suppliers in the GTA when we can. The blend changes a little through the year as the supply does. It is the part of the kitchen Holly will not let anyone else handle.
03
A community operation
We hire locally in Toronto, source from Black-owned suppliers in the GTA where we can, and donate weekly meals to a local food bank. The storefront, when it opens, will be staffed the same way.
Order from us