The plate that tells you the most about NeXT is a head of cauliflower. Kapow Cauliflower comes out crisp and lacquered in sweet soy-sambal, scattered with crushed cashew and pickled goji over a swipe of avocado — comfort and heat arriving in the same bite, with no meat anywhere to make the case. That instinct, to let a vegetable carry as much intent as a steak, runs straight through Chef Michael Blackie's cooking. NeXT is his contemporary Canadian restaurant on Hazeldean Road in Kanata, a west-end Ottawa kitchen that takes Canadian roots and pulls them toward Asian and European edges, and the cauliflower is the whole argument in miniature.
The rest of the dinner menu reads like a kitchen that refuses to pick a single lane. Pork-belly bao, steamed soft and slicked with gochujang, sit a few lines from Dan Dan peanut curry udon, wasabi pea-crusted tuna sashimi pizza, and tempura-fried cheese curds. The larger plates carry the same reach without losing the thread: pan-seared sea scallops set against Portuguese chorizo, crisp lima beans, harissa-spiced polenta, olive, and burnt lemon; a dry-aged P.E.I. ribeye; duck leg confit; genmaicha green tea-crusted ling cod; linguine bound in guanciale carbonara. Blackie's Crispy Chicken and guajillo-spiced prawns fill in around them. It is a long, deliberately restless list, sectioned and sized less for one person's entree than for a table reaching across itself.
NeXT is built around Michael Blackie's name, career, and cooking style, which gives the restaurant a more specific identity than a generic polished dining room.
Dinner and brunch both reward tables that want guided, shared pacing, from the eight-dish blind tasting to the ten-dish Sunday brunch progression.
The menu mixes Canadian, Asian, and European cues through dishes such as pork-belly bao, Dan Dan udon, tuna sashimi pizza, duck confit, and dry-aged ribeye.
Chef Michael Blackie is central to NeXT's identity, from the restaurant story to the dinner menu footer. The cooking feels personal rather than anonymous: shared waves, bold sauces, and dishes named for the chef all point back to one culinary lead.
NeXT gives diners two clear guided formats: the eight-dish blind tasting at dinner and the ten-dish Sunday brunch tasting. Both make the kitchen's range easier to explore without turning the meal into a checklist.
This is a room for curious eaters: sweet soy-sambal cauliflower, pork-belly bao with gochujang, Dan Dan peanut curry udon, tuna sashimi pizza, green-tea crusted ling cod, and chorizo with scallops all sit naturally on the same menu.
Sunday brunch is not a simple eggs-and-toast add-on here. It is a five-course shared tasting with Kapow cauliflower, bao, Blackie's crispy chicken, Dan Dan udon, desserts, unlimited beverages, and optional mimosa service.
NeXT suits planned nights out because the experience already feels like an occasion: reservations, shared plates, chef-selected waves, wine flight options, and bigger-ticket mains give the group a reason to linger.
Groups have a practical ordering path here: the cooking is built for sharing, with small plates, rich mains, a blind tasting option, and brunch courses that land for everyone instead of forcing separate entree choices.
Share the nuances of your visit to NeXT in Ottawa — the standout dishes, the room, the service.
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