Eat the Strip
Grenfell Catering
19 Grenfell Crescent Unit 9, Nepean, ON K2G 0G3
By: Ameya Charnalia | June 16, 2024 2:40 PM
If it’s not already abundantly clear, there’s a special place in my heart for takeout joints that operate in industrial parks, sandwiched between business that usually have less to do with food and more to do with car parts.
Wedged between a custom furniture maker and a mechanic, Grenfell Catering has two tiny tables for dining in between 9 a.m. and 2 p.m., with the bulk of its business coming from—you guessed it—catering. It has daily specials and a set menu you can order from and gets busy during peak lunch hours when workers from across southern Nepean head over to grab some of their famous jerk chicken, soups and salads.
I heard about Grenfell from Eat the Strip reader Kate in January. As Kate had recommended, I went over during lunch hours.
I grabbed one of two small tables after ordering the daily special: a chowmein noodle bowl with sautéed vegetables and jerk chicken. Nearby was a grab and go fridge with sauces and pasta salads made in-house. The cashier seemed to recognize several regulars streaming in, including construction employees working at sites nearby grabbing a quick to-go lunch.
The noodles came with a sweet and spicy sauce and generous chunks of their signature jerk chicken. While I’m not a fan of sweet and spicy anything, these noodles were an exception. The jerk chicken was a game-changer. It was well-spiced, spicy without being overwhelming—although a tad spicier would have been just fine by me—and at around $15 was quite reasonably priced.
Owners Chrissy and Mark opened Grenfell in 2007. They started as chefs together in the industry, fell in love and decided to start their own venture. Despite spending most of their time on the catering side, their takeout business has grown exponentially, all thanks to old fashioned word of mouth marketing. Chrissy said they have never had to put signs out on the street for advertising the restaurant.
I asked for a box to take home the remainder of my noodles. However, before leaving, I kept glancing at the menu and felt like the much-vaunted patty sandwich, typed in large font at the top of the menu, was calling my name. Not one to miss out on a restaurant’s signature dish, I ordered a patty sandwich for takeout. My partner and co-writer of the blog Danielle and I split the sandwich at home and quickly launched into high praise.
This was, as the name suggests, a sandwich which contains a Jamaican beef patty. That’s not all, it comes with a generous serving of spicy jerk chicken and crunchy coleslaw.
It was, perhaps, one of the best sandwiches we’ve had in the city—one that’ll keep us coming back for more.